Welsh champions, Cory didn’t quite have the smoothest of journeys to Stavanger this weekend – thanks to the rather heavy handed loading techniques of ground crew at Amsterdam airport.

Fragile

Even with ‘fragile’ stickers placed all over their precious cargo of tubas, two of them were still smashed up as the cargo handlers flung them on the ramps to load onto the plane to Norway.

To add insult to injury, the forgetful workers even mislaid another of the basses, which meant it had to be transported on a later flight to Stavanger.

It’s all part of the European adventure though and at least they didn’t get lost in Terminal 5 or end up in Instanbul!Bob Childs

Badly dented

MD Bob Childs told 4BR that despite the efforts of the Dutch aviation industry things turned out just about OK. “We even had to pay £700 excess baggage charge, so we were a bit disappointed to find two of the basses badly dented and the bells creased and more than a bit surprised to find one missing!”

Quick repairs

Some quick repairs and a return trip to the airport to meet the errant tuba meant that the band were able to rehearse with a full compliment of basses though.

“Thankfully, the basses were still playable, although they will have to be repaired when we return home and we will need new cases for them too. It’s all part of the European adventure though and at least they didn’t get lost in Terminal 5 or end up in Instanbul!”