Bracken Cavaliers

Announcement
Bracken still has a busy second half of the year coming up. We will be performing at the Delaware Valley Veterans Retirement Home on July 22. On August 12 we will be playing for the Paramus Veterans Retirement Home. August 13 we will be performing for our sponsor, The Bristol Cultural and Historical Foundation, at their Peach Festival. On August 19 we will be performing for the Birches Retirement Village in Newtown PA. October 21 is Bristol Day. As always we will be performing at the Lions Gazebo by the Delaware River. We end our season with Christmas Parades Thanksgiving weekend through the first weekend in December.

Announcement
Bracken will be performing at 2023 GAS on May 6th. We are playing songs arranged by former Bracken arrangers and instructors, Bob and Don Adair. We are dedicating our show to the memory of our long time member Bert Adamson who recently passed away.

Announcement
At Brackens end or the year Christmas Party, we gained a new sponsor, The Bristol Cultural and Historical Foundation. We made a donation of $500 to the foundation. We thank the BCHF for the long and continued support of our corps and look forward to a long lasting relationship. To find out about more about them please click on their link in our Sponsors and Friends page.

Announcement
Brackens has openings in all sections. Must be 18 and older. We play on G Bugles and since our age and body pains prohibit us to march, we do parades on a float. WE have about 8 parades, several festivals and a tour of servicemen retirement homes on our schedule. Once a year we take a trip somewhere out of our local area to have some fun sightseeing and performing at retirement homes for our service men and women. Last year we spent 4 days in Washington DC and had the opportunity to go to the Marine Barracks to see their nighttime retreat. This year we are traveling to Norfolk RI for several days to perform and have some fun.

Email brackendirector@gmail.com if interested.

Announcement
After 2 years of planning and working on a new musical youth organization for kids with Diverse Needs in the Bristol area, known as Diversity, we had to abandon our mission due to a fairly new Pennsylvania law known as the Sandusky Law. This law stands on its merit on protecting minors under the age of 18 in any sports and programs like ours in Pennsylvania, it puts too many responsibilities on our corps members and has harsh penalties if the organization is found not to abide by all the parts of its law.

Announcement
Saturday, May 9 2022, was sad day for alumni corps in the Philadelphia area. The SJ Vagabonds has decided to fold their organization. They provided some great performances throughout the last 10 years and they will be missed.
They decided to donate all their equipment to our new youth organization for those with different needs “Diversity”. We thank you for your generosity. It is deeply appreciated.

Announcement
Bracken wishes the best for Bert Adamson as he has decided to age out. He has always been a part of Bracken since the age of 10. He has been a member, a drum instructor, an administrator and a board member. Without his dedication and commitment, Bracken would not be the corps it is and would not be around today. Thank you Bert for ALL that you have done.

Getting ready for 2022

As we get ready for the end of our 2021 season finishing a highly successful return from Covid, I would like to thank EVERYONE involved with Bracken, instructors, members and Board members for ALL their contributions and sacrifices made to make this return a success.

We are in need of some players to fill our hornline. Looking for 3 baritones, 1 mellophone, 3 sopranos and 1 contra. We play on g-horns and the music is well known and not that hard to play. Since we are older, we do not march but ride on a float in parades and do several concerts throughout the year. Starting in 2022, we plan do make at least 1 fun trip a year. One possible trip for 2022 will be to Washington DC.
Stay tuned for more info.

Looking ahead to 2022 Bracken has started a new entity named Diversity. It will be a corps for those with diverse (special) needs of all ages. We obtained our 501c3 Non Profit status and are in the process of finding a horn, a drum instructor and grants to help grow the new organization. We have instruments to start with. (Teachers must have experience with those with diverse needs). If you know anyone who would like to teach or help out by being part of the administration, they can contact me at brackendirector@gmail.com for more details.

Bracken is reconnecting with the Bristol Community. Bracken has been in Bristol since 1924, when the Robert W Bracken American Legion Post agreed to sponsor them. Since that day till today, they are still our sponsor. (Thank you not only for your service but for also sponsoring us for almost a century). Saying that Bracken just joined the Bristol Borough Businessmen's Association plus the Raise the Bar Association and will be more involved in the community.

Look for some fun fundraising events coming in 2022. Details to come.
So, as we start to fade from 2021, we look forward to our Christmas Parades (Bristol Nov 27 - Yardley Dec 4 - Newtown Dec 5). Come out, say hi. we love our fans and enjoy plying for all of you.

6/24/2021
Bracken is still looking to bring back their colorguard.

Our colorguard has been missing for far too long. So, calling all Bracken Guard Alumni and anyone else who would like to join Brackens Colorguard, we would like to hear from you. If you know any band directors who may like to have their colorguard stay active, please talk to them. I would love to have a guard in front of the corps. If you know anyone who would like to come out, whether from a High School band, drum corps or I never did but would like to, please email me at brackendirector@gmail.com or go to our website, brackencavaliers.org, and go to our contact page to join.

Thank You,
Phil Bigelow
Director, Bracken Cavaliers Alumni Drum Corps

A New Facebook Page has been created for
The Alumni Breakfast Club
Alumni Breakfast Club Philadelphia-Region
Our next meeting is August 6, 2021 at the Golden Eagle Diner
On Rt 13 in Bristol PA
https://www.facebook.com/Alumn...

BRACKEN is BACK

Bracken had a great rehearsal Tuesday night. We were playing strong the whole rehearsal.
We had an excellent turnout had a couple of people join. A great night overall
We are looking to fill a few of spots in the hornline. 3 Baritones and 1 in the mellophone line. In the drumline we would like to see 2 more snares, a tenor player and a straight bass drummer. If you would like to join us email Brackendirector@gmail.com

SAVE THE DATE, TUESDAY April 13, 2021.

We had a board meeting the other night and one of the discussions was about coming back.
Since vaccinations are becoming more readable, the state opening up a little more and the weather getting nicer, we have decided to reopen the corps. I am checking to see if we can hold practices outside at the train station in Bristol. We handed in a permission form when we first held our practices there, so I am hoping it is still in effect.
We will still hold to Covid Rules: outside, 6 feet apart, chairs wiped down before and after practices. With members getting their vaccine shots, we are hoping that we can have our 70% goal of vaccinated members. Due to Privacy matters, we are not going to ask for photo proof of the vaccination. Just send an email to Diane stating you got the vaccine.
We are looking to change our rehearsals to Tuesdays as there are commitments people have on Thursdays. Please let us know if Tuesdays are good for you. We want to have as many as members as possible to come out.
I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Thanks,
Phil Bigelow
Corps Director

Corps News

Bracken IS back in business

We have been asked to participate in 2 Memorial Day Parades, one on May 23 in Levittown and the other in Langhorne on May 31. The Post is telling us to do the parade instead of the Cemetery Memorial Service. Their only request is to have 2 members there for taps and echo. I need 2 volunteers for that.
More details to come. Check the Upcoming Events page for details.
We are still looking for members for the colorguard, brass (mostly baritones and a contra), and percussion. If anyone knows anyone who would like to join, please point them to our webpage to check us out and send an email to either Diane (brackenmail@comcast.net) or myself (brackendirector@gmail.com).
Thank you,
Phil

2/25/2021

Hi Everyone. I hope you are staying safe and are signing up to get the vaccine, those who can't get it that's OK but those who can, please do. Saying that it is very important the you send proof that you got the shot to Diane (brackenmail@comcast.net). We will open when we get 70% of the membership to show they got their vaccines. We need to keep a record of it. So after your second shot, please take a photo of your 2 shots and send it to Diane.

Second, for those who may not know, Bracken now has a webpage. brackencavaliers.org. On it I will be updating any relevant Corps news, posting our events, placing more media, posting about The Alumni Breakfast Club-Philadelphia Region news and events and if you know anyone who may want to join, we have a simple contact form they can use (Name-Email-and Instrument). I will be adding more content as we move on. So, if you haven't yet, go check it out, click around have some fun with it and let me know what you think. Is there something you would like to see? contact me. I'd like to add stories from the members and alumni about your corps experiences, serious, funny, just a short story, we can add it. Talking about moving on, with members getting their vaccines, we are hoping to be able to get up and running in the near future. We can at the least go over some parade songs and if we are asked to do a parade, we can say yes.

That's all for now. We will keep you up to date with all the news. Stay safe.

Thank you,
Phil

2/17/2021

Hi everyone. I hope you are doing well this new year. This is just a quick note that while we are still inactive for now, as soon as things start turning around we will be putting everything together to resume our practices. Please let me know if you are still on board with coming out. When we do get back together a couple of our priorities will be learning some new music, growing the corps and hopefully finding gigs. I have a feeling some things will start to open up by the end of spring.

We also would like to start a version of a new initiative, The Alumni Breakfast Club. The Alumni Breakfast Club was started in the Chicago-Madison-Racine area where they meet once a moth at a place and time for breakfast with not only Bracken members and alumni but with alumni for all the surrounding corps from the Philadelphia area, whether you marched in Pre DCI, DCI, Pre DCA or DCA. All are welcome to meet up with old friends, make new friends, share stories, relive some personal moments, highlite corps history, maybe even get a guest speaker once in a while. If your interested in joining in and want more information, please go to our Alumni Breakfast Club Page and sign up. Just a fun way to hang out.

Meanwhile I will be putting up a trivia questions on our Alumni Breakfast Club page each month just to have a little fun while we are stuck at home. Questions will span from Pre DCI/DCA to Early DCI/DCA. Please join in and try to give an answer even a partial answer is good.
Hoping to hear from everyone soon.

Thank you,
Phil Bigelow
Director