West Boca High had some prominent visitors this morning. The headliner was Duncan Sandys, the past Lord Mayor of Westminster, and great grandson of Winston Churchill. Sandys spoke to the members of the Vanguard (the school band) as well as some band parents and others in attendance.
Here’s a video of Sandys entering to music performed by the Vanguard:
As a patron of the London New Years Day Parade, Sandys delivered the formal invitation for the Vanguard to perform in the upcoming parade.
Here’s part of his speech:
And here’s our best shot of the Lord Mayor at the podium as he was speaking:
London’s New Year’s Day Parade has evolved into one of the world’s great street spectaculars with up to 10,000 performers from across continents, hundreds of thousands of spectators, and a ‘live’ TV audience of several hundred million.
During the portion of the event held in the theater, Sandys presented gifts to various people including the drum majors and band director Larry Shane.
There were some “big wigs” in attendance including city council member Robert S. Weinroth (far right in the picture below):
Oddly none of the elected officials who represent the West Boca High school district attended. We did not see County Commissioner Mary Lou Berger, our state House or Senate representative, nor congressman Deutch who lives across the street in Boca Falls. The only exception was school board member Frank Barbieri.
The event then moved into the school cafeteria where students mobbed Sandys.
The school’s Culinary academy provided key lime tarts and scones for the event. The scones were pretty good and the tarts were outstanding.
Some students were also interviewed by local media:
The Vanguard now has to work on raising money to fund the trip. It’s expected to cost a little more than $3000 per student and they’re hoping to raise $300,000, with an active group of band moms working to make it happen.
