Saxophone player SEONAID MURRAY reports

At the end of our last Thursday rehearsal all our instruments were packed away - we were nearly ready to set off for Belgium!

On Tuesday 1 July 59 students, conductor Robert Dawson and 6 other staff met at Belfast City Airport at 5 a.m. to catch our plane to Gatwick Airport. There we met Christine our driver and Annabel our brilliant tour guide, and drove by coach to Dover. We had a really beautiful crossing on the boat to Calais, sitting outside on deck in the sun. On the coach to Mechelen we watched videos, and on arrival at our lovely youth hostel we received tea from the frauline.

On Wednesday we had a tour of Mechelen and climbed the bell tower - 560 steps! We had time to look around the shops and try the Belgian chocolate! Fortunately the rain that cancelled our first (outdoor) performance didn't dampen our spirits: we had a disco night at De Planeet across the road from our hostel - happy birthday to Mark!

On Thursday we visited Bobbejaanland, an excellent theme park. Our playing in the morning to a select audience went very well - Harry Potter, Liberty Bell, Nobody knows the trouble I've seen, Berliner Luft, Hootenany, Miami Sound Machine, Back to the Future.

In the afternoon we sampled all the scary rides, rollercoasters, water ride and candy floss! After our meal we had a karaoke night at which everyone exercised their vocal cords - although some of us should stick to playing our instruments!

On Friday we had a trip to the lovely city of Brussels. Lots of shopping and eating - and more chocolate! We also went to a water park, Mini-Europe and the huge Atomium centre. Although it was very wet and a bit chilly it was all very exciting. In the Friday night bowling Shannon did well on our team but we didn't win overall.

On Saturday we rose earlier than usual to go to Bruges. We were shopping all day (more chocolate!), and there was also more sun today. Our evening concert was in De Panne. We had a great audience and we sounded class! As it is a coastal town we had a view of the sea and a lovely atmosphere to play in. A brilliant concert on which to go out, and for some of us our last concert ever with the Band.

Thank you to Bob and all the staff for a wonderful trip and lots of fun!