Coleman donation makes life easier for Oxford Schools bands

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Errol Castens under Uncategorized
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Coleman Funeral Home owners Tom and Vickie Fowlkes, left, and Nichole and Glenn Coleman, right, join Oxford Schools Band Director Mel Morse, far right, and Middle School Band members in celebrating the new equipment trailer, made possible by a gift from Coleman Funeral Home.

Coleman Funeral Home owners Tom and Vickie Fowlkes, left, and Nichole and Glenn Coleman, right, join Oxford Schools Band Director Mel Morse, far right, and Middle School Band members in celebrating the new equipment trailer, made possible by a gift from Coleman Funeral Home.

The new Oxford Schools band trailer, made possible by a gift from Coleman Funeral Home and partner donors, provides secure transportation and storage for the bands' instruments and equipment.

The new Oxford Schools band trailer, made possible by a gift from Coleman Funeral Home and partner donors, provides secure transportation and storage for the bands’ instruments and equipment.

Having their own equipment trailer is making life vastly easier for bands from Oxford High School and Oxford Middle School bands this school year.
Coleman Funeral Home was the lead donor to the Oxford Band Boosters for the 28-foot enclosed, lockable trailer late last fall, and this month the last “i” was dotted and the last “t” crossed to have it accepted as Oxford School District property and to have its graphics applied. Oxford Eye Clinic, Cannon Motors, Snooze Mattress, FNC Inc. and Pizza Palace in Bruce made additional donations.
“The Band Boosters set out to help us in transportation,” said Band Director Mel Morse. “Basically, we’ve been renting multiple trucks each Friday to haul our equipment. That’s inconvenient, and it’s expensive.”
During football season, the new hauling capacity is twice as important as it would have been before the new Oxford High School campus opened in January 2014. The team’s home stadium remains at the former high school campus – now Oxford Middle School – 1.5 miles away.
“Every game is an ‘away’ game now,” Morse said.
In almost a year of actually having the trailer, the band directors and their students have learned to use it to the utmost.
“It’s a beautiful trailer inside and out, and it carries all of our instruments, our props – pretty much everything we need to have a performance,” Morse said. “We’ve figured out the Tetris game of packing every piece, trying to figure out the right order and places to make it all fit.
The Oxford High School Band and the Oxford Middle School Band, along with smaller ensembles, use the new equipment not only for football games but for fall and spring competitions, pep rallies on the Oxford Square and community events such as the Oxford Christmas Parade and a Veterans Day concert.
Morse said the trailer’s navigation depends on “a cache of band dads with F-250 trucks or larger” who take turns driving it.
“The boosters are now working to raise money to buy our own truck,” he said. The difference would allow band parents some breathing room as well as allowing the bands to go on their own schedules.
Meanwhile, having the first permanent piece in the transport tandem allows flexibility in loading, unloading and storage that rental trucks never afforded.
“This donation is a blessing,” Morse said.

Aftercare coordinator, Coleman Funeral Home of Oxford/Olive Branch

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