In accordance with current national RBL guidance, the Oxted RBL Branch Committee has decided that the following flags will be flown outside the Club house.
The Union Flag is to be flown as below:
Full Mast
For the following Royal Birthdays:
HM King Charles III (Official Birthday) June date tbc year on year (Trooping the Colour)
HM King Charles III (Actual Birthday) 14th November
HM Queen Camilla 17th July
HRH the Prince of Wales 21st June
HRH the Princess of Wales 9th January
Half Mast
For any National days of mourning, following the lead of No 10 Downing Street and Government.
The Legion Standard to be flown at all other times at full mast.
The Standard may be flown at half-mast on the day of the funeral of a former member of Oxted RBL, if requested by the former member’s family.
Poppy Flag to be flown during Remembrance fortnight. Dates, as directed by National RBL, to be given year on year.
Funerals
Ref Ceremonial Handbook Part A p.79
14.4. Funerals.
If the relatives wish, make arrangements wherever possible for the branch to be
officially represented at the funeral of any of its members. It is important to ensure
that the clergy and funeral directors are also informed if this is taking place.
The Union Flag is not paraded at a funeral service; funeral directors normally
provide a Union Flag to drape on the coffin, or branches may have their own flag.
It is usual practice to place a wreath of poppies on top of the flag.
It is also customary for the Branch Standard and that of the Women’s Section
Branch (if there is one) to form part of the procession, both into and from the
church, chapel or other sacred building. The Standards precede the coffin in the
procession and, if space permits, stand abreast of it during the service. The same
procedure is followed at the place of interment, and the Standard(s) Dip as an act
of homage as the coffin is lowered into the grave.
When the Standard is carried at a cremation the same procedure as at an interment
is adopted if space within the building permits. Alternatively, the Standard Bearer
can stand six paces inside the entrance to the crematorium, facing the coffin. The
Standard(s) Dip as an act of homage as the curtains are closed removing the coffin
from view.
In some parts of the country there is also a practice to have the Last Post,
Exhortation and the Reveille with RBL Standards present. The sequence normally
followed is that, after the coffin is lowered into the grave, (or at a cremation –
from view) and the officiating clergy has pronounced his committal oration, there
follows:
The Last Post (Standards Dip)
The Exhortation and Response;
(If an interment, members drop their personal poppies into the grave.)
The Reveille (Standards return to the Carry on the first note).
Bear in mind that all the above suggestions may only be implemented after full
consultation with the family and the officiating clergy.
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