A MUSICAL VOYAGE - Royal Australian Navy

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Our time in Tonga came to an end the following Monday when we boarded the plane to fly
back to Australia. It was an interesting cultural experience, not only having the opportunity
of experiencing Tongan culture, but also seeing how other cultures influence the day to day
living of the Tongan people. It was also a great honour for us to be involved in such an
important event of which many dignitaries, both government officials and Royal
representatives, from around the world was invited to attend.
LONGLOOK 2008
Article by Leading Seaman Cassandra Mohapp
Long Look Exchange 2008 began in April 2008 and was completed in August 2008, and it was
with great delight, and some anxiety that we received the notification that we were to
represent the Royal Australian Navy Band in the United Kingdom; a high honour and
privilege for both of us.
We spent a substantial amount of time prior to departing on LL08 researching the bands we
were going to be working with, believing how important it was to know the respective band
leaders and also a little of their history. Most importantly, we spent some time working out
how we were going to be most effective in each band. We left our country with high
expectations of ourselves, and also the organisation where we were to spend the next three
months.
We arrived in Brize Norton on Thursday 24 April 2008 and were greeted by a very cheerful
and delightful man and one with whom we were to spend the next three months with,
Warrant Officer 1 st Class James Whitwham. Mr Whitwham was our liaison for the duration of
the Exchange Program and we were not to know that he would also become such a great
and dear friend to us all. He drove us to Portsmouth to start LL08 with Her Majesty’s Royal
Marine Band - Portsmouth. It was on this journey that I witnessed something terrible… a car
with three wheels! I yelled from the back seat… “Oh no! What happened to that car!?”
After a few minutes of laughing his head off, Mr Whitwham replied… “It’s ok Cassie. That is
a special car that only needs three wheels. It’s ok. It’s supposed to look like that.” I didn’t
believe him and thought he was having a joke with me… luckily I only saw the one car like
it because I found it very confusing… it was just wrong… like nothing I had ever seen
before!
However, after arriving safely in Portsmouth we literally got back in the car the next day to
drive five hours up to Manchester to do a concert with the cast from Coronation Street
with Her Majesty's Royal Marine Band - Scotland. The concert was a charity event and was
held at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. A beautiful hall and the crowd were most
appreciative. The band was great and certainly knew how to make us Aussies feel very
welcome – although it was impossible to enjoy their abundance of hospitality with pint
after pint after pint! Goodness me… but one did her best!! It was a slow and steady journey
back to Portsmouth the day after the concert, Saturday 26 April 2008. We sadly missed out
on ANZAC Day in London but the concert in Manchester was certainly a lot of fun and we
enjoyed the festivities just the same.
Three weeks working with Her Majesty’s Royal Marine Band – Portsmouth gave us some
wonderful performance opportunities. Lieutenant Andrew Stokes conducted, and I
performed with the band in Dorking and Sonning on Thames and we enjoyed many other
performances in Eastbourne, and Fareham. We were privileged to accompany the band on a
special event at St Pauls Cathedral in London, A City Salute, and were moved by the
supportive crowd surrounding us. It was an occasion to honour their service personnel in the
Middle East and was hosted by Prince William and Prince Harry. It really was an extremely
memorable occasion.
We then travelled to Plymouth and worked with Her Majesty’s Royal Marine Band at HMS
Raleigh. We performed in Coldrose for a Wings Parade and Lieutenant Stokes conducted the
band for the Welcome Home parade for HMS Campbelltown in HMS Drake. We managed to
see some of the beautiful countryside in Cornwall and were grateful to members of the
band for spending the day with us and driving us around AND for organising a “special” tour
of the Plymouth Gin Distillery. It was lovely.
Royal Australian Navy Band: A Musical Voyage