1982 - Going Dutch

Alabamy Bound	God Only Knows	Don't Worry Baby
Fun Fun Fun	Moon River	Black Magic Woman
Classical Gas	Quincey Theme	Land Of Hope And Glory

Once again the competitive season began at the Enfield National Marching Band Championships at the Royal Albert Hall, and again the Unicorns won the supreme title. It was a very close contest with the band only coming home with three caption trophies, including best colour guard for the first time, best mallet and percussion sections, whilst coming consistently second in every other caption. Seven regional contests were entered throughout the season between March and July and the band took all seven titles. These successes obviously meant automatic qualification into the BMBC at the NEC for the third successive year. The band did not compete at the International Festival of Marching Bands this year, but instead represented Great Britain in the evening.

In March the band recorded its first LP at the Bristol Colston Hall entitled "Bristol Fashion", and even recorded a live picture disc edition at the same venue in October (somewhat a novelty in the eighties!).

Union Flag badges were purchased and sewn onto the band uniforms because the Bristol Unicorns were now going International!
It was back in February that Tony Fuller had been contacted by the secretary of a Dutch marching band requesting information about the Bristol Unicorns and the possibility of something similar to an "International exchange programme" uniting the two bands together. As a consequence of this letter and a brief trip to the Netherlands by Dave and Tony in March, plans were made for a weekend visit.

At 2am on Friday 17th September the band departed from Horfield Common to embark on a four day trip to Haarlem, Holland. It was the Unicorns' first trip overseas and the band was hosted by families from the Damiate Band. The weekend was extremely successful, with various performances in Haarlem, most notably an appearance at a festival of marching bands in the Big Market in front of the Town Hall. There were 16 bands taking part in the event and it attracted a record crowd of over 3,000 spectators. There was even enough time for a brief sightseeing tour of Amsterdam on the Sunday morning where river boats had been hired for a guided tour of the city. Yet again the band were credited with great reviews by the public and local press. The Damiate Band were very accommodating, and it was to be the beginning of a great friendship between the two bands.

No time was lost in rehearsals for the British Championships on returning to the UK, and for the first time it was felt that the Bristol Unicorns had a realistic chance of winning the title. As a warm up to the competition, the band travelled north to Nottingham to compete in the final regional championship of the year, coming up against arch rivals, Thurrock Marching Brass. The competition did not bode well for the Unicorns as they were placed second behind Thurrock, and as a result Thurrock were now clear favourites to take the British title once more.

For the first time a rifle guard were introduced into championship display, and although there were only two to begin with, Karen Slade and Adele Nash, they were a welcome addition to the band.

It was whilst travelling to the NEC that the coaches transporting the band were involved in an accident just outside of Birmingham. Thankfully nobody was seriously injured, but it meant that the band's championship performance had to be delayed because the replacement coaches were going to take two hours to arrive. On arrival at the arena, supporters and members of other competing bands and corps were extremely sympathetic, and without a doubt the Unicorns gained a few more admirers because of the determination shown by everyone. The championship performance was good enough to earn the runners-up position behind the 2nd Brighton scouts who gave one of their finest ever displays, and sadly their last competitive show before forming the Imperial Knights Drum & Bugle Corps. Thurrock Marching Brass were placed 5th behind Mayflower and Gravesham. A huge disappointment for them, but perhaps a little bit of rough justice for us!

On 23rd October the band paraded onto College Green and were presented with their very own standard by the then Lord Mayor of Bristol, Councilor George Maggs. It was a tremendous honour and the standard was trooped annually on College Green in front of the Lord Mayor as a mark of respect for the city of Bristol.

On December 11th the band returned to Wembley, this time to the conference centre, for the Champions Christmas Cavalcade. Here bands from all over the country got a chance to enter into the festive spirit, coming together to perform concerts or static displays, before the massed band finale which inevitably meant the traditional singing of carols!