The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

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The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

Post by Great Plum »

I’m sure most of you will have heard by now but if not, here’s the email from the development director...

I wanted to let you know that the CH Band will have the great honour of leading a special procession of 10,000 people past the Cenotaph in London this Sunday. The procession - called The People's Procession in commemoration of the centenary of the end of the First World War - starts at 12.30 UK time after the Royal Family and others have laid wreaths at the Cenotaph. This very special event will be televised around the world.

Security requirements have meant that we have been unable to share this exciting information until now. More information about the event can be found at https://armistice100.org.uk/

The People's Procession on Sunday will be the second time this weekend that CH is on television, with the Band having a prime position in the Lord Mayor's Show tomorrow (Saturday 10th November). The CH Band will be 13th in the procession of 148 organisations at the Lord Mayor's Show, with televised coverage starting at 10:45 UK time.

A very busy weekend for CH's fantastic Band.
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Re: The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

Post by J.R. »

Well worth waiting for but such a shame it was such a short shot of the band

Unfortunately David Dimblebum hadn't done his research well enough beforehand.

His words of 'school or regiment' until someone prompted him through his ear-piece 'school' rather showed him up.
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Re: The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

Post by CodFlabAndMuck »

I agree, they cut away too quickly rather than making the most of the music.There didn't appear to be any other bands in proximity, so when they returned to the procession it was very quiet.

The Band sounded very good and the Drum Majors were excellent.

After initially saying "it's the hospital band" , Dimbleby did eventually recognise the school:

" oh it's Christ's Hospital, I recognise them from the front. They wear that tudor uniform"
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Re: The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

Post by postwarblue »

I heard D justifying the Dim in Dimbleby by saying 'Christ's Hospital School - where are they from?'

Quite good shots of the band coming up to the Cenotaph but the day before, only a fleeting glimpse as they waited to join the LM's procession.

Wife captured the TV screen with her tablet, I'll try and add that the CH Band Photos.

… well, I would have done, but can't find a way to load a .jpg from desktop.
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Re: The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

Post by Spoonbill »

Did the band bother going back to Horsham overnight?

Or did they sleep rough with their instruments under railway arches in King's Cross?

The school's not made of money, you know.
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Re: The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

Post by brian walling »

I too saw the brief appearance of the CH Band at the Cenotaph on BBC1 via the internet here (on satellite we get only BBC World Service TV, which carried just the main part of the Cenotaph service, so I had to find UK BBC1 on the internet to watch the CH Band).

The Band looked impressive (for the few seconds that we saw it).

I fully agree with previous posters about Dimbleby's poor performance here. What was far worse, however, was the overall performance of BBC World Service TV in presenting the earlier main Cenotaph event. Most of you viewing this post will probably have been watching the domestic version of the event on UK BBC1, which I imagine was the usual respectful, quality product. However the World Service TV packaging of the main event was quite pathetic, consisting mainly of the video feed running in the background, minus any up-front commentary on what was happening, who was laying the wreaths etc. Instead we had to endure a long series of inconsequential chit-chat with various personalities about historical background to the wars -- all of which I found very disrespectful to the real nature of the day's event. I dipped in and of CNN who were covering the simultaneous Paris event at the Arc de Triomphe and found that so much more professional. I know that BBC World Service TV is now a for-profit commercial channel, but in my view it really let the BBC brand down on this important occasion.

I managed to shoot a video clip of the CH Band appearance from my big computer screen and I have edited it down to 55 seconds of the CH stuff (unfortunately I missed capturing the first few seconds with Dimbleby's fumblings).

If anybody missed seeing the Band and if no other quality video of it comes into the public domain, I'll be happy to upload my 55 secs of screen grab to Youtube and post the link to it here. Let me know anybody.
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Re: The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

Post by J.R. »

My wife has found a clip of the band at the cenotaph yesterday that someone has posted on YouTube which in my view is far better than the Beebs effort.

I rarely use social media sites but it might be worth a trawl for you to find.
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Re: The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

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Re: The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

Post by sejintenej »

J.R. wrote: Mon Nov 12, 2018 2:46 pm My wife has found a clip of the band at the cenotaph yesterday that someone has posted on YouTube which in my view is far better than the Beebs effort.
I couldn't find that one but there is a particularly good and long one of CH Band in the Lord mayor's procession
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbDZ6B5BVTk
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Re: The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

Post by rockfreak »

Brian Walling objected to "inconsequential chit chat" about the origins of the first world war by a group of celebrities. As far as I remember they were actually rather well informed about the war. One or more, if I remember, were historians. I thought they were rather informative; they certainly expanded my knowledge of the events concerned. Perhaps the wider viewing public (even in Malaysia) might have been more interested in their chit chat than in chit chat about a band from an obscure school in Sussex.
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Re: The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

Post by brian walling »

rockfreak wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 8:37 pm Brian Walling objected to "inconsequential chit chat" about the origins of the first world war by a group of celebrities. As far as I remember they were actually rather well informed about the war. One or more, if I remember, were historians. I thought they were rather informative; they certainly expanded my knowledge of the events concerned. Perhaps the wider viewing public (even in Malaysia) might have been more interested in their chit chat than in chit chat about a band from an obscure school in Sussex.
A good point. I can't disagree.

However, my main grouse was that the traditional ceremonial event was carried by the BBC World Service TV only as a visual background to the informal live discussion on war histories. There was essentially no commentary or explanation as to what was happening at the Cenotaph, or who was doing what on the screen. I found this disrespectful of the occasion and its purpose. The London Remembrance Sunday event happens to be followed very seriously by considerable numbers of people in this part of Asia who fought on the Allied side in one or other of the last century's conflicts -- or were unfortunately caught up in one of the conflicts.
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Re: The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

Post by sejintenej »

brian walling wrote: Thu Nov 22, 2018 11:51 am
However, my main grouse was that the traditional ceremonial event was carried by the BBC World Service TV only as a visual background to the informal live discussion on war histories. There was essentially no commentary or explanation as to what was happening at the Cenotaph, or who was doing what on the screen. I found this disrespectful of the occasion and its purpose. The London Remembrance Sunday event happens to be followed very seriously by considerable numbers of people in this part of Asia who fought on the Allied side in one or other of the last century's conflicts -- or were unfortunately caught up in one of the conflicts.
Agreed. The Cenotaph ceremonies last perhaps three hours just once per annum but the BBC has perhaps five "local" (I omit the regionalchannels) channels each broadcasting for 8760 hours a year. Can they not spare a couple of hours unchallenged, unedited, uninterfered-with on just one of their channels to remember those who saved us from the Kaiser and Hitler??????
"My enemy's enemy is my friend" - I am tempted to beleive that those who belittle the Cenotaph ceremonies have to be frinds of those who sought to conquer us.
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Re: The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

Post by rockfreak »

Hello Brian. Thank you for your generous acceptance of some of my points. It seems that broadcasting differs from one country to another. I would absolutely agree that so many of the Asian and Commonwealth soldiers who fought on our side in the two world wars have been forgotten by many in this country, not least by those who fill the ranks of the English Defence League, the British National Party and the latest umbrella group for white nationalist malcontents, the so-called Democratic Football Lads Alliance.
My father was on the beaches of Normandy in 1944. Like Michael Scuffil my mother and I were nearly eliminated by doodlebugs in the same year. My one reservation about the modern day Remembrance Sunday in the UK (as it used to be called; it's often now Poppy Day) is that it's grown into what I can only regretfully call a circus. In the years following the war it was a very sober, low-key, respectful occasion - largely I suspect because every family had either lost someone or knew a family who had. One old lady of ninety that I know who lived in Peckham lost eight of her extended family. Footballers and sportsmen didn't line up for two minutes silence on the Saturday beforehand with poppies stitched into their strip. People wore poppies with their civvies as a matter of choice. Wounded soldiers weren't wheeled onto the field - there would have been too many of them. On the day itself the guns went at 11 o' clock, everyone in the street stood and bowed their heads, then the guns went again and everyone went about their business. The ceremony at the Cenotaph was similarly sober.
Then something happened. The whole thing seemed to get a second wind and expand like a balloon. I date this from the moment that it became obvious that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were going pear-shaped. Tony Blair, all the right-wing politicians who had voted for these wars and all the right-wing papers who had banged the drum had a need to cover their sorry backsides. What better to distract attention than a cry of "Well anyway, Get behind our brave lads!" This tactic has also been employed in recent years with royal weddings, jubilees and Olympic Games and it serves a good purpose in selling newspapers with the Union Jack emblazoned all over them, thus putting even more money into the pockets of Rupert Murdoch and Viscount Rothermere, neither of whom live here or pay their taxes here. So an appropriate and respectful remembrance has been taken over and despoiled. It's good to know that the soldiers of Malaysia and Asia are not forgotten. Over here I believe that scoundrels have taken over the memory of these events.
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Re: The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

Post by John Saunders »

David- Thank you for encapsulating my thoughts on Remembrance Day. I too suffered bombs and machine guns whilst Father was away and regret the Circus that the Day has become. I notice that the Trot was improperly dressed for the occasion!
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Re: The band leading the People’s Procession at the Cenotaph tomorrow

Post by sejintenej »

John Saunders wrote: Mon Nov 26, 2018 2:59 pm David- Thank you for encapsulating my thoughts on Remembrance Day. I too suffered bombs and machine guns whilst Father was away and regret the Circus that the Day has become. I notice that the Trot was improperly dressed for the occasion!
I have only a few memories of WWII but most of the population have no such reminders - it is just another day during which they can attempt to obtain personal glorification whether on TV or in the Press.

My father was awarded a civilian gallantry medal for an action in WWII which, over nine following years kiled him. He saw my brother die over Germany, he was well enough to recognise his other son on only one short occasion, he watched many workmates killed, he saved many more, some of whom would go on to become shells of what they had been before.
The modern person has never seen anything like this - in the fillums and computer games the good guy comes out glorious and undamaged. War is not like that; one element of the CCF was taught the dirty side of chaos, be it an earthquake or a bomb and I hope that my companions in that remember how things can be and what our forebears watched daily.
My patron (there is no English word for that) as an SOE officer had to take a bloodstained letter from his trainee to his neighbour and tell her that her husband had been tortured to death by the Gestapo. Those ex-servicemen at the Cenotaph remembered that sort of situation - the youngsters don't have any idea. Afghanistan, Iraq, even Malaya and Korea had little comparable effect on the general populace - they were too far away and relatively few
servicemen were involved. (My sister in law's husband was in Malaya and made it out to be almost a holiday).

In referring to the Trot I don't know who you were referring to. I recognised too many with campaign and gallantry medals wrongly worn. The order of awards is complex and there is at least one which my father received which seems well out of place so I would not hold mistakes against the ignorant who wish to honour their forebears.
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
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