Wow! What an experience last week was. I've never
been part of something like that before and I'm so pleased to have been able to
take part and to have enjoyed it so much. Here are a few quotes in case I never
get round to the full story.
From the Pipe Major:
Occasionally you have one of those
"one day a year moments"... Buckingham Palace Garden Party
with where Her Majesty sent a messenger to say how much she enjoyed our
playing. Then straight onto Horse Guards to lead the SG Regimental Association
(South) onto the "Waterloo Remembered" Beating Retreat with
"Acushla Highland, University of Oxford, RSCDS London Country dancers and
1SG including my son and the band. Best of all, my wife, was well enough
to come back and see all the hard work her dancers had put in.
Grateful thanks to all the 90 strong
civilian cast and the serving SNCOs and all the gang.
Can't name everyone individually, FB
would crash but you know who you are and how sincere I am.
"UNITA FORTIOR"
https://youtu.be/DlKUD7LKb14 has some coverage of tall
Oxford and one of the London sets.
https://www.haraldjoergens.com/galleries/military-events/2015-beating-retreat/?page=1has
a load of professional photos that appear to have been taken last night - it
says that more will go up later today and tomorrow, but there are some good
ones of us walking across before the performance starts. It's amazing what you
can find by searching for #beatingretreat on twitter :-)
Well done everybody. I went last
night and it looked very polished. I’m sure the Duchess was most impressed. There are quite a lot
of videos on Youtube. Search on ‘Beating Retreat’ and then filter on ‘This
week’ . The highland dancers are featured most, but the below clip
captures the Oxford ‘other’ set briefly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNeuS_tsEI4
I had fun at the practices. J
Dear Dancers,
I gather you all had a great time:
the photos are super! It sounds like you did a great job of adapting to
circumstances and last-minute changes of plan. Also you have been a great team
(special credit to the spares!) helping each other: well done! S
So... it all started back before Easter when our Wednesday advanced class teacher mentioned that this looked like it would be happening. I was one of the the first to sign up to say I was keen. I think it is really fun the things that Scottish Dancing has taken me to. I did the Noah and the Whale music video. Then dancing in the Royal Albert Hall. And of course all the madness of Summer School.
We did practices every Wednesday learning the
dance, The Queen's Quadrille. We never had the same people there each week so
the dance never really seemed to get any better and we had some subs who ended
up knowing the dance really well! It was better when we decided which
positions we would be dancing in as at least then we only had to learn one
part. In the meantime we were doing research on what exactly Beating Retreat
was as none of us had heard of it! So it is an annual military pageant in
Horse Guards Parade just before Trooping the Colour. This year the
tagline was Waterloo Remembered as it's the bicentennial of the Battle of
Waterloo. So they were doing a battle recreation and it included a
recreation of the (two days before the) Eve of Battle Ball where there was
dancing - so bring in us! Our dancing teacher's son's bagpipe teacher is
the Pipe Major for the Scot's Guards Association Pipe Band - I think! So that's
how we ended up being part of it. Although the Queen's Quadrille is a
fairly new dance, it's based on the quadrilles of the time and we would be dancing
in front of Royalty so quite appropriate.
We practised every week but I realised my set never
danced it all together until the dress rehearsal! There were two Oxford
square sets and two London sets. I was fourth lady in the 'tall' Oxford
set. We had a rehearsal a month ago in Windsor in the Army Barracks,
which were rather nice! We danced outside with the pipe band. I enjoyed
that too! We found out that they were going to hire period dresses which
I was very excited about. It was sort of Jane Austen style. Full
length with empire line. And it was blue - horray! When I first
tried it on in the toilets of St Hugh's I was pretty surprised by it and it was
certainly not flattering (more pregnancy enhancing!) but I decided I could get
used to it and on the night some other dancers were quite complimentary about
it.
So the big week came. It was pretty
daunting. Going up to London every evening after school, Monday to
Thursday. I packed all my bags with dress and various tights, shoes, hair
nets and packed tea and anything else I might need! Monday, I left
promptly after school and walked to Didcot train station. Three of us got
the train from there and another dancer changed on to our train at
Reading. We made it around London to St James' Park and to Wellington
Barracks where we were rehearsing on the first night. We were due to be
there at 6pm and we made it. We then weren't actually needed for an hour
or two. We hung out in the cafe, or as the military called it, the naffi?
We practised the dance a couple of times and the London ladies tried their
dresses on for the first time and we were given our white gloves. Then we
were called down to the parade ground of the barracks. This had iron railings
out to the road and then St James' Park and you could see the Victoria Monument
from there. There were quite a few tourists looking in who took photos of
us and filmed us. There were lots of pipers there and we practised
dancing with them and walking on and off with them. We also met 'our soldiers',
Will and Matt who were sort of in charge of making sure we were in the right
places at the right time! The Highland Dancers were also there and doing
their bit. I did feel we were pretty amateurish in comparison to the
military and Highland Dancers, but I guess we did good enough. You could
tell though that we weren't nearly as professional and well drilled just by the
way we stood around and took so many photos! At least they said later in the
week that we were easier to handle than the battle reenactment people!
After a fair bit of discussing and not being entirely sure what was going on,
we were able to leave and make our way back. I got the train back to
Oxford with a dancer and during the course of the journey discovered we did the
same degree subject at the same uni in the same year which was a surprising
coincidence! We danced opposite each other which meant we often danced together
and there were certain things we said or tight hand grips to remind each other
of what was coming next. I got in to bed at midnight - yikes!
Monday night Wellington Barracks photos...
Monday night Wellington Barracks photos...
 |
| Heading to the Parade from Bird Cage Walk. |
 |
| Walking on to the Parade past the battle re-enactors. |
Tuesday, we got the same train from Didcot (we got
to know that place very well!). That train was called the Cheltenham Spa
Express which I enjoyed it rather having a name. I sewed up my gloves
which had already managed to get a hole in! We did the same route round
London but then had to dash to the corner of Bird Cage Walk and Horse Guards
where we were being met with our passes and being lead on to practise on the
gravel of Horse Guards Parade for the first time. There were only 4 of
our set there but at least there was one per couple! We tried to work out
where we would be on the parade. It certainly felt huge. And we
practised walking on and off with the pipers. It was a beautiful evening
at this point and all the buildings were looking lovely. We saw the
grandstand seating for the first time. We got to eat a packed tea that
was provided for us sitting in the parade which was rather nice. Then we
were taken to our waiting area which they had very much downplayed the night
before and it was called the cockpit but we called it the dungeon! There
were lots of pipes going across the ceiling and you had to duck a lot!
Then we headed back up to the parade to practise the finale. We had to
line up with the battle reenactment people and it was quite a long finale and
they kept giving us different instructions while we were stood there. It was
interesting how the conductor wasn't too impressed with the bands coming in at
the wrong time. A lot of people to coordinate though. Then the rest of the
dancers arrived and we went back to the dungeon until our time in the proper
dress rehearsal. We got in to our dresses and waited excitedly.  |
| Tea time in the Parade after practice. |
The dress rehearsal went alright. The funniest bit was that as we were walking to our spot, which was on the far side of the parade ground, there was a large band of soldiers walking to the same spot from the opposite direction-and it looked like we would collide! As we were dancing they said we had to move back so we danced and moved very calmly I thought! After the rehearsal they told us that they were rearranging all our positions and so sadly I wouldn't be dancing in front of where I'd told my family to buy tickets.
The finale dress rehearsal was very moving, and
very cold. The music was very nice and there were poignant references and
solos. The wind was bitter though and we were stood still for 15minutes, except
when we turned around to look at the fireworks as we thought we wouldn't be
doing that on the real shows. On the train back I was texting my colleagues to
ask if they had any blue or white scarfs they could bring to school the next
day for me to wear during the finale. We walked off as directed after
the finale and then dashed to get out things and make it to the train. Sadly we
missed the 10.45pm train by a minute so had to wait a long time and and got
home the latest of the week. I think it was 1am!
 |
| Congregating at Wellington Barracks on the Big Day. |
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| Our leader and soldiers. |
At the allotted hour we set off marching behind the
bands from Wellington barracks to/along Bird Cage Walk. I felt like a celebrity
as so many people were taking pictures and we had been told to wave regally at
people so I willingly obliged! When we got the entrance of the parade
ground we waited for quite a while. And joy of joys I heard someone calling my
name and Lizzie was there at the railings. She was coming to watch with our two
Kiwi friends (one who's only arrived in the country that day and came along
wondering if this was a normal Wednesday night activity!). It was so lovely
that I knew she was there and she's seen me. She took photos of me and my
partner and was able to balox them! We walked on to the parade at the
appropriate time. It was a bit weird as it was officially before the show had
started and yet the announcer was announcing things and there were people in
the grand stands watching us. We headed to our dungeon but today we were lead a
strange up and over route which took us through some very fancy rooms and we
think the VIP guests enjoying their pre show canapés. We eventually ended up
back in the dungeon and settled down although there wasn't much to do except
excitedly check my phone and message Lizzie! People were a little braver
tonight and headed up the stairs where you could see a little of the show out
of the window.  |
| Some of the Wednesday night supporters |
 |
| Eating some of the leftover canapes. |
We came off elated and really proud of
ourselves! We had done it!!!! We had a little time to relax and
giggle in the dungeon. We also had another look up from the little window
and found a bigger room and window to look in too! The worst bit of the
whole experience was when I went back to the gathering area and found everyone
had gone!!! I ran back to my two Italian friends upstairs and yelled
"they're gone", feeling rather like the Nazis in the Sound of
Music. Thoughts of everyone else being out on the Parade for the finale
and us being left behind went through my head, but very very fortunately they
were still just waiting under the arches and we found our places! The
finale was good and it was long again. It didn't seem quite as moving,
maybe because we had heard it before and it was cold! I managed to remain
facing forwards and not look at the fireworks thought I did try a sneaky glace
at the ambassador out of the corner of my eye! The highland dancers stood
in front of us were amazing at standing still. I don't think I'd make a
very good Queen's guard but they would! I watched some of the men in
busby hats at the bottom of the grandstand and I don't think they were real
soldiers as they weren't standing very still and one was even seeming to try
styling his! It was interesting when the National Anthem was played to
see the soldiers all salute including some who were just members of the audience.
We walked off as practised and I was looking out
for friends in the grandstands. I was really excited to spot two friends
snuggled together waving and I tried to smile at them, then I saw my sister and
Kiwi friends waving madly in the last grandstand and they encouraged some of
the dancers to wave and so I felt I was able to wave madly back which was a lot
of fun. A march back to the Barracks to the beat of a drum
and then a quick as possible change. We got a taxi back to Paddington
tonight which meant we made the slightly earlier train - horray!
Thursday came and it was sad to think it was nearly
over. I did a Year 1 assembly where I walked in in my clothes and showed
them some photos and videos which was fun. Everything went pretty similarly
on the second night. The main differences were
- it was warmer - horray! Didn't really need the extra layers underneath or the shawl and we could hear more of what the announcer was saying.
- John came to watch and saw me beforehand. My dad also came to watch too so I was able to txt them both while we were waiting in the dungeon.
- I was braver and went up earlier to watch out of the good window as there was no one else watching form there today, though I made sure I was down in plenty of time for the finale!
-
- There were more photos taken backstage between us and various pipers/soldiers.
-
-
- I didn't mess up any of the dancing - woop!
- Camilla was taking the salute tonight and I made sure I caught some good glimpses of her!
It was sad when it all came to an end as it had
been such a fabulous experience. I feel so honoured to be a part of it and I
was very keen to talk about it with anyone that was interested! I am
pleased I have made it to the end here so I have this as a record of it all,
even if it is now 31st July 2015!
Here are some photos of the pageant that my dad took on the Thursday night.
Here are some photos of the pageant that my dad took on the Thursday night.
