The members of Goodwick Band are recovering from the highs and lows of their trip to Harrogate and the National Finals.
High
The high certainly came on Sunday afternoon, when the village band from Pembrokeshire in south west Wales claimed the runner up prize in the Third Section under their young conductor Matthew Jenkins.
After a celebratory night they set off home on Monday morning at 10.00am, only to be involved in a potentially horrific accident on the main road outside Aberystwyth.
150 foot drop
An articulated lorry with a flat back trailer overtook the band bus, crazily cutting across the driver’s path, and forcing them into the safety barriers and a possible drop of 150 feet down a hillside.
Thankfully, the brilliant reactions of Goodwick’s local driver Rob Jones saved the day, and despite the whole front windscreen crashing over him and the bus scrapping along the barriers for over 100 yards, he managed to hold the vehicle on the road and come to a stop.
Everyone was on a high and not even the accident has brought us back to earth. The band played so well and all my players give it their allMD, Matthew Jenkins
Brilliant reactions
"Everyone is so grateful to Rob," conductor Matthew Jenkins told 4BR.
"His reactions saved the day and all of us from a very nasty accident. The road had to be blocked off by the police and accident reports given, a new bus sent for, everyone checked over and parents contacted. It was a very lucky escape."
The accident meant that when the band eventually got to Aberystwyth they had to board another bus sent by the local Richard Brothers coach firm, and so they eventually got home at 9.15pm on Monday night.
Relieved
Nobody minded that though given the circumstances, as Matt explained.
"There were only six people older than me on the bus," the 23 year conductor said, "...so everyone either phoned or sent a text message to their parents about what happened straight away. There were some pretty relieved parents when we got back to Goodwick I can tell you, but thankfully everyone, including Rob, is OK."
Great result
Not even a literal scrape with disaster could dampen the high spirits after the great result though. "Everyone was on a high and not even the accident has brought us back to earth. The band played so well and all my players give it their all," Matt added. "To come runner up was amazing and I was so proud of all the players young and old!"
Build
Although Goodwick will not be promoted at the end of this year, Matt has plenty to look forward to. "We all want to build on this result and with players in the ranks like Ffion Williams who won the 'Best Instrumentalist' prize after moving onto flugel from soprano to help the band out, I can’t wait for the next contest."
Lets hope they enjoy a quieter bus journey home after that one though...
