Theme For 5th Annual Scout House Invitational Tattoo

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scout_house_100x100The 5th annual Scout House Invitational Tattoo field show on Saturday, August 9 will hail the heroes of past conflicts, making 2014 A Year of Remembrance of those who fought in significant battles, including the War of 1812, which ended 200 years ago in 1814; World War I, which began 100 years ago in 1914; World War II, the Korean War, the war in Afghanistan and various United Nations peacekeeping missions involving Canada’s Blue Berets.

The Scout House organization has maintained a close relationship with Canadian armed forces and area Royal Canadian Legion branches since World War II. Scout House took part in many events supporting Canada’s war effort, marching an average of 40 parades annually through the war years, often performing twice a day in different communities. The distinctive knees-up marching style with arms swinging to shoulder height that so impressed audiences in the years that followed was developed during weekly church parades. Every Sunday for three years, Scout House escorted 600 WRENS (members of the Women’s Royal Naval Service) on a ceremonial march moving at 96 beats per minute, a comfortable pace for the women that also allowed time for the Band’s distinctive high stepping marching.

The 2014 Tattoo will be held in University Stadium, 81 Seagram Drive, at Sir Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. Doors open at 5:30 pm with entertainment beginning at 6:30 pm. Advance tickets, available at a number of sources, are $12. Tickets purchased at the stadium gate will be $15. Children under 12 will be admitted free.

Advance tickets are available from members of Scout House Cadets and Scout House Band. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Centre in the Square theatre box office, 101 Queen Street North in?Kitchener. Tickets can also be ordered by phone (convenience fee charged) by calling the Centre in the Square ticket centre at (519) 578-1570 or 1 (800) 265-8977. Those tickets will be available for pick up at the “will call” window at the stadium box office the night of the Tattoo.

A number of Home Hardware retail stores also have Tattoo tickets available for advance purchase: Swanson’s Home Building Centre, 166 Park Street, Kitchener; Preston Towne Home Hardware, 718 King Street East, Cambridge; Westgate Village Home Hardware, 130 Cedar Street, Cambridge; Glenbriar Home Hardware, 262 Weber Street North, Waterloo.

The field show will feature White Sabers of Dansville, New York, the current Drum Corps Associates (DCA) Class A champions; Ghost Riders of upstate New York, current DCA mini-corps champions; Optimists Alumni drum and bugle corps of Toronto; Mighty St. Joe’s Alumni drum and bugle corps of LeRoy, New York; Cambridge and District Pipe Band; Preston Scout House Cadets and Scout House Band of Cambridge. The DCAT (Drum Corps Alumni of Toronto) Chorus will sing the national anthems of the United States and Canada as part of the opening ceremonies.

The White Sabers drum and bugle corps was organized in 1928 under the sponsorship of the American Legion Daniel Goho Post 87 from Dansville, becoming independent in 1957. In 1994, after about 14 years of absence from the drum corps world, several former White Sabers members organized an alumni reunion. In 2005, the White Sabers returned to the field as a competitive Class A drum corps, placing second in their first DCA World Championships in Rochester, New York on September 3, 2006.

The Ghost Riders, formed in 1996 to compete in DCA Mini Corps competitions, have appeared in 18 consecutive DCA championship contests, the most appearances by any mini corps in the history of the event. Ghost Riders have been in contention for the world title in all 18 competitions, with seven third place finishes, six second place finishes and two championships. Ghost Riders won their second title in Annapolis, Maryland in 2013 with a score of 96.00, ahead of second place Star United by 0.17 points. The corps performs year round in parades and concerts across western New York and southern Ontario.

The Toronto Optimists Drum and Bugle Corps formed in autumn 1957. Between 1958 and 1975 the corps won 12 Canadian national championships, including 11 titles in a row from 1958 through 1968, and many other awards. The Toronto Optimists and the Seneca Princemen merged in 1976 to form the Seneca Optimists, who finished in the top 12 in Drum Corps International (DCI) championship tournaments in both 1976 and 1977. The corps’ final contest was in 1978. The alumni corps was formed in 2003.

St. Joseph’s Drum Corps began in 1931 under the direction of the Reverend T. Bernard Kelly, pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in Batavia, New York as an activity for youngsters in the area. The group started as a choir, then became a fife and drum corps and finally a parade corps. In 1951, corps graduates formed St Joseph’s Drum Corps Association Inc. St. Joseph’s Drum Corps operated as a parade corps till the late 1950s, when it became a field competition corps. Notable achievements include: eight New York State American Legion championships; 1963-65-66-67 New York-Canadian championships; 1971 Canadian Open championship; l968 National Champion drum line. The final year of competition was 1971. Former members formed Mighty St. Joe’s Alumni Corps in the fall of 1991.

Cambridge and District Pipe Band has been in existence for several years. It was formed a few years after the Hespeler Pipe Band ceased operation. Organizers of the Cambridge group had previously been travelling to Fergus to perform with the Grand Celtic Pipe Band. The Cambridge band is anxious to work with local groups in the future and be part of community events, including Robbie Burns suppers and festival parades.

Since Scout House Band’s first appearance at the Great Alliance of Seniors (GAS) reunion weekend in Mississauga in 1999, Scout House has performed more than 425 concerts, street parades and field shows in Ontario, Quebec and 10 American states: Michigan, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland and Florida. During those performances, Scout House has earned more than 60 awards of various kinds including top place awards in such well known events as Burlington Sound of Music Parade, Cambridge Canada Day Parade, Dunnville Mudcat Festival Parade, Cambridge Santa Claus Parade, Streetsville Santa Claus Parade and Port Clinton, Ohio and Bridgeport, Connecticut festivals. Scout House has received the Bernice Adams Memorial Award for cultural achievement in music, presented by the city of Cambridge.

Scout House Band now includes marching members from more than 20 communities across southern Ontario who had previously been associated with more than 75 marching music organizations. Scout House Cadets drum and bugle corps for boys and girls from age 12 to 18, was established to help mark the group’s 75th anniversary since starting as a Boy Scout bugle band in 1938.

The Cadets, named for the Band’s original feeder group, began as a drum line in September 2012, adding a brass section in September 2013 to become a full drum and bugle corps. The drum line is the current Drumline Ontario champion in its category.

No prior music experience is required to join the Cadets. Scout House Band also welcomes new marching members and volunteers to help with various support activities at any time of year.

For more information about Scout House Band, contact Activities Director Nancy Weiler at telephone (519) 653-3376, email prestonscouthouseband [dot] adm [at] sympatico [dot] ca or visit the Web site at http://www.scouthouseband.com/

Information about Scout House Cadets is available from email pshcadets [at] outlook [dot] com by telephone at (519) 886-7468 and on the Band’s Web site.

Posted by on Thursday, June 26th, 2014. Filed under Current News, DCA News, FrontPage Feature.