The Spring/Summer 2010 was a truly exciting time for the City of Lichfield Concert Band as went on tour to Paris in late July early August.

It has been many years since the band last went on tour - nearly 20 years in fact - when the band went to Scharnitz in Austria under the leadership of the then conductor, Richard Murphy. In 1992 the band toured again to Germany when they stayed in Lutz, not far from Lichfield's twin city of Limburg. On both occasions everyone had a fantastic time.

Wow! What a fantastic time was had by all!! Please enjoy this review and the photos on the Paris Gallery page.

Setting off bright and early 1.00 a.m. on Friday 30th July 30 players and supporters set of eagerly from Lichfield Bus Station heading straight down to Dover for a ferry crossing to Paris. Sleeping through the night we had a smooth journey due to our fantastic driver Ian and were able to catch the earlier ferry to Calais. Continuing on to Paris our conductor Mark entertained us all with his quizzes and general ‘red coat’ routine.

On arrival at the hotel some of us thought about having a rest but our driver Ian was having none of this. ‘You don’t want to waste an afternoon sleeping’ he said. ‘Offload your cases and I’ll take you on the Metro up to Monmatre.’

What a super idea this turned out to be. With weather well into the high 80’s we walked up the many steps to the church of Sacré - Coeur and spent time looking at the work of the many street artists and sampling the wines in the many street café’s and bars. Later we arrived back at the hotel, totally shattered and ready for our evening meal and bed.

Next morning we were up bright and early looking forward to our first concert at Champs de Mars right outside the Eiffel Tower. .After breakfast, Ian drove us into the Les Halles area in central Paris for general shopping and sightseeing. Some of us took the opportunity to visit the Louvre before walking across the Seine to the area surrounding Notre Dame- Ile de la Cité. We were then collected after lunch to go to the concert venue. Luckily, the weather was kind to us and we had a lovely concert performing pieces such as Barnard Castle, O When the Saints, Disney at The Movies, and Celtic Ritual amongst many others. Our first full day ended with trip up the Eiffel tower which was truly awesome. Many of us made it right to the top to enjoy glasses of wine to celebrate. The day was complete with a lovely meal at the hotel.

Sunday 1st August again brought more fantastic weather and we were all excited as many activities had been planned. We set of into central Paris and spent some time looking around the many sights including the Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, and the Paris Opera House. After lunch we headed of in the coach for the venue of our second concert in the beautiful Jardin de Luxembourg. Our coach driver’s skills were tested to the limits as he had to negotiate some of the very narrow streets approaching the bandstand whereby we noticed that well over 500 were sat waiting for us to play!! With a quick change of clothes we quickly set up and played a well received concert including pieces such as Hungarian Dance, Quiet Music and Phantom of the Opera. One of the highlights of the afternoon was the Lazy Trumpeter played by our principal trumpet player – John Mansell.

For our final evening in Paris we decided on a group trip on the Bateaux Mouches travelling up the river Seine, where we were able to see many key sights and features. Following this, the trip was rounded off with a fantastic meal in a truly French Bistro under the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

Monday 2nd August came and it was time to go home but again Ian was determined it wasn’t going to be boring as he stopped of just before the ferry for the band to purchase some last minute ‘liquid refreshments’!! We all thought the excitement was well and truly over when one of our more mature members treated themselves to a massage on the ferry!!

Luckily, when we departed the ferry, the roads were clear and we arrived back in Lichfield Bus Station at 9pm, very tired, but with some fantastic memories of our long weekend in Paris.