Commentary
Trip of lifetime for MHS band
MAC TULLY
The Herald
Two years ago, bandleader Jim Bruce and associate Joe Powell
had a vision of the Manatee High School Marching 'Canes
participating in the London New Year's Day parade. Well, Jan. 1,
2003, that dream became reality. My oldest daughter, Mary, and I
were there as the beneficiaries of their vision coupled with the
hard work of many volunteers and staff.
I must admit that my initial reaction to their idea was disbelief.
Raising roughly a quarter of a million dollars to take almost 200
people more than 4,000 miles across the ocean seemed like an
insurmountable task to me. Luckily for the band members, there
are people who can think grander than I can.
Through a series of fund-raisers and a lot of planning, those
dreams were transformed into reality and were chronicled into the
pages of history in the next day's edition of the London Evening
Standard newspaper which featured the Manatee High School
Marching 'Canes parading down Piccadilly Street.
I was one of several proud parents who had accompanied the
troupe to London to cheer them on. It was a proud moment for
me to see my daughter marching down the street. It was also a
proud moment for the school and for Manatee County.
That was my first visit to England. It was cold, rained most of the
time and even snowed the last day, but I had an unbelievably
wonderful experience. Spending a week with Mary was the main
attraction for me, but I got to do that while visiting one of the
great cities of the world. Another benefit was the opportunity to
make some good friends, both young and old.
I would have to say that I was just a little bit concerned with the
thought of traveling with a group where the teenagers
outnumbered the adults by 2 to 1. I was a bit worried that the
band might actually start playing on the airplane somewhere
during the middle of the night. But those fears were unfounded,
as these young adults couldn't have been better behaved. There
were several chaperones to ensure that no one misbehaved, but
I believe that all of them would agree that the group behaved
wonderfully and made us all proud.
Through touring groups and individual trips, we experienced the
Hampton Court Palace, Warwick Castle, The London Tower, the
War Museum, Shakespeare's birthplace, Saint Paul's Cathedral
(we even saw Saint Paul's Church by mistake because I didn't
read the map correctly). We saw the inside of Harrod's
Department Store, which set my credit card back a little bit. We
traveled by the subway (The Tube), double-decker buses, taxis
and of course we walked and walked and walked.
At Hampton Court, we got to test our wits on an actual maze
created out of a series of hedges. Unfortunately, it started to pour
just about the time we were really good and lost in the maze. The
hedges were just high and narrow enough to prevent umbrellas,
so it was rather comical to watch students and adults headed in
both directions get absolutely soaked while searching in vain for
the exit. Luckily, I was with eighth-grade student Hillary Smith
who was able to lead me safely out of the maze. That was
probably my most memorable experience of the trip.
We experienced a real English pub (for dinner), driving on the
wrong side of the road, and the English theatre production of
"Blood Brothers." By the way, normally teens don't have much
patience for attending a museum or a play, but we couldn't get
these young adults to leave the museum at the appointed time
nor could they stop talking about the "Blood Brothers" production.
We learned how to deal with the English money system of pounds
and pence. Just for anyone wondering, I found London to be very
expensive. A good rule of thumb turned out to be whatever you
might expect to pay in U.S. dollars for an item would be a pretty
good guess at how many pounds that you might expect to pay. In
other words, if you might expect to pay $30 for a shirt you could
expect the price to be 30 pounds in London. The downside of that
is that the pound is worth about $1.70.
Some of the things I learned were not to assume that every
restaurant accepts credit cards. Upon our arrival I decided to take
my daughter and some friends to a nearby café for lunch. After
being presented with the bill, I handed my credit card only to be
informed they don't accept credit cards. Luckily I had exchanged a
few dollars at the airport or I might still be washing dishes.
There were several parents and staff who contributed countless
hours to make the preparations for this trip and to chaperone
while we were there. There are too many to individually list here,
but I would like to thank each of them for their work and Lezlie
Nance in particular for handling the travel arrangements and Linda
Boone for taking such good care of my daughter.
It was an absolutely wonderful experience for all of those young
adults. I venture to say that they will talk about marching down
Piccadilly Street on New Year's Day 2003 for the rest of their lives.
It took me 46 years to experience London. Those young adults
got to experience it in their teenage years because of the hard
work and dedication of some wonderful adults.
We're lucky to have such people working for our children.