author: Kevin Whittingham

The majority of Sunday afternoon was spent aboard our coach travelling up the Swedish coast, after leaving Denmark via the spectacular Øresund (or Öresund if you are Swedish) Bridge over the water from Copenhagen into Malmo. Most people spent the time with iPods plugged in watching movies, listening to music, playing Football Manager (George Lawrence dreaming of taking Saints to the Premiership!!) and catching up on much needed sleep. The scenery outside the coach was rolling farmland & rivers reminiscent of the American Mid-West, with only the adverts in Swedish and the blue & yellow flags giving a clue to your real location.

Having had the chance to relax for a few hours on the coach, the arrival into Gothenburg commenced the mad rush routine of this tour of unloading van & coach, setting up the platform, eating dinner and rushing onto the platform for the evening concert! It was nice to return to a corps where the Singing Company had visited back in 1992 & for the Band itself to return to Sweden twenty one years after last being heard in this area of the world.

The concert was held in the Army hall with a large and youthful audience welcoming the Band to the platform and into another cracking rendition of Victors Acclaimed. The programme featured the same music as the previous evening with only the Soloists altering on this occasion. Barney Lawrence left the audience in awe after a brilliant & tender tenor horn solo entitled His Eye is on the Sparrow. It was then the concert moved from the sublime to the….umm….trombones!! Trevor, Wayne & David wooed the audience with their version of I Will Follow Him which left the audience cheering at the end with excitement. There really is no accounting for taste even in Sweden it seems!

The larger repertoire such as To the Chief Musician, Quintessence & Christ Hymn were all played and received well by our Swedish hosts. Former Bandmaster Kenneth Downie’s arrangement of Coming Home based on the words Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling was another highlight leaving our audience in quiet contemplation. Overall it was another solid performance by the Band & the CD sales team were kept extremely busy both in the interval & conclusion of the evening’s events. Hopefully the message behind our playing and reason for being in Gothenburg shone through during this brief stop in our second country.

One of the frustrating aspects of being on Tour is that you never really get the time or opportunity to see the places you visit. However, myself, Mark, Barney, Wayne, Smain & Malc stayed at the Army Hall in the building opposite the corps, where we had been fed earlier. This was a great chance to unwind with games of Table Tennis, Street Hockey and then a walk into the city taking in the sights and buildings. Wayne’s appetite and my need for Wifi to upload the latest blog lead us to the Golden Arches of McDonalds. Unfortunately it had shut just a few minutes before so we sat around like homeless people in the entrance taking advantage of the Wifi connection to upload blogs, call home to loved ones and update Facebook!

After a reasonable nights sleep (The Walrus didn’t snore so much , we were up early for breakfast with the rest of the Band arriving around 7.30am to load and depart for the Frediksten Fortress & Askim this evening. It’s been a very short stop in Sweden but an enjoyable and fun one.

And so to Norway…..!