In rare visit, NC school band gets good news from Winston Churchill’s great-grandson
Sir Winston Churchill’s great-grandson visited Lake Norman High School on Wednesday to bestow the rarest of honors for a high school marching band anywhere in the world.
Sir Duncan Sandys (pronounced “SANDS”) holds the honorary title of former Lord Mayor of London.
As part of his official duties, he travels the world to present formal invitations to the most accomplished high school bands to perform in his city’s New Year’s Day parade.
So there he stood, at a podium on a stage at the high school off N.C. 150 and Doolie Road, looking out to the 100 or so band members. He was formally inviting them, he said, to join the “greatest event in the greatest city in the world,” an “exclusive and prestigious, world-famous event. Congratulations.”
Cheers and applause ensued.
In about 22 months, on Jan. 1, 2024, they’ll march with 10,000 other parade participants from 22 countries past the Palace of Westminster, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus.
Look twice when you pass the 12-foot-high statue of my great-grandfather on Parliament Square, Sandys told the band members. You might think he’s scowling at first glance, he said, but he’s really giving you a wink of approval for a performance well done.
By comparison, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City has about 4,000 participants, Bob Bone, founder and chairman of the London New Year’s Day Parade, told the Lake Norman High band members Wednesday.
About 750,000 spectators line the streets, while the parade is beamed to a potential global TV audience of 450 million people, he said.
‘They picked us’
The Lake Norman High band will represent Iredell-Statesville Schools and the state of North Carolina at the parade, band director Christopher Brown said.
Band members who will have graduated by the time of the parade are still eligible to participate, Bone said.
“Any other high school in the United States they could have picked, some big Texas band, or some band known over the world for something really cool,” said Lily Loughnene, a 17-year-old junior and oboist in the band. “But they picked us.”
The parade selects 16 bands from the U.S. each year, based on awards they’ve won and other achievements, Bone said. The Lake Norman High School Band also was selected to perform in 2009, he said.
The parade relies on 22 leading U.S. college music educators, band directors and others to scout and recommend the highest performing high school bands in the land, he said.
The parade started in 1987 and relies on high school marching bands from the U.S. and other countries because England has no tradition of such bands, Bone said.
Few other bands from the Charlotte area have been selected in recent years, according to Bone and a search of Charlotte Observer archives.
Hickory Ridge High School’s Blue Regiment Marching Band performed in the 2016 parade, Queen City News reported at the time. The school is in Harrisburg, Cabarrus County.
Let the fundraisers begin
.Lake Norman High Band members have already been organizing fundraisers to help pay for the trip, which will cost about $4,000 per student, parent Jennifer Colley, president of the LNHS Wildcat Band Booster Association, told the Observer.
A first annual LNHS and Middle School Bands mattress-sale fundraiser is scheduled for 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, March 19, at the high school, 186 Doolie Road.
This story was originally published February 21, 2022 at 6:00 AM.