After the initial rehearsals to make sure that everything was up to scratch, 26 excited members of TUBBS gathered at the Union on Wednesday morning to meet our coach to Belgium, driven by the wonderful Chris “Columbus” (we were graciously allowed to drop the “Columbus”). Arriving in Leuven later that day, we met our tour guide at the Novotel for a walking tour of the town, and an evening in a local restaurant.

Our first full day saw a trip to Brussels, and without much time to prepare, we were met at the Reine Fabiola university children's hospital for our gig in front of patients, parents and staff. That done, we made a beeline for the main square (TUBBS busking flash mob time!), chocolate shops, the Scientastic exhibition and cathedral.

• The Circle Of Life (The Lion King) — TUBBS
• Acabellas quartet
• I Will Go Sailing No More (Toy Story) — gents
• South Rampart Street Parade — gents
• Beggin' (Madcon) — SLAM quartet
• Tranquillizer (Geneva) — TUBBS

• Blackbird (The Beatles) — TUBBS
• The Auctioneers Song — Lady And The Tramps quartet
• Sh-Boom — ladies
• Beautiful (Christina Aguilera) — ladies
• Spiderman — Hot TUBBS
• Telephone (Lady Gaga) — Hot TUBBS
• Defying Gravity (Wicked) — TUBBS

On Friday, we made the trip to Bruges, where there were plenty more chocolate shops, and busking to be done to generate interest in our free evening concert at the Joseph Ryelandtzaal (a converted church). TUBBS ranged all over the city, taking in a canal boat tour, churches, museums, parks and waffles.

• The Circle Of Life (The Lion King) — TUBBS
• Acabellas quartet
• Acabellas quartet
• I Will Go Sailing No More (Toy Story) — gents
• Smile — gents
• South Rampart Street Parade — gents
• Beggin' (Madcon) — SLAM quartet
• Chordbusters March — SLAM quartet
• Tranquillizer (Geneva) — TUBBS

• Blackbird (The Beatles) — TUBBS
• The Auctioneers Song — Lady And The Tramps quartet
• Lady And The Tramps quartet
• Sh-Boom — ladies
• Love Me — ladies
• Beautiful (Christina Aguilera) — ladies
• Spiderman — Hot TUBBS
• Telephone (Lady Gaga) — Hot TUBBS
• Defying Gravity (Wicked) — TUBBS

Our last full day was spent exploring our base of Leuven, slightly distracted by the filming of what appeared to be a commercial; we were told that this was part of a European Day Of Youth. After several hours, we all congregated in the main shopping district and performed for about 50 minutes in the streets, before retiring to the hotel to get changed into finery for the night out.

On Sunday, we managed yet another stop at a chocolate outlet on the journey home, and sold CDs to our audience as we busked waiting for the ferry, before returning to Bristol, tired (and perhaps a little worse for wear) but full of great memories, and already hatching plans for another tour next year!