The first Music at Midday concert for 2015 is on Wednesday 18th February at noon.

This concert will feature a variety of ensembles from within the band with the intention of showing off Australian Army Band Kapooka’s versatility and highlight the talent of the individuals that make up the band. Jade O’Halloran will be the featured vocalist.

There are four new members of the band this year, two of them have previously been posted here – Dave Matthews (trumpet) and Marcus McCray (saxophone). The other two new members are Brendan Moore (trombone and euphonium) and Jason Mitchell (saxophone).

This will be Major Peter Thomas’ last year as the Music Director (his fifth in total) and he is very excited about presenting his final series of concerts at the Civic Theatre.

Later this year, six musicians from Kapooka (including Major Thomas) will be travelling to Gallipoli for services on Anzac Day and in August to commemorate the battle at Lone Pine.

The other Music at Midday concert dates for 2015, for your calendar are:
Wednesday 1st April at 12noon and 6pm.
This will be a Special ANZAC Tribute.
Wednesday 24th June at 12noon
Wednesday 30th September at 12noon and 6pm.
These concerts will be for the whole family.

The light is fading and a light breeze rolls in across the vines.

The grape harvester hums in the distance.

It straddles a steep row of shiraz vines and spits out bunches of grapes into the chaser bin.

Jim Coe follows the pair of tractors closely behind, checking everything is in order.

His small team of pickers are anxious to get the last of the crop off at Cooba East Station before the storm rolls in.

The property he owns with his wife Karen is nestled behind Cooba Mountain near Eurongilly, about 30 kilometres north-east of Gundagai in south-west New South Wales.

They purchased the 1,800 hectare farm in February 2002.

“I remember the first week we bought it, my son was born,” Mr Coe said.

“The clouds opened up and it rained and rained and rained and everybody said, ‘oh wow you’ve bought at the perfect time’.

“Then I can honestly say for the next seven years, I don’t think it rained again.”

Nevertheless, the pair planted chardonnay and shiraz grapes in 2004 and supplied them to Casella’s in Griffith until 2011.

They are now putting all of their energy into developing their own label, Leaning Cow, which they released late last year.

The Angus cattle grazing in the paddock, adjacent to the 50 hectares of vines, might have helped with the inspiration.

“The day that we stop harvesting here, the gates will be opened and the cattle will come in,” Mr Coe said.

“They’ll be leaning into every vine they can see for the next couple of weeks until they’ve cleaned up any of the sugary berries that were left over.

“They just love it.”

The stock is managed on a rotational grazing system to maintain groundcover and conserve soil moisture.

The Coes have been awarded a NSW innovation fund to help convert diesel powered-pumps to renewable energy.

The four mobile solar power units will enable the vineyard to pump water from its bores during the winter months and irrigate the grapes during the summer months.

Any water the grapes do not utilise will drain back into the water table.

This season, the farm picked up ample rainfall in November and December, just enough to escape any disease.

“We have the most fantastic ripening conditions with temperatures barely exceeding 30 degrees for the last six weeks,” Mr Coe said.

“As far as the grapes are concerned, the sugar levels are there, but there’s still good acid and I think it’s going to be a great vintage.”