1984 - Overture to a new era

Magnificent Seven	Greatest Love Of All	James Bond Theme
Two Imps	Moon River	Buck Rogers Theme
Land Of Hope And Glory

Magnificent Seven	Greatest Love Of All	James Bond Theme
Two Imps	Moon River	1812 Overture

Sadly the band was not able to compete at the Albert Hall for this year's National Championships in March because we were no longer recognised as a traditional marching band. With the band continuing to grow it was perhaps for the best as it would have proved very difficult to design a show for so many people in such a confined space. This obviously meant the band had more time to rehearse the display and music for the coming British Youth Band Association competitive season, commencing in May.

Two new pieces of music were introduced for the beginning of this season's show, with the James Bond Theme, Buck Rogers and Land of Hope and Glory being kept for the first half of the year. The Two Imps was put into the routine to feature the whole of the percussion section. The band would often rehearse indoors to get to grips with the 1812 Overture, a huge challenge that would eventually replace the Buck Rogers Theme and Land of Hope and Glory in time for the British Championships in November.

The first regional championship was held at Crawley where the judges commented on the already extremely high standard of the band and awarded us the title. Four other supreme titles were taken at Hornchurch, Eastleigh, Ilfracombe and Midsomer Norton during May and June.

The summer months were extremely busy with various performances at fund-raising events, fetes, tattoos and two evenings at the Bristol Wine festival (remember the "stage" on the river?!), the regatta and flower show. On Sunday 13th May the band performed to a packed audience at the Colston Hall for the Bristol Prom week and was critically acclaimed by the local press following a first class concert.

At 2am on Thursday 11th October the band met at Horfield Common and embarked on a six day trip to Holland and Germany. Again we departed from the Sheerness ferry terminal for the seven hour crossing to Vlissingen, Holland. On our arrival we boarded the coaches and were taken to chalets in Middelburg, where we were to stay the night. For many it had been 36 hours since we'd had a good sleep, and as we had a busy schedule over the coming days it wasn't too difficult to heed the sound advice of an early night. The following morning we were all up early for our long journey to Hannover, Germany, some 350 miles away. We stopped off twice en route before reaching the British Army camp where we were to be accommodated for the next four days. The rest of the evening was left free to explore the surroundings, although with it being a military base there were obviously areas that were strictly out of bounds--Ian Slade!
Hannover is Bristol's twin city and we were there to not only represent our city, but also our country for "British Week". During the visit the band performed the championship routine in front of the city's opera house and inside of the Niedersachen Stadium. We were asked to give a number of concerts and street parades and were treated to a civic reception by the Mayor of Hannover, Mr. Herbert Schalmsteg, at the City Hall which was indeed a great honour. There was also plenty of time for sightseeing which included a bus tour of the city and a visit to the magnificent Grand Parterre Gardens situated in the Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen. On the evening of the 16th October a party was laid on for the band before having to leave for Middelburg early the next morning.

Our trip to Hannover had been a tremendous success and we received a warm welcome wherever we performed. Yet again the local press spoke highly of the band's performances throughout the four days. As with all trips this was certainly a memorable one, and perhaps the most talked about event involving the whole band was when the Germans very kindly provided the band with some piping hot soup, most of which ended up down the side of an embankment because no-one could bring themselves to tell them how disgusting it was! Unfortunately the trip was marred somewhat by the fact that some of the pom-pom majorettes were taken ill whilst at the British Army base. There was a great deal of concern at the time as one of the majorettes was flown back to the UK. Thankfully they all made a full recovery.
We spent much of the next day travelling through Germany and Holland before once again spending the evening at the chalets in Middelburg, and rising early the next day for the journey home.

The bands annual "Bristol Fashion" concert on Sunday 28th October was a complete sell out so the organisers thought it would be a nice gesture to keep the doors open to the public between mid-day and five o'clock for those who weren't able to get tickets for the concert. This gave the general public an insight into the hard work that went into producing our shows, and also put on display the discipline needed to keep the organisation running as smoothly as it did. Many of the audiences only saw the end product, so this was a unique opportunity to see how the final results were achieved.
Two weeks before the British Championships the band were asked to perform in concert at the Dragonara Hotel in Bristol for the British Youth Band Associations' Annual General Meeting. Realising that this little gathering would consist of a lot of B.Y.B.A. judges who would be at the championships in two week's time, Dave decided to give nothing away about the routine, and so took the 1812 Overture out of the programme, instead keeping the old routine. It was clear this did not impress some of the "guests", as they had heard we'd been rehearsing hard for a new finale to our show!

We had managed to get two full training days at RAF Colerne to rehearse, and after taking out of the routine the Buck Rogers Theme, Moon River and Land of Hope and Glory, it was soon discovered that we were well under the allotted time period for the display, even with the new finale of the 1812. It was then decided that Moon River would be performed afterall to make up the rest of the time.

It was rare that Dave called extra practises prior to competitions, but the night before the British championships, in the pouring rain he held a rehearsal, to be certain that everyone knew the changes implemented in the weeks before. There was an incredibly tense atmosphere within the band, and all the talk was of looking forward to competing at Wembley, but taking nothing for granted after the disappointments of the two previous years.

On Saturday 17th November we met early at the Bristol Polytechnic and travelled to Wembley Arena with our convoy of supporters. The journey to London was fairly relaxed until we pulled up at the Wembley car park and the butterflies really began to kick in. We had a long wait before the warm up in the car park, which left plenty of time to soak up the atmosphere and try to alleviate any tension by walking around the arena and watching some of the other competing bands. The band had a quick run through of the routine, without instruments, before going off to get changed and making our way to the entrance of the arena. For the majority of the band there was a feeling of deja-vu as we waited in the wings to be announced. There were anxious moments as we listened to the crack of the gun, signalling the judges' cue to leave the arena as the band currently performing were coming to the closing stages of their display. Having gone through the whole season undefeated it would be a cruel and bitter blow to throw it all away at the last hurdle. One of the BYBA magazines had asked after our performance at Hornchurch in June, "Have the Unicorns peaked too soon, and could they maintain their superiority until Wembley?" Well, they were about to find out! As the previous band exited the arena from our right, we waited patiently to be announced on from behind the huge curtain. At last, after waiting for what seemed like an eternity, we marched on to a drum cadence, and formed up for the start of the championship routine. The percussion fell silent as we waited for the judges to signal they were ready, and suddenly a huge roar filled the arena as Richard Lorriman, the field commander, took the salute. "C'MON MOY BAABBEEEEEES!!" (Which had been adopted as our battle cry by our supporters), came bellowing from the stands and we were ready. From that moment on, time fast forwarded about twelve minutes and we were given an outstanding reception at the end of the routine. The 1812 Overture had clearly gone down well with the spectators, most of whom were witnessing it for the first time. It was agreed that the show could not have gone any better for us. Dave and the instructors gave very little away as we made our way to the car park for a debriefing, and we were told that we'd just have to wait and see.

About an hour or so later we were finally announced as the British Champions. It's extremely difficult to describe the overwhelming feeling we felt on the arena, and then again in the Wembley car park as we were finally able to really celebrate. We played the championship routine music in the car park in front of our now totally manic supporters who had been absolutely fantastic throughout. It was a truly great night, one that we all thought would be impossible to emulate. Our successes throughout the year at the regional championships meant that we were also named as British Youth Band Association League winners.

We received excellent reviews from the local press on our return from the success at Wembley. Councillor Claude Draper wrote a letter to the Bristol Evening Post saying, "The Unicorns are marvelous ambassadors for their city wherever they go and I have pleasant memories of seeing the band perform in Hannover recently. These young people put in a tremendous amount of hard work. I am very pleased, in an age when the young are so often criticised, to be able to congratulate the Unicorns and pay tribute to the efforts of their leaders and the support of their parents. Well done! Bristol is proud of its Unicorns."

From Monday 17th December until the 22nd members and supporters of the band presented Snow White and the Seven Dwarves pantomime at Bristol's Little Theatre. The show was written by Gloria Wright and proved to be such a success for those performing and watching that plans were already afoot for the following year's panto!

The festive season was a particularly busy time for the band with various concerts and shows including performances at the Wembley Conference Centre for the Christmas Cavalcade and at the Granby Halls Leicester for the Christmas Festival of Youth Marching Bands. On Saturday 1st December we were invited to take part in the Nat West Festival of Youth Bands at the Royal Albert Hall. The programme notes were very complimentary, reading "Becoming something of a legend already, this band always produces a show which is both colourful and ever entertaining. Formed in 1979 they have truly 'never looked back' and have achieved that difficult combination of resounding success both on and off the field. A fine band to have the honour to close our show."
It was a hectic end to a highly successful season. Could things possibly get any better for the Bristol Unicorns?