Thanks to everyone who made it down to Brackley in Northamptonshire for the Carnival.ession

It was a great start with the band leading the huge Carnival procession and enjoying the atmosphere along the route. There were large crowds in the village and they really appreciated the Pipes and Drums.

On reaching the Carnival field we tuned up again and spotted a film crew who stopped and filmed a vintage car in front of us. Turns out they were from the BBC so keep an eye out for us on the telly!

After a spot in the arena it was time for an ice cream and a long walk back to the vehicles. 

A huge well done to newly fledged piper Andy on his first turn out, you marched as if you'd been doing it for ever and we all hope that this was the first of many events with us.

Wow!! what an amazing night and what an amazing team effort.

I'm still nursing a sore head but wanted to let you all know what a brilliant Seaforth team we have, who last night put together a very memorable Burns night at the Birstall Social Club.

The pipes were singing, the drummers and dancers were fantastic and the audience, despite the snow, came and enjoyed every minute. 

I was so proud of everyone in the team who pitched in without being asked and got on with the job. Your enthusiasm and positivity was integral to making the evening work.

Please let me have your feedback and comments for next year and thank you all once again.

On the warmest Remembrance Sunday any of us can recall the band gathered for our annual parade and service at St. Stephens Church. In the absence of any surviving Seaforths' it seems all the more important that we should honour those, especially from our county who gave their lives. 

With our colours carried smartly by John Hollingworth, we led the main contingent of the Leicester parade to the Cenotaph before marching to St. Stephens'.

The wreath was laid in church at the newly positioned memorials which looked wonderful, flanked by the church's own plaques and placed directly below the 1939-1945 window depicting St. George and St. Andrew.

At the close of the service we marched off once more to the Cenotaph, collecting the main parade and leading them past the saluting dias.

Our remembrance concluded with the Act of Homage at the Cenotaph where another wreath was laid.

Both the band and our padre Lynn Fowkes felt that the younger generation of Seaforths' should have an active role in Remembrance and to this end our youngest drummers Will & Callum assisted in laying the wreath in church, Lottie read a prayer during the service and our smallest trainee dancer Rose escorted the standard and carried the wreath on parade. Thanks to all of them for looking so smart and carrying out their duties impeccably.

What a night!

After twenty months of planning, hundreds of hours of practice and rehearsal, several tantrums and a near breakdown...the 22nd October came around and the band and dancers, plus our helpers who we could never function without, (Paul and Mick, thank you!), assembled at De Montfort Hall at 9.30am to set up the stage.

Along with the amazing folk of the Ashby Concert Band we downed gallons of tea and coffee, ate our way through several kilo's of biscuits and cooked samosas on the tea urn..and began to rehearse.

Thanks to a very organised schedule and the brilliant technical staff at the Hall everything came together remarkably well and the day flew by in a whirl of musical and movement practice.

Finally we all broke for a well earned rest and a curry and then changed into kit.

The Hall filled up, the honoured guests arrived and the concert began. As the first strains of Distant Hills filled the auditorium the atmosphere was electric. Our audience were absolutely fantastic, they cheered applauded and clapped along with great enthusiasm and really made the evening.

I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of everyone who took part, Pipers, Drummers, Dancers, The Ashby Concert Band and our helpers, you all exceeded my wildest expectations to produce such a professional display. Thank you and well done to each and every one of you.

More photo's are in the Gallery and a special commemorative CD is available to purchase for just £5.00!

It is as always a great honour to lead the veterans of the Parachute Regiment through the village of Somerby, near Melton in Leicestershire to commemorate all those who took part in operation Market Garden, otherwise known as the Arnhem Landings of WW11.

Thanks to Mel, our photographer for these pictures.

The band turned out very smartly and led the many standards to the village church for their service. Later our musicians sounded Last Post, the Lament and Reveille before taking the return journey to the village hall.

It was a particular pleasure for one of our youngest drummers, aged just 8 to hear first hand about the landings from one of the last remaining survivors.

Somerby is where the 10th battalion Parachute Regiment were briefed before their ill fated mission in 1940 and the village is full of memorials to the event. From the Village Hall which was built as a memorial to the stained glass windows in the church, Somerby is well worth a visit.