Magna Carta Day 2016 at Egham.

We went to Egham Magna Carta day which I haven't been able to get to for a few years.

Egham band were in fine form on the opening parade;

And then gave us a rousing performance to open up the music;

This is actually the new Junior band with a few performers from the highly professional seniors helping out;

The Junior band was formed out of the training band and they are now in the process of forming a new training band for beginners.

The highlight of Egham fair for me has always been the music, which in the past was very varied and exciting. It meant that the event was something special.

Even though this year there were three sound stages, the choice of music was fairy dull.

Don't get me wrong - I like a brass band and it's definitely part of the English summer;

And under their conductor they are a very professional outfit;

I also enjoyed The Juma Steel Band who did their best to bring some sunshine to a dull day;

We looked at the stalls and ate cake and eventually got heavily rained on too!

But the local area has a wealth of talent, most of whom are desperate for a chance to perform. Instead we seemed to get a lot of mock country and western music - safe and boring.

Dripping wet, we ended up drifting home.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)