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Fifty eight young band members, along with 13 parents and supervisors, took part in a 14 day trip to the Far East, in order to see the recovery operation in areas that were devastated by the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004.

With the slogan 'music is fun', the full tour to the Far East comprised of six concerts and two workshops divided over three countries. Visiting all the areas required six flights and a round trip of 21,000 km.

Mike Booty, chairman and musical director of the band that meets for 50 weeks of the year at the Diss Resource Centre, organised the trip with the Far East Rotarians.

Mike, being a member of the Diss Rotary Club, initially set up contact with these impoverished areas after the band and the local Rotarians raised £1500 from a tsunami appeal concert just a few weeks after the disaster.

Thailand

The money from the concert went towards building a new Community Development Centre in the village of Ban Naam Kem, in the vicinity of Khao Lak, Thailand. To see the new centre and to view how the area had been rejuvenated first hand, the youth band played a concert for villagers at the new building as part of their travels.

"At the village of Ban Naam Kem in Thailand, half of the population perished and 95% of the village was wiped out. As part of the reconstruction of the area, a Community Development Centre was built and the funds that the band and the Diss Rotarians raised went towards this project," said Steve Hall, trustee of the band.

"The centre provides ongoing educational and training programmes to help the survivors learn life skills to move on with their lives," he added.

The police boat tsunami memorial

In addition, members of the band took part in a recorder workshop at a nearby school, where they gave local children recorders, books, pens and pencils.

"Perhaps the most special memory of all was when we went to a local school. We took recorders and tutor books to teach the children. We spent one hour teaching on a one to one basis and then came together at the end of the morning to play a concert of 'hot cross bun'," said Hannah Strode, a member of the South Norfolk Youth Symphonic Band.

Before crossing the sea to Singapore, the band also visited tsunami memorials such as a police boat that had been laid to rest two miles ashore during the storm and a tsunami cemetery.

Moving through the Far East

"The primary aim of the band was to visit the new Community Centre in Thailand, but at the request of the District Governor of the Malaysian Rotary Clubs, the provisional programme was expanded to include musical workshops and public concerts with children in Singapore and Kota Kinabalu in Borneo," said Steve.

In Singapore, the orchestra gave joint concerts with the Tanjong Katong Girl's School and the Hwa Chong School. The band members also attended lessons in the schools, including Physical Education, Chinese and Malay language lessons. The band also played at the Botanical Gardens and visited the Malay Cultural Centre.

Moving east to Borneo, the band stayed with families so they could immerse themselves in Malaysian culture.ÌýThe band were greeted at the airport on arrival and departure with gifts and a warm reception from their hosts.

Whilst in the country, the orchestra found billboards advertising their concert scattered all around the city. The band gained headlines in the Malaysian Daily Express on each day of their three day visit and they even performed to a sell out audience of 1200 people at the Sabah Concert Hall in front of a VIP - the Minister for Culture.

The band have experiences to remember

A trip to remember

The experience gained from the trip is something the orchestra will never forget.

"The experience for all those that attended was to a degree, life changing. Several of the band had never travelled outside of the country and most of them had never visited the Far East. The change in culture and food will be remembered by many," said Steve.

"Our message of 'music is fun' was well received and proves that music crosses all cultures and religions.ÌýIt was a truly memorable visit and our thanks must go to all the very generous individuals and organisations that supported us in the UK and our friends in the Far East," said Steve.

Organising a trip of this calibre must have been very difficult.

"Mike Booty made the initial contacts and liased with the Far East Rotarians, but much of the responsibility and hard work was carried out by a group of supervisors, that were led by Chris and Sally Plail. Their efforts should not be underestimated, as in today's legislative society, organising trips such as this is very difficult," said Steve.

"But in overall terms of the organisation, it went very well. No major problems occurred and 71 went and 71 came back!" he added.

Planning for the future

So what does the future hold for the young orchestra?

"I suspect that a visit of such proportions will not be held again for some time, as the Far East visit cost in the region of £85,000. It would not have been possible without the support of local organisations, businesses and individuals," said Steve.

"However, the band are laying early plans to tour Germany and Holland in 2010. This follows a UK visit from a Dutch band in May 2009," he added.

Director Mike Booty organised the trip

Janet Strode, one of the supervisors of the trip and mother to Hannah from the band, shares her thoughts on the exciting journey to the Far East:

As a supervisor, I remember before we departed that the prospect of being responsible for a large group of teenagers in the Far East seemed rather daunting.

However, their behaviour was exemplary; they worked extremely hard in unfamiliar surroundings. Having to cope with extreme temperatures, humidity and some very long days was a struggle (sometimes they performed a concert in the evening and had to catch an early morning flight the next day).

Also, they had to cope with unfamiliar food (which, to their credit, they sampled enthusiastically) and language and cultural barriers (particularly in Thailand, where they successfully found non verbal ways to communicate with the children in Ban Nam Kem who knew very little, if any, English).Ìý

The entire band, the youngest being my son William aged just 11 years old, appear to have gained a great deal from this experience.ÌýI have read some of their personal reflections of the visit and they have a common theme - the powerful memories of this visit will remain with them for the rest of their lives.Ìý

Busy schedule

We had an extremely packed schedule, involving a mix of performances, during which members of the band forged strong links with young people in each of the countries.

The cosmopolitan city of Singapore gave us an insight into several different cultures. Here we worked with two secondary schools, spending a day in each, that culminated in a concert on each evening. Our band performed to very appreciative audiences throughout.Ìý

To perform in the breathtakingly beautiful Botanical Gardens in Singapore, on a custom built stage in the centre of a lake, was absolutely awe-inspiring.Ìý

I personally remember the outstanding beauty of the location.ÌýThe band played in the early evening as dusk fell.ÌýAs we were packing up to leave, the gardens gradually transformed into a magical fairyland of lights, with the sound of unfamiliar insects playing their night time chorus.ÌýIt was remarkable.

A concert in the Borneo Hypermall

Borneo

In Borneo, from the moment we walked towards passport control and spotted the posters in front of each kiosk stating 'Welcome South Norfolk Youth Symphonic Band', we began to realise that this was going to be a truly overwhelming experience.

This suspicion was further strengthened as we moved into the main airport concourse. We were greeted by Rotary officials holding a banner that stretched virtually from one side of the concourse to the other, again welcoming us and advertising the concert and musical workshop we were due to play in the country.Ìý

It was a breathtaking welcome. We were also given gifts of traditional Malay beaded necklaces.Ìý

As we were driven through the city, we spotted huge billboards again advertising our concerts.ÌýMost of the band members were hosted by families in Borneo and were thus able to sample the true culture of the country.Ìý

Lasting friendships

Many have forged lasting friendships as a result of this and are hoping that they will be able to repay their very generous hosts by offering them similar hospitality in the future. On our departure, our musical director and a number of band members were invited to a personal audience with the Sultan of Sabah in a private room at the airport.

We were looked after exceptionally well by the Rotary representatives in Singapore and Borneo and were accompanied by two of them to Thailand, where they organised our very emotional visits to some Tsunami memorials.

Devastation

In one location, bodies remain four-years-on and are still unidentified in numbered, temporary graves. At least one member of our party had been personally affected by the Tsunami, and even for those who weren't, this was an extremely emotional experience.

We also worked with a local school in Thailand on one afternoon.ÌýHere, many of the children had been orphaned by the tsunami that took the lives of 60% of the population of the village.Ìý

Teaching the children was fulfilling

It was such a pleasure to see the joy on the local children's faces when they were taught a basic tune on the recorder and they appeared totally amazed that the recorders were theirs to keep.ÌýLater that day, as we were driven by coach around the village, we spotted a young girl sitting outside her house, practising the recorder she had been given that day.

I can personally say that this visit has left me with lasting memories and emotions. For the band members, who also experienced the joy of performing in so many astounding locations, their own memories must be 1000 times more poignant.