A FIVE-year wait for a set of hand-painted drums is finally over for musicians at a Chelmsford school.
Originally ordered in 2007 to tie in with the centenary of the Corps of Drums at King Edward VI Grammar School, pupils spent four years raising the money needed for the kit.
But the £8,800 they paid up front disappeared when the company making them – Potters of Aldershot – went into liquidation.
As reported in the Essex Chronicle in July 2011, Dr Cho Cho Khin, a consultant gastroenterologist at Broomfield Hospital and mother of two sons who attended KEGS, stepped in and gave the school an £8,000 donation.
"It is such a relief to have the drums at last," said leader of the Corps of Drums, Alison Brown.
"They are beautifully painted with the Essex Regiment insignia and they sound magnificent – much better than our old set, which is 25 years old."
Members of the Corps, who range in age from 11 to 18, are now enjoying rehearsing with the new drums ready for their official engagements in 2013.
Major Brown, who is also Contingent Commander of the school's Combined Cadet Force, said: "When we ordered the drums in 2007 we knew that they would take at least a year to produce.
"We were promised they would be with us by Remembrance Day 2008, and then by January 2009, and so on.
"The company's final promise was for the parade in the Mall to Buckingham Palace in July 2010 for the cadets' 150th celebration.
"The drums still did not arrive and after much deliberation we contacted the Chronicle.
"Dr Khin, whose boys were in the Corps a few years ago, read our story and donated the money in the summer of last year to allow us to order them again from another company.
"The drums take a long time to produce as they are hand painted but it is worth it as they look so good."
