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Quite a few Alumni corps members marched with,
or instructed, the Lancers: Dave Burgess (Drum
Major), Debi Lapointe (Lancers), Toby Frechette
(as Doug May, Lancers), Barrry Bell (music
director, Lancers, Carol Munro (Lancers), Glenda
Tokiwa (Lancers and Cadet Lancers), Kevin Clancy
(Cadet Lancers), Lorne Ferrazzutti (drum
instructor, Lancers and Cadet Lancers), Mark
Blandford (Lancers), Pat Buttigieg (Pat Tunney)
(Cadet Lancers), Ric Brown (drill instructor,
Lancers), Ron Chong (horn instructor, Lancers),
and Dick Brown (director, Lancers and Cadet
Lancers). |
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The Etobicoke Optimist Lancers
were formed in the autumn of 1969 and were the
creation of Richard (Dick) Brown. The Lancers
were to be a 'feeder corps' to the renowned
Toronto Optimists, a drum and bugle corps who
competed successfully at the Junior A level and
had multi-national titles to their credit.
In the spring of 1970, the fledging drum corps
from Etobicoke became known as the "Lancers" in
tribute to the 27th Lancers of Revere,
Massachusetts. The 'corps colours' were orange,
green and white complete with a rakish white
Australian style bush hat. As the summer of 1970
progressed - the Lancers forged into a very
strong street parade unit with a very strong
drum line, a competent horn line and a graceful
colour guard. A Drum Major (David Burgess) and
Colour Guard Captain (Debbie Brown) were
selected to complete the package. The repetoire
for that summer consisted of "Perot" and "Red
Sails in the Sunset". Highlighting the summer -
the Lancers had the honour of being the first
drum corps to play at Ontario Place for their
opening day celebration.
1971 saw the Lancers evolve into a very solid
and well received street parade unit. The Corps
added two new musical numbers to their repetoire
("Song of the Vagabonds" and that time honoured
Bob Dylan classic "Blowin' In The Wind") and the
song "Perot" was mercifully 'retired'! The
Lancers had their first taste of competition on
the field at the Ontario Provincial
Championships that summer. They competed in the
Standstill Class and placed second. It was a
terrific first time effort and made the Lancer
members interested in further competition
somewhere down the line.
The year 1972 was a banner year for the Lancers
Drum Corps. New musical numbers were added to
illustrate how much the Corps had progressed
with the additions of "Games People Play" and
"Wagon Wheels". Both songs featured soprano
bugle soloists (John Burgess and Scott McCabe
respectively doing the honours) for the first
time. The Lancers took their 'show' west that
summer and wowed the crowds at the Calgary
Stampede. Upon their return to Ontario, the
Lancers decided to try their luck again in
competition and entered into the Canadian
National Championship in the Standstill Class.
This time, their hard work and dedication was
rewarded with a First Place being awarded to the
"Orange, Green and White"! To top off that
victory, the Lancers also won the Canadian
National Street Parade Competition.
1973 saw the Lancers make the 'jump' to M&M
(marching and maneuvering) competition at the
Junior C level. Under the watchful eye of Russ
Blandford and the rest of the superb Lancer
instructional staff (including the likes of Bill
McLeod and Lorne Ferrazzutti), the Corps showed
that their years of dedication to marching in
countless street parades had paid off. The
Lancers kept "Games People Play" as their
off-the-line and "Wagon Wheels" as their exit
number. Added to this exciting mix was "Put Your
Hand In the Hand" (into concert), and "Aura
Lee/Cecilia" medley for the concert number and a
beautiful, stirring rendition of "British
Grenadiers" for their colour presentation. The
Lancers completed an undefeated season at the
Junior C level - capturing the "C" Canada title,
the provincial title, the Canadian National
Junior C title and repeating as the Canadian
National Street Parade champs.
1974 - After the successes of 1973, it seemed
only logical that the Lancers make that "big
jump" into the Open Class ranks and try
competing against such stellar drum corps as the
Etobicoke Crusaders, the Toronto Optimists and
De La Salle Oaklands just to name a few. The
Lancer staff decided to retain two "tried and
true" musical numbers from their Junior C
success by keeping "Wagon Wheels" (exit number)
and the colour presentation of "British
Grenadiers." Added to the mix was an
off-the-line from Masterpiece Theatre called
"The Masterpiece", a really 'kicking' drum solo
based on the number "Smoke On The Water" and a
concert medley of "Cecilia" coupled with the
amazing "MacArthur Park." The Lancer members
approached the 1974 season with "optimism" based
on their previous undefeated season in Junior C.
However, it was not to be for the "Orange, Green
and White" that summer. Outside of Canada, the
Lancers did reasonably well in competition but
inside Canadian boundaries, the story was
completely different. The Lancers took heavy
defeat after heavy defeat despite their best
efforts on and off the field although they did
successfully defend their street parade champion
status at the Canadian Nationals. Ultimately,
the continuing defeats eroded morale right down
to almost zero. At the end of the 1974 season,
many of the Lancer members decided to continue
their drum corps careers elsewhere and it looked
like the Optimist Lancers would fold operations
and fade into drum corps history.
1975 looked mighty grim for the Lancers until
the Optmist Cadets Drum And Bugle Corps
(Scarborough) under the guidance of Mr. Edward
(Ted) Baker graciously offered to merge their
operation with what remained of the Etobicoke
Optimist Lancers. The "Cadet Lancers Drum and
Bugle Corps" was born! The two separate Corps
merged together quite well although there were a
few rough spots and some "ruffled feathers" as
the two became one - not unlike any sort of
"marriage"!! The Corps kept both styles of
uniforms with the horn line adopting the
Optimist Cadet style tunic and pants topped off
with white plumed shakos while both the drum
line and the colour guard went with the
Lancer-style blouse and pants/skirts. The drum
line went with the white plumed shakos and the
colour guard opted for the 'beret' style hats.
All in all, the look was stylish and worked well
on and off the field. The music for 1975
included an off-the-line of "Paint Your Wagon",
an into concert of "Chattanooga Choo-Choo", a
concert of "Eres Tu" and an exit of "San
Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers In Your
Hair)". The Cadet Lancers did very well and
managed to win the "C" Canada Championship and
came second at both the Provincial and Canadian
Nationals in the Junior C categories, just being
edged out by the London Midlanders. The Cadet
Lancers did win the Canadian Nationals Street
Parade Competition for 1975.
In 1976, the Cadet Lancers built upon the solid
foundation of the previous year and came out
with a truly dynamic show that featured an
off-the-line from the overture from the rock
opera "Tommy" made famous by the "Who" and a new
exit number from "Jesus Christ Superstar" - the
ever popular "I Don't Know How To Love Him".
Retained from the previous year was the ever
popular swing tune of "Chatanooga Choo-Choo" and
the concert production of "Eres Tu". The 1976
Cadet Lancers fielded a horn line of 38, a drum
line of 24, a colour guard of 24 flags with 8
rifles, led onto the field by two Guard Captains
and two Drum Majors. This unit was successful in
winning the Canadian National Junior C
championship against a solid unit from Simcoe,
the Golden Lions. The Cadet Lancers also posted
a victory as the Canadian National Street Parade
Champions for 1976.
(This was taken from the
Lancer & Cadet Lancer Website) |
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