NATCHITOCHES – The Spirit of Northwestern Marching Band will be spending New Year’s Day in 2011 in London, and friends and alumni are invited to join them.

     Northwestern’s band has been invited to participate in the 2011 New Year’s Day Parade and Festival in London. The band will leave from Houston on Dec. 28 and return Jan. 4.

     The cost of the trip is approximately $2,990 and could vary slightly due to currency fluctuations. That includes transportation to Houston and airfare to London, six-night accommodation in a first-class hotel (double or triple occupancy), continental breakfast each day, three dinners at local historic restaurants and a voucher worth approximately $17 at fast food outlets. Also included are local travel via luxury coach, a full-day tour of London’s West End and the city, a full-day tour of the city of Oxford and Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, an evening performance of a West End theatrical production and a New Year’s Eve Gala. 

     The 2011 New Year’s Day Parade and Festival in London will mark the 25th anniversary of what has been called “the world’s greatest parade.” The annual crowd for the parade is more than half a million people with a worldwide television viewing audience of more than 220 million. The two-mile parade route includes Piccadilly Circle, Regent Street, Trafalgar Square and Whitehall finishing near Westminster Palace, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.

     Alumni and friends wishing to make the trip should make reservations as soon as possible. For more information, please contact Director of Bands Bill Brent at (318) 357-4522 or brent@nsula.edu of Associate Director of Bands Kevin Richardson at (318) 357-6722 or richardsonk@nsula.edu.