Bearskins And Bare Skins

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30369, 19 February 1964, Page 16

Bearskins And Bare Skins

Without the slightest disloyalty to their Queen or their regiment, members of the Band of the Scots Guards yesterday were chiefly interested in getting out of uniform.

Officers and men alike plunged into their dressing rooms after the performances in Christchurch, politely replying to hundreds of wellwishers and autograph hunters: “After we’ve changed, please. After we’ve changed, please.” There were three good reasons for this:—

(1) It was a hot muggy day. overcast, with a threat of rain, and high humidity was taking its toll. (2) The “musicians” (not

bandsmen in the guards) may carry up to 1001 b of uniform, bearskin, and instrument each when in full regalia. (3) The band does not. in New Zealand or at Home, wear uniform when off duty, even on a tour such as this when the public might have been looking for the bright colours in the streets.

Bearskins and bare skins were therefore the chief feature of the dressing rooms a few minutes after the afternoon performance finished. Musicians of brass, woodwind. pipes, and drums shed uniform to revel in the freedom of their underpants or less.

The director of music (Captain J. H. Howe) and the officer in charge of the tour (Captain R. Ingham-Clark) were interviewed likewise, having quickly discarded

their long frock-coats and caps.

This kind of tour, they said, was tougher than anything the band was likely to encounter oh ordinary duty After breakfast each day entailed attention to uniforms or business or a bus trip of 50 miles to another centre, an afternoon show, and then another at night, possibly with another trip thrown , in. The day’s work thus ex-' tended over 14 hours. Captain Ingham-Clark said the band was standing up to the pressure remarkably well. They were, after all, trained soldiers—fit in any case but with, stamina increased further by the exacting nature of their work. The regret of the tour was that members could not accept the offers of hospitality showered on them or see more of the country than was possible from the air or through bus windows. ,