Northamptonshire's "Thank You" 2018
It was a sunny day for the “Family Fun Day” on Saturday 1st September at Becket’s Park by the river in Northampton. The event was part of the RBL’s “Thank You” campaign, to thank and remember all those who had fallen in the service of their country during and since the First World War, which ended one hundred years ago this year.
There was a marching band, that of The Royal Artillery no less, resplendent in their redcoats and all sporting busbies, except for the Drum Major, who wore a bearskin. There was a big base drum but notably the “little drummer boy” with the snare drum was in fact a tiny lady – sign of the times.
They provided the grand finale at the close of the day, ending with The Last Post, followed by Russ Barrie, the Chairman of Northant’s County’s RBL, giving the Kohima Epitaph and the Exhortation before Reveille was sounded.
Prior to that we were right royally entertained by the Northampton Male Voice Choir, The D Day Darlings, Thrapston’s Town Band and The Daisies, with each group providing two sessions interspersed between each other.
You can probably visualise the repertoire of the choir and the bands but you may not be familiar with The Daisies, two out of the usual three young ladies from Derbyshire were with us singing songs of yesteryear that we all knew, and all in close harmony. AND the D Day Darlings, three short of a dozen more young ladies from all over the UK, all smartly dressed in WRAF uniforms of 2nd World War vintage, and all parading on the stage whilst singing songs of that era, both collectively and with several brilliant soloists; if blindfolded, you couldn’t have known it wasn’t Vera Lynn singing “We’ll Meet Again”, their last song of the day.
There was a bouncy thingy for the kids, with a “get me out of here” inflated maze. Stalls provided RBL stuff (badges, broaches and banners etc.) Another stall provided regimental artwork and individual tribute embroidery all created or copied by the lady vendor, Sam Bailey, who was there to take commissions. There was ice cream in abundance to be had on this lovely late summer's day, and for real sustenance, bangers and burgers and good old fish’n chips, all from several refreshment stalls.
It was indeed a "Fun Day" and I bet you wish you had been there...
