HBHS comes out on top of the Waikato Itinerant Music Festival 
HBHS hosted the Waikato Itinerant Music Festival at the Raleigh Street Christian Centre in Cambridge on Friday the 9th of September. It was a great success, there were 350 students performing and competing in 28 groups, representing 11 Waikato Secondary Schools. The performances were adjudicated by the well-respected musicians and music educators Delwyn Ringle, Stu Edwards and Stephen Morton-Jones. The 55 students involved from HBHS all performed well and represented the school with pride. Our boys were first on site to set up and the last to leave after the pack-down of equipment and clean up. It was pleasing to see so many happy music students being given the opportunity to attend this festival, considering the 2020 and 2021 festivals were cancelled due to COVID-19.
I must acknowledge the hard work of all the staff involved in putting this event together, with a special mention to Paul Norman, our Jazz Band Director and Itinerant Brass Tutor, and his wife, Lisa Norman, HOD of Music at Cambridge High School. Paul and Lisa’s collective experience and knowledge from their involvement in organising and attending the Auckland KBB Music Festivals for many years, and Paul’s extensive commitment to our music students, in ensuring this event took place, were outstanding. Replacing the originally cancelled festival with an event of this calibre would simply not have happened without their help, guidance and work behind the scenes. A big thank you also to Bryan Bevege from Shearers Musicworks who provided a truck, free of charge, to transport our timpani, pipe band drums, drum kits, music stands etc, to Cambridge in the morning and back to HBHS on Friday, and to Bevan Galbraith who set up the P.A. system and operated the sound desk for the jazz bands for the entire festival.
The HBHS results were as follow:
HBHS Jazz Band 
HBHS Gypsy Pickers
HBHS Pipe Band
HBHS/HGHS Orchestra 
This placed HBHS first overall as the top school for the day, winning $200 in Musicworks vouchers.
Photography by HBHS School Photographer, Daniel Dowd.