DCBBA Picnic In The….. Not So Park….

On Sunday 5^th July it should have been the DCBBA’s annual entertainment contest, Picnic in the Park. This is always a popular event held in the grounds of Houghall College on the outskirts of Durham City. This year, however, it was not to be and instead of letting the day go by the association put a call out to it’s members to see if they would like to submit a video of a performance for use in a virtual ‘contest’.

The initial idea came from Helen Douthwaite-Teasdale, who put the idea to association secretary Jo Wright. The first contact with member bands was a quick message on our Facebook page to see if there would be any interest and within a few minutes it was clear that the idea was going to work. Over the next 4 weeks bands submitted old contest performances, social distancing videos, concert performances and even an entire performance from last year’s event!

Jo stated, ‘I was completely blown away by the enthusiasm and encouragement bands were showing each other to get their videos entered’.

In total, 32 videos were submitted by 12 association bands and Matthew Hunt was then tasked with piecing the videos together to be premiered across the day that would have been the contest. In anticipation of the event DCBBA set up a YouTube channel which will continue to be used for association bands to showcase their recorded and live performances as we return back to the bandrooms hopefully in the not too distant future.

‘The aim of the event was never to replicate the contest but to showcase the talented bands we have across the association and I am so proud of what we all achieved for this virtual event to be so successful’ Jo Wright.

The videos will remain on the association YouTube channel which can be accessed by searching for DCBBA Channel. More videos will be added in the coming days and association bands will have access to this channel as a means of further promoting their engagements.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCyKSerJuPESv0xQgT-kLLg