St.Patrick's Day Parade We will be marching in the New Haven, St.Patrick's Day Parade.. Sunday, March 14, 2010. Get there by NOON. Parade steps off at 1:00 P.M. This is a map of the STAGING AREA. We are at the very front of the parade ... AHEAD of the first Division!. Our staging area is on Chapel Street between Norton Street and Ellsworth Street. just left of the RED STAR on the map above and ending at Orange & Grove Streets The parade goes all the way down Chapel Street into the center of the city., turns left at Church Street, past the Reviewing Stand, and then turns right on Grove, right again on Orange at the parking lot. Reviewing Stand is at the Town Hall on Church Street..For those who like to park at the end of the parade, there is a good sized lot at the corner of Grove & Orange Streets. Rain, Rain, GO AWAY!!! This quote is from the parade orders. "In case of the cancellation of the parade due to inclement weather, an announcement will be on News Channel 8/WTNH-TV, WPLR Radio Station 99.1 FM. Phone information will be available from Walter J. Nester, Jr., Parade Chairman (Cell 203-671-7206); h: 203-239-9956) no later than 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 14, 2010." CAR POOLING: coming from North Coventry (Rt 44): As soon as you get through Bolton Notch, There is a commuter lot on the right where the old drive-in movies used to be.. THAT car pool will be leaving at 10:45am. It will proceed to to Silver lane to the second commuter parking lot in the vicinity of 1269 Silver Lane (Candy"s house)where we will join up IF YOU ARE DRIVING ... From Hartford, Get on I-91 SOUTH. Get off on Exit 3 towards Trumbull Street. Veer slightly right towards Orange Street ... turn LEFT into Orange street and proceed to the parking lot at the intersection with Grove Street. There will be shuttle busses at that AT & T lot(from 11:00 am to 12:45 pm for delivery to Sherman Avenue) . Check back with this site for more information as we receive it., Here is some welcomed news: Marching orders for St. Patrick's Day come with a bold-faced warning: "This year the drinking of alcoholic beverages will not be allowed on the parade route." The warning was sent out to parade participants in a letter from the New Haven police department last week. "Public drinking laws will be enforced. The Police will be making public drinking arrests along the parade route," the letter warns. It's part of a campaign to publicize a new policy this year. Instead of turning a "blind eye," police plan to crack down on public drinking at the annual Irish pride event on March 14. The following tunes are considered "Irish enough" to be played along the parade route during this parade: Minstrel Boy Annie Laurie White Cockade Girl I Left Behind St.Patrick's Day in the Morning Oh Dear, What can the Matter be? Irish Lilt .. FORGET about Irish Lilt ... It is now "a tune we USED TO play. Rakes of Mallow Haste to the Wedding Soldier's Joy Harvest Home By popular Demand ... Captain McIntosh ... the Irish version of Captain MAC Intosh. I have listed them in, what I think, is their order of difficulty, so ... learn the easy ones first and we will probably be sure of at least five strong tunes. Let's start brushing them off now so we can do ourselves proud. While you are sitting there thinking about the New Haven Parade .... How is your UNIFORM? missing any buttons, socks, shoe buckles, etc.? NOW, is the time to check and call or EMAIL Carla (Acting Quartermaster) ... Contact Carla by e mail right here. If you really insist ...: Call her on the Phone at: 860-742-5595. DO IT NOW!

Dues, Dues, Dues, Dues Just a reminder ...the 2010 Dues are due. $15 for an individual, and $20 for a family. This is a real bargain if you are more than one person... Please try to bring your dues in to one of the practices this month. Get another family member to join up. Learn to play a fife, a drum, a Musket , or a cannon! Free lessons !!! (If you joined during the last quarter of 2009, your dues are covered for the 2010 season.)

Diane & I, Tuesday, Jan 12, on Wachusetts Mountain. The skiing was GREAT!.

Where and When to See the

Nathan Hale Ancient Fifes & Drums Corps

Performing During 2009

For the convenience of our members and associates, this site also lists our internal events such as meetings, practices., etc.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE ..I need to be informed of any changes in a TIMELY MANNER. If I get NADA for input, NADA is what this site is going to be worth in terms of values to our membership,

Our Official Schedule

Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast

Color Code

Parades & Performances are in Blue Meetings are in Bright Red Practices are in Black Comments are in Green

• Sunday, January 10, Executive Committee Meetting... 5:00 P.M. Sharp

• Sunday, January 10. Practice 6:30... Welcome back...!.

• Sunday, January 17, Practice 6:30

• Sunday, January 24. Practice 6:30...

• Sunday, January 31. Practice 6:30...

• Sunday, February 7. Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,February 14. NO Practice 6:30...
  Enjoy some time with your loved ones

• Sunday, February 21, Executive Committee Meeting..5:00 P.M. Sharp

• Sunday,February 21. Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,February 28. Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,March 7, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday, March 14, St. Patrick's Day Parade, New Haven, Steps off 1:00 P.M.

• Sunday,March 14, NO Practice .

• Sunday,March 21, Executive Committee Meeting.. 5:00 P.M. Sharp

• Sunday,March 21, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,March 28, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,April 4, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday, April 11, Executive Committee Meeting.. 5:00 P.M. Sharp

• Sunday, April 11, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,April 18 Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,April 25, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,May 2, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,May 9, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday, May 16, Executive Committee Meeting.. 5:00 P.M. Sharp

• Sunday,May 16, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,May 30, Memorial Day Parade, Tolland 1:00 P.M. ...NO Practice .

• Sunday,May 31, Monday, Memorial Day Parade Coventry, Get there by 9:00 A.M., Parade steps off at 10-00 A.M.

• Sunday,June 6, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday, June 13, Executive Committee Meeting.. 5:00 P.M. Sharp

• Sunday,June 13, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,June 20, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,June 27, Practice 6:30...

• Monday,July 5, Parade, Columbia Arrive by 9, parade at 10.

• Sunday, July 11, Executive Committee Meeting.. 5:00 P.M. Sharp

• Sunday,July 11, Practice 6:30...
  

• The Muster Dates are just place marks for the dates:

• July 17, Deep River Muster
  

• Sunday,July 18, Practice 6:30...

• July 24 Encampment, Nathan Hale Homestead

• July 25 Nathan Hale Ancient Muster at the Nathan Hale Homestead

• Sunday,August 1, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday, August 8, Executive Committee Meeting.. 5:00 P.M. Sharp

• Sunday,August 8, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,August 15, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,August 15, Practice 6:30...

• August 28, Westbrook Muster, Parade steps off at 11 A.M.

• Sunday,August 29, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,September 5, Practice 6:30...
  

• Sunday, September 12, Executive Committee Meeting.. 5:00 P.M. Sharp

• Sunday,September 12, Practice 6:30...

• Saturday, Drummer's Call, Olde Sturbriidge Village... All day event with set-up Start 9:30 A.M.

• Sunday,September 19, Practice 6:30...

• Wednesday, Sept 22, Nathan Hale Homestead.. Ed, Bob, Carla, & Mark

• Sunday,September 26, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,October 3, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday, October 10, Executive Committee Meeting.. 5:00 P.M. Sharp

• Sunday,October 10, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,October 17, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,October 24, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,October 31, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday,November 7, CT. Veteran's Day Parade ...12:00 NOON NO Practice ...

• Sunday, November 14, Executive Committee Meeting..5:00 P.M. Sharp

• Sunday,November 14, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday, November 21 Special Annual Meeting with the Trustees & Membership

• Sunday,December 5, Practice 6:30...

• Sunday, December 12, Executive Committee Meeting..

• Sunday,October 12, Practice 6:30...

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See something wrong? Have something that should be added? NOW?

Then, Contact Bob Castillo RIGHT NOW / RIGHT HERE!

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The winners of the five Band Contests at the 2009 Connecticut Veterans Day Parade have been announced. More than 25 different musical units marched through Downtown Hartford in the Sunday, November 8 parade, including college, high school and middle school bands, pipe and drum, and fife and drum bands. A judging panel selected one winner in each of five categories. Each band will receive a trophy from parade organizers. The winners of the 2009 Connecticut Veterans Day Parade Band Awards are: 1) Frank Falalan Memorial Award For Best Pipe & Drum Corps goes to The Connecticut Firefighter Pipes and Drums Band. 2) Best Fife And Drum Corps Award goes to Nathan Hale Ancient Fifes & Drums. 3) Best Middle School Band goes to Hartford Magnet Middle School Marching Band. 4) Best High School Band goes to Rockville High School Band. 5) Best Parade Spirit goes to The University of Connecticut Marching Band. More than 4,000 marchers marched in Sunday's 10th annual "Connecticut Veterans Day Parade" and an estimated 45,000 spectators cheered them on. The event is the largest veterans parade in New England and is one of the largest salutes to veterans in the entire U.S. For more information about the annual Connecticut Veterans Day Parade, go to www.ctveteransdayparade.org or call 860-986-7254.

After Action Report ... 2009 Annual Meeting and End-of -Year-Feel-Good Party WOW! Right on the heels of the very successful Connecticut Veteran's Day Parade in Hartford, last Saturday ... We just held one of the best Annual Meetings in recent memory, and we held it in our own Headquarters Building! Our Executive Committee submitted all of their Annual Reports to our re-established Board of Governors/Trustees. Following the Pledge of Allegiance to our Flag, retiring, long-time Board Member, Mr. John Lacek turned over the financial records and documents to their new Treasurer, Ms. Heather Carl of the North Coventry Fire Department. Present also were Mr. Frank Libby of the Coventry Volunteer Fire Association and Mr. David Dutka of the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church of Coventry. I am planning to set up a link to a separate site where I will post the written Annual Reports in my possession, and perhaps the verbal reports from the Secretary's minutes of the meeting. It was a very moving meeting ending with Three rousing Cheers to our recently departed, Gene Wilson. We shook the rafters with that one! Overall ... The meeting was very positive, upbeat and focused on the road ahead. The afternoon was then topped off with a catered buffet featuring some reallly great food! For anyone who missed it ... Here is the After-Action Report from the Veteran's Day Parade. Quoting the news clipping above from the Sunday, Hartford Courant, November 15 ,,, "More than 4,000 marchers marched in Sunday's 10th annual "Connecticut Veterans Day Parade" and an estimated 45,000 spectators cheered them on. The event is the largest veterans parade in New England and is one of the largest salutes to veterans in the entire U.S. " And guess what, folks? Best Fife And Drum Corps Award went to the Nathan Hale Ancient Fifes & Drums.!!!!! We received a very impressive trophy to add to our collection from years past. We will have it on display at our annual meeting this coming Sunday. Thanks to all for a terrific job at this parade. We did have some serious competition for this award. Other fife & drum units in the parade included the huge and always impressive Mattatuck Drum Corps, The Connecticut Valley Field Music, The champion junior corps, Windsor Junior Ancient Fife & Drum Corps, Westbrook Drum Corps.,, etc. Stay tuned! Bob Castillo

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NEW! Check out our Photo Gallery. Click Here to Visit the Gallery

I will keep adding to it throughout the season. If you HAVE a picture or Pictures you would like included just send them to me...

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OUR 2009 VIDEOS!!

Please Note: These videos take about two ticks and one tock longer than forever to load onto your machine ...but they are well worth the time. I am sorry they do take so long, but, I had nothing to do with the design of the internet... or your PC for that matter.. You can download the individual clips by right-clicking and choosing to "Save Target As ..." to some place on your own hard drive. By doing so, you can avoid the annoying interruptions that occur while downloading and playing on the fly while online.

2009 Annual Meeting, November 22, 2009

This video shows the Headquarters Building and the setup for the Annual Meeting.

Here we are, just before the meeting.

Worcester Columbus Day Parade October 11, 2009

Parade staging area. Carla with some news. (I think) ... She would not tell me..?
Informal Group of Nathan Hale Corps Members

Mark & Dan ...Close-ups

Rebecca crashed ... !! Again ????
What is going on here?

General fun and games before the start of parade. I like the fieretruck "bench"

Sudbury Muster & Colonial Faire, Septmber 25, 2009

Sudbury Muster and Colonial Faire
Informal Group of Nathan Hale Corps Members

Sudbury Muster and Colonial Faire
Rebecca crashed ... !! trashed ????
What is going on here?

Mark showing the same symptoms as Rebecca!
What was in that cider?????

Sudbury Muster & Colonial Faire
September 25, 2009
Kentish Guards Entering to Champlain Quick Step

Sudbury Muster & Colonial Faire
September 25, 2009
Kentish Guards, Performance

Sudbury Muster & Colonial Faire
September 25, 2009
Kentish Guards Exit playing Pleasures of Spa

Sudbury Muster & Colonial Faire
September 25, 2009
Grand Replubic and Cap

Sudbury Muster & Colonial Faire
September 25, 2009
Grand Replubic Finale & Exit

Sudbury Muster & Colonial Faire
September 25, 2009
Scanning the Scene

Drummer's Call at Old Sturbridge Village, Septmber 13, 2009

Sturbridge Village Martial Musicians

Blackstone Valley Martial Musicians

Gabby working the water pump detail.

Our Fire Tender and scenes around our encampment

Peter Emerick, short clip at start of presentation

Peter Emerick, ""The Story of Fife & Drum in New England from the American Revolution to the Present".
(This clip REALLY takes a while to load but it is well worth it.)

Battles, 2009 Encampment, Nathan Hale Homestead

The Morning Battle

The Afternoon Battle

Muster 2009 at the Nathan Hale Homestead

Corps ... All Entering the Field

Nathan Hale Ancient Fifes & Drums ... Opening the Muster

Nathan Hale 2009 Stand Piece, Alumni Medley, Marquis of Granby Entrance

Marquis of Granby Jr. Ancient Fyfe & Drum Corps, Windsor JR Ancient F&DC Entrance

Windsor Stand Piece

The rest of Windsor F&DC Performance

Colchester Continentals,CT Valley Field Music, Sailing Masters of 1812

Westbrook Drum Corps, Milford Volunteers, Col. John Chester Jr. Ancient F&DC
And the Grtand Finale with formation f the Circle of Friendship

The Grand Jolification A.K.A. The Jam Session

Westbrook 2009 Muster

Geese Eaters from Basel Switzerland playing first Medley

Geese Eaters from Basel Switzerland playing second Medley

Geese Eaters from Basel Switzerland playing third Medley

The Ancient Mariners Friday Night Tattoo 2009

The Old Guard, U.S.Army 3rd Infantry. Saturday 2009 Performance

Miscellaneous Clips

F-Troop, Deep River Ancient Muster 2009, Clip #1

The "Troop", Playing York Fusiliers.

This clip and the next one give a pretty good example of "What the heck is an F-Troop? " Answer: members of all different corps who have just marched the parade with their own units, running back to the beginning of the parade route and now massed together playing "traditional tunes".

F-Troop, Deep River Ancient Muster, 2009, Clip #2

The "Troop", Playing Sailor's Hornpipe.

Christmas in Coventry, CT Parade, 2007

MIlford,Ct Parade, June 2008, Clip #1

MIlford,Ct Parade, June 2008, Clip #2

If you got this far looking at the videos, AND ... you are really, really bored, you might want to view these little clips of me (Bob Castillo) drumming ! LongMarch. ... In this first clip, I play The Long March or Open Beating Number 4 from the Massachusetts Collection, followed by Open Beating Number 3 and Open Beating Number 2. HalfTime ... In this second clip, I play the following: The Connecticut Half-Time, An Irish Lilt, (original composition), The Rudimenter by Earl Sturtze, The Downfall of Paris (with a horse-fly attack!), The Army 2/4 with the fillers, Crazy Army 2/4 with the fillers by Ed Lemley, Billy Budd by Eddie Classey, Some original stuff ripped off the top of my head on the fly, The Happy Fifer by Eddie Classie, and Ol'Dan Tucker (all THREE parts)..

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STRESS For the Good of the Corps I would like for each member of The Nathan Hale Ancient Fifes & Drums to take this little test to determine if YOU might be getting stressed out. I am not sure exactly how it works, but this is amazingly accurate. Read the full description before looking at the picture. The picture below has 2 identical dolphins in it. It was used in a case study on stress levels at St. Mary's Hospital. Look at both dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are identical. A closely monitored, scientific study revealed that, in spite of the fact that the dolphins are identical, a person under stress would find differences in the two dolphins. The more differences a person finds between the dolphins, the more stress that person is experiencing. Look at the photograph and if you find more than two differences you may want to take a vacation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway..

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From our Executive Officers ..... Quartermaster ... Carla Kennedy The Executive Board is in the process of creating a "Fixed Asset Inventory" for the Corps, and everyone's help is needed. If you can, please complete and sign one form per person and indicate what Corps uniform pieces, equipment, and property you have in your possession. If you find you have anything "extra" please feel free to bring it to the We attempted to get this information in during the Encampment Weekend, but we probably had too much on the burners at that time. Please get this done as soon as possible. Additional copies of this form may be obtained from Carla at any practice, in case you did not get a copy in your e mail.. Once you have turned in your form, your name will be checked off acknowledging receipt of the inventory you possess. Not only will this information inform the Executive Board as to what we have left in our possession, it will assist us in identifying uniform needs and making decisions to replace and distribute equipment as needed. The music is ready for our 2010 Stand Piece! Some new stuff in there. SOme easy ... some of it is going to take a little more effort. Come to practice and get your copies. I decided to put this out now, rather than wait until mid winter. PLEASE, make your comments, desires or interests known to me.. (Bob Castillo at CtConnection01@aol.com) Thanks. Return to Top Of Page

I HAVE TO ASK ... Maybe, there is someone out there in the Nathan Hale extended family reading these words , who just might have a hidden (or repressed) passion for announcing stuff for the corps at some of our events. I am not suggestiing any of you quit your day jobs to do this, but if you think you might like to help us out in this way, PLEASE, make your desires or interests known to me.. (Bob Castillo at CtConnection01@aol.com)

If you have an interest in joining us, arranging for an appearance at your event, or simply desire more information, feel free to write to: Nathan Hale Ancient Fifes And Drums, P.O.Box 1776, Coventry, Ct. 06238.....
or... Contact Bob Castillo by e mail

Feel free to visit our WEB SITE

It is my solemn duty to inform you that there are now

Days to endure before
The 2010 Deep River Ancient Muster !
July 17, 2010

AND ..................

Days to endure before
The 2010 Nathan Hale Ancient Fife & Drum Muster !
July 24, 2010
AND ..................

Days to endure before
The 2010 Westbrook Muster !
August 28, 2010

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The Tune "Yankee Doodle" was digitized for us by Mr. Kerby Lovallo, and is from our own CD ...

MUSIC OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

This wonderful CD is available online at the Liberty Bell Museum, Gift Shop While you are there, make sure to look over the rest of this very unique store.

Page Created and Maintained by Bob Castillo