Royal Marines Band Service complete gruelling challenges to support colleague with MND

The News, Portsmouth

Money is being raised for Sophie Ward, who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease at 26-years-old. https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/26forsoph

Transcript

00:00Three, two, one, steady now.

00:28One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

00:41Let's go five seconds.

00:44Two, one, let's go.

00:48One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

01:02Five seconds.

01:05Two, one, let's go.

01:09Good.

01:12Ten seconds.

01:16Good guys, keep it up.

01:19Five.

01:22And seven.

01:24One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

01:40Come on, keep it up.

01:41Come on, keep it up.

01:42Keep it up.

01:43Keep it up.

01:44Get this right.

01:46Good.

01:47Keep it up.

01:51Good job, everyone.

01:52Keep it up, guys.

01:54Three, two, one, let's go.

01:57Good.

02:00One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

02:10One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

02:21One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

02:27One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

02:33Let's go, three, two, one.

02:37Thank you for coming.

02:42Thank you for coming.

02:45So yeah, it's certainly been a good start to the day.

02:49We started at ten to six this morning, and it's going to be going right through until

02:55eight o'clock this morning.

02:56So, we've got a lot of variety, haven't we, of circuits throughout the day.

03:02Yeah, pretty intense stuff.

03:03I mean, you saw there, a lot of CV, a lot of jumping around.

03:05So obviously 26 hours of it, gotta pace ourselves,

03:07make sure we can get all the way through.

03:09And obviously you've got so many tasks to do,

03:13and are you guys planning to do all of the courses?

03:16Obviously you can dip in and out as and when.

03:17Yes, we're giving it a go, yeah.

03:19Yeah, certainly as much as we can, yeah,

03:21throughout the day, right till, let's say,

03:23eight o'clock tomorrow morning.

03:23So it's gonna be a long few sessions,

03:26but all for a good cause.

03:28And what did you think of the Sophie Ward campaign?

03:30So obviously being diagnosed with

03:31motor neurone disease at 26 is definitely a shock.

03:35What do you think of all the musicians

03:36rallying around the cause?

03:38I think it's really great.

03:39I mean, I didn't know her personally,

03:40but it's really nice to see people

03:41from across the whole country coming together

03:42to support her, doing their own little bits,

03:44a lot of exercise, a lot of sort of having her around.

03:47James, you know her personally,

03:48I don't know if you've got more to say.

03:49Yeah, it's been great support.

03:52You know, one of my colleagues

03:53was on holiday in New Zealand,

03:54and even out there she managed to do fundraising.

03:56So it's had great support throughout,

03:58and yeah, it's been really well received.

04:00It must be a bit more emotionally

04:02tasking for yourself, James,

04:03just knowing her personally,

04:04going through training and so on.

04:05Yeah, it's very sad news.

04:08You know, because we're both the same age,

04:10and she's a great flute player and stuff,

04:11and yeah, it's certainly hit the band service quite hard.

04:16And what do you guys think

04:16of how much money you've raised so far?

04:18Because it's getting quite up there

04:19in terms of the amount of donations you guys have had.

04:21Yeah, I think it's really nice to see people

04:23like really coming together to support the band service

04:25and all these charities that help support Sophie,

04:27and all the charities that these activities

04:29have really helped support.

04:31I think it's really nice to see

04:31the support people are giving her.

04:34Yeah, fantastic.

04:34I mean, it's amazing what, you know,

04:35when everyone pulls together

04:36and just does everything that they can,

04:39even if it's just a little bit here and there,

04:40it all adds up to a big final picture.

04:43And which exercise are you looking forward to next?

04:44Obviously, you've got yoga at 11,

04:46but which other exercise in the future

04:48are you most looking forward to doing?

04:49I think Pilates at two o'clock with the bandmaster

04:51is certainly going to be a crowd favourite.

04:53Yeah, definitely a highlight, I reckon.

04:57It was quite hard, but it's still going,

04:59because we've already done like four other ones so far.

05:03So yeah, we just keep on going

05:06and make sure we're not getting tired

05:08throughout the whole thing.

05:09Is it all getting a bit intense?

05:10It is quite intense, yeah.

05:12So we've never really done anything like this before, so.

05:16Do you think this will help you

05:17with your music career in the future,

05:18since you have to be enduring time

05:19to be able to go through all those tasks

05:21one after another?

05:21Yeah, I suppose sport does link up with music quite a lot

05:26in the sense of like the mental side of it.

05:29Being calm under pressure

05:31and trying not to get like overwhelmed, I suppose.

05:37And what are your thoughts on that?

05:38Well, I'm not really a morning person,

05:40so waking up really early this morning has been hard.

05:45Yeah, it's just very-

05:47Do you not imagine doing burpees at just before bed?

05:49No, I mean, I think the first circuit we did,

05:51I wasn't actually fully awake yet, so yeah.

05:55And what do you guys think of the Sophie Wall campaign?

05:57Obviously, the guys have mentioned

05:58that it's hit the Royal Marines Band Service very hard,

06:01and because being diagnosed with motor neurone disease

06:03at 26 is quite a shock.

06:04Was it a shocking moment for yourselves

06:05to hear that news?

06:06Yeah, it's quite shocking in the sense

06:08of how young she was, and we're not really that far,

06:12like age-wise, from how old Sophie was.

06:14But yeah, it's nice to see everyone's support

06:18and how much money we've actually raised.

06:22And what do you think of the campaign?

06:24Yeah, I was pretty shocked,

06:26especially those that were in training with her.

06:30It must be really hard.

06:31I compared it to if it was one of my friends

06:34that I went through training with and how I'd feel,

06:36so trying to just do my bit to help support everyone else.

06:40And what do you guys think of the fundraising campaign?

06:42Because everyone's fully involved from different bases,

06:45and a lot of money's certainly been raised, hasn't it?

06:47Yeah, I think some of the things

06:50that people are doing are quite crazy.

06:51Like, obviously, this, what we're doing is quite crazy.

06:54I know that Collingwood Choir of Drums

06:56just did, I think, 26 hours of drumming,

06:59which is pretty intense, yeah.

07:04And are you guys planning to do all of the courses

07:07that are linked on there, all the exercises,

07:08or do you think you might drop out a little bit?

07:10I think we're planning on staying.

07:11Last night, we were packing,

07:13packing as if we were going on holiday

07:15for probably about a week,

07:16and we were only just coming down here.

07:19We've got, yeah, sleeping bags,

07:22so just in case you don't want to stay.

07:2420-minute power nap.

07:27So, Charlotte, you've just led the guys

07:28on their first HIIT workout, one of many to come.

07:32How do you think they all did?

07:33Yeah, they did really well.

07:34So, we've had quite a few intense workouts so far

07:38on our fifth one, so a high-intensity workout,

07:41workout five was, yeah, quite a lot for them,

07:43but they did really well.

07:45We have a few low-intensity ones coming up,

07:48so we've got yoga, Pilates,

07:50and then we ramp it up again with quite a few hard workouts.

07:54How do you think the musicians are doing?

07:56Some of them are planning to do all of them in succession,

07:59all the way for 26 hours.

08:00How do you think they'll do?

08:02Great.

08:03I think they support each other well.

08:04They've all got all their snacks, sleeping bags.

08:07They've got a lovely little area

08:08where they can chill out for the 20 minutes off,

08:12and, yeah, if they manage to get us sleeping

08:14in that 20 minutes.

08:15So, yeah, I think they'll do well.

08:16I've got about 18 to 20 signed up for the whole 26 hours.

08:21And what do you think about organising it all

08:23for a good cause?

08:24It must have been a big thing.

08:25Yeah, well, it seemed like the right thing to do

08:27for the school to do something challenging.

08:30We were gonna do something challenging either way,

08:33but I think, yeah, the 26 workouts make sense

08:36because we do a lot of physical training with the trainees,

08:40and I think it's a good challenge for them.

08:43And, Sue, what do you think

08:44of all the musicians getting involved in this?

08:46Yeah, they're doing really well.

08:47Really proud of the way

08:49that they've approached the challenge so far,

08:51and it's great that the School of Music can carry on

08:54the great work that the band service has been doing.

08:56Many of you may have seen over the Edinburgh Tattoo

08:58when a lot of the campaign started.

09:01Many may be following along on our Instagram channel

09:03that's dedicated to it, 26 for Soph.

09:05So it's great that we've now had the opportunity

09:07as a school of music to now do our bit

09:08towards a really worthy cause.

09:11And what do you think of the campaign itself?

09:12Because it hasn't just been going on, like you mentioned,

09:14has been just going on here at the School of Music

09:16or HMS Commonwealth.

09:17It's been quite a worldwide thing, hasn't it?

09:19Certainly, yeah.

09:20The band service reach has certainly been global,

09:22as it were.

09:23But certainly there's been activity going on

09:24up in Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Tattoo,

09:26and all of the five areas

09:28of the Bournemouth Band Service have been taking their part

09:30and doing, as LPT Fallon said,

09:32some pretty crazy challenges.

09:33So it's great that we've been able to do our bit as well.

09:36And does it mean a lot also to support Soph and Rich,

09:39obviously vital members of the band service for them?

09:41Yeah, it absolutely does.

09:42The situation is obviously devastating for them,

09:44and it's just a small thing,

09:46a relatively small thing that the band service can do

09:49to raise awareness of the MD&A Association

09:52and also raise money for them,

09:54and also for the RMA, the Women's Charity,

09:56and the RNRC that are also helping the family

09:58in such a terrible time for them.

10:01So good that they've got that support alongside.

10:04Now, try and touch the ground, okay?

10:08And then roll all the way back again, okay?

10:12And then roll the shoulders around again.

10:13Good.

10:14Do this a few times and loosen up.

10:18Good.

10:18And again.

10:22Nice.

10:23So while we're doing this,

10:24try and concentrate on your breathing as well.

10:27So nice, deep breaths in.

10:32And out.

10:34Good.

10:35Okay, so we're gonna go for the shoulders again.

10:36Roll them forward.

10:38Roll down.

10:41That's it.

10:42All the way down.

10:44Between the floor.

10:46And then slowly back up again.

10:48Good.

10:49Okay, one more stretch up to the sky.

10:52All the way around.

10:53Well done.

10:55Good, and again.

10:56And around.

10:57Good.

10:59Nice.

11:00Okay, change legs.

11:05Good, all the way up.

11:08Again.

11:10Move over to the left.

11:13Nice.

11:14And then over to the right.

11:18Good, and then we're gonna go back into this position here

11:21where we're pushing our chests into the sky.

11:24Good.

11:28Good, and then back to child pose.

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