POYNTON COMMODORES – In the Top Ten in Europe
After recently being crowned as Drum Corps National Open Class Champions, Poynton Commodores travelled out to Holland in preparation for their first ever attendance at The Drum Corps Europe Finals. This event was held at the Sparta Rotterdam football stadium on Saturday the 29th of September. Other Drum Corps competing on the day came from the U K, Holland, Germany, and Italy. Out of the top twenty European corps, the Commodores were seeded in twelfth place. During the day, all Corps competed in a preliminary round and Poynton would have to beat two corps above them to be amongst the top ten who qualify to come back for the evening Finals, held under floodlights in front of a big crowd.
As the day progressed the Commodores beat one corps above them to move up into a very creditable eleventh place, just one place away from qualification. They were all prepared to spend the evening sat watching all the other top corps when a score from a corps seeded two or three places above them was read out and it was less than the Commodores score. This meant that they had achieved the almost impossible of overtaking two of the top corps and would qualify for the evening Finals at there very first attempt. From calmly anticipating a relaxing evening, there was suddenly great activity to get all uniforms and instruments together, get warmed up and be ready to do another performance.
The evening show they marched and played was magnificent and drew fantastic applause from an appreciative crowd. There were many words of congratulations from other corps and enthusiastic words of praise from the judges. The achievement was all the more remarkable considering the Commodores were one of the smallest corps in the whole competition. They remained in tenth place but one judge’s comments summed it up when he remarked that although the Commodores didn’t have the same numbers of members as some of the others, they obviously had the quality of performance needed to be amongst the very best.
Everyone connected with the corps is totally overwhelmed with the magnitude and significance of what has been achieved. There has never been previous success on this scale in all of their 34 year history. This ranked as the best ever and was completely and utterly deserved for all the hard work put in this year. First crowned National Champions and then in amongst the Top Ten in Europe and all in one year. It truly is quite remarkable.
Bearing the judges comments in mind, the Corps will be looking to enlist new members in the very near future for next year. If they can be amongst the top ten with one of the smallest corps, they could be in for even bigger and better success in the future with even more members. Anyone needing information can either call Karen Muskett, Corps Director, on 01625 876441 or look for contact details on the Commodores web site at www.commodores.info
Mike Williamson
