ALDERSHOT TATTOO.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21102, 12 August 1930, Page 13

ALDERSHOT TATTOO.

INCREASINGLY POPULAR PAGEANT.

FEAST OF LIGHT AND COLOUR.

WITH A NEW ZEALAND PARTY,

(From Oub Own Correspondent.) LONDON, June 27. New Zealanders visiting London have always made a point of seeing the Aidershot Tattoo. This year it is known definitely that about 150 of . them went down in the coach parties organised by Captain F. C. Pirani. Many others doubtless went down independently. One ie apt to visualise a plain arena entirely surrounded by grand stands. It is not so. The amphitheatre, itself is in a beautiful natural setting. Only a half of the circle is used for the seating accommodation of the 60,000 or 70,000 spectators. On the further eide, on the right, are tall pine trees. On the left the undulating country is visible for a mile or more, thickly wooded, and presenting a delightful scene in the evening twilight. * ron * 6 o'clock, or even earlier, all roads to Aldershot from London and other starting points become busy. People in the villages are seated along the hedges to watch the endless procession of motor vehicles. As one nears the military encampment the cars and coaches are in close order. Last year 42,577 vehicles were parked in.the vicinity of the amphitheatre. Last Saturday there were 11,704 parked, or 1995 more than on the final night a year ago. The arrangements are made with military precision, and if the weather is fine everything goes smoothly. Community singing is a well-established custom in London, A little man can be seen on a platform in the arena. Amplifiers all round the ground convert the distant voice into one of loud command. The period of waiting passes quickly with the singing of- such old favourites as Hearts of Oak.” “Annie Laurie," Minstrel Boy," “John Peel,” “My Old Kentucky Home," “Pack Up Your Troubles,” Sweet Genevieve," and “Tipperary.” Over on the right is a castle wall,, with great swing doors, which is far enough away to appear real. As the light gradually fades the “Retreat” is sounded. A fanfare follows, and the massed drums and fife bands enter from the woods on the opposite side of the arena. Marching and counter-marching follow, and- then appear the massed bands of the Aldershot Command (over 1000 strong). Searchlights from six different points are directed upon the moving players and the reflected light from the instruments gives the impression of a vast glittering J e 7 el - Masted mounted bands into the picture. After several evolutions they retire to. the. shadow of the castle walls and continue to play for the programme of the light cavalry. The troops are equipped as the first light cavalry were m the Seven Years’ war, HOW A REGIMENT WAS PURIFIED' Monck’s Regiment had its origin in two units of Cromwell's “New Model Army," which mustered in 1643 and 1645. On February 14, 1661, two officers and two civil commissioners drove in a coach to Tower Hill and v read to the regiment an address from the King, showing how they could be ceremoniously translated into the Lord General’s (Coldstream) Regiment of Food Guards, It was this scene that was staged l at Aldershot. Musketeers, with matchlocks shouldered, wereclothed from head to foot in red, and the pikemeh wore steel cuirasses which gleamed in the searchlights. The spears they carried seemed a bristling forest. They emerged from the door of. the castle and marched, sedately, headed by the drums and flutes.

After various movements the regiment answers to the command; “Take heed to break your ranks and- pay attention to •what you hear." ■ The four commissioners advance a few paers, and divide into pairs. The troops break ranks and run up and form a semicircle round each pair of commissioners. The commissioners then address., the troops. ' At the end of the address the pikemen and musketeers give loud cheers, 'raise tbir hats and their weapons, and. shout “ God save King Charles II.” They fire their-matchlocks in the air. The commanding officer raises his hand for silence and the ensigns, carrying the colours, double back and take post. The pikemen and musketeers now reform companies on thp colours. The commanding officer gives the order, “Lay down your arms,” 'and pikemen and musketeers ground muskets and spears. The command to retire follows. The three companies turn about and march away, halt, and face, the grand stand.

The commanding officer' then orders: "To your arms.” The drums beat, and .each, pikesmah and musketeer runato his arms. •

Then comes the command: "In the name of King Charles 11, pick up your arms. Shoulder your matchlocks and advance your spears." ' . Thus the regiment was purified. BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. .

A physical training display follows, recruits after three months’ training carrying put their exercises without word of command. “Honouring the Colours” showed the origin of the present ceremony of "Trooping the Colour.” Then we are transferred to June 8, 1743. The light Mllumines the field at Dettingen with the gay-coloured panoply of war that made a battle in those days a fine spectacle. The French army and the English under King George II face, each other. The former are clad in white, the latter in red. It is interesting to contrast a battle of the- past with one of the present day. The way in which they stood shoulder to shoulder and exchanged shots at close range must have been most unpleasant and unnecessarily wasteful ot' lives. ' There are cavalry .charges of inspiring epeed and fights for the standards. In the end the French are seen in a rapid retreat and the lights go out. DRAKE AND THE ARMADA. The most emotional scene of, the evening was when the massed pipe bands moved slowly towards the woods playing “The Rowan Tree.” As they approached, the woods they were enveloped in an amber’ glow, changing to a soft green shroud. The fading music and the beautiful’lights left the spectators spellbound. Drake is playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe.' Then a vision of white ships is seen on the horizon —in this case, arrayed a half a mile away on a wooded prominence. Before us are the battlements of Tilbury fort. Above the. walls rise the tapering masts and emblazoned Bails of the guardships that lie at anchor in the Thames. Militia - are exercising in the foreground, and a large group or civilians is watching. Then the Royal Barge is sighted by the watchers on the walls;-the standard at its masthead is sighted by us. The gates open, and through them come Queen Elizabeth, preceded by trumpeters in scarlet coats, and by the Yeoman of the Guard. She inspects the assembled troops, delivers her faimed speech—“l have but the body of a weak and feeble, woman, but I have the heart of a King . . .” and as she ends a horseman gallops across the arena with despatches which relate the defeat of the Armada. f TORCHLIGHT EVOLUTIONS.

No tattoo is complete without the fascinating torchlight evolutions'. People saw what seemed like .four giant caterpillars with red heads moving in the distance. They met, combined, and moved away in new formations. They wound about,' and converged to the tune of “The British Grenadiers” to form first a grenadier grenade, and then the Victoria Grose, while, behind in letters of fire, were written the Prince of Wales’s memorable title for its holders, “That most enviable order.” This is the signal for the final massing of the 5000 performers—British cavalry, massed cavalry bands, and French cavalry in the rear; British and French Dfettiugen troops, massed drums and bands on the left of the Victoria Gross; and massed bands and Elizabethan troops on the right. The searchlights blaze out, and the secret of the torchlights is revealed. The 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards carry vellum lanterns with electric globes inside. Thus, they were able to shut off their lights at a signal and light them up again at will. The blaze of variegated colour and the glitter of the band instruments is a scene which may long be remembered. All this, however, is given appropriate balance when modern khaki troops enter to the tune of “John Peel,” and take up position in the front. From the woods at the back coloured searchlights stream into the sky forming the conventional sunrise of pictures. Then follow "Abide With Me” and the “ Last Post,” and after a double fanfare, the National Anthem brings the tattoo to a close.

• ■ ■) The Queen was present at the final performance of the Aldershot Tattoo m Saturday night. There were 86,700 people in the ensolosures at 8.40 when her Majesty entered the royal box. The number inside the arena exceeds by €6OO the figures for the final night of last year’s tattoo, and by 1700 the estimated capacity of the enclosures. THE ORGANISATION BEHIND. Great satisfaction has been expressed by everyone at the organisation behind the tattoo. “General Staff" duties ate onerous, and very heavy work falls Upon ‘Lights" and “Signals.” The former, the Ist Anti-Aircraft Searchlight ’ Battalion, with eight officers and 200 other ranks on duty, were really carrying out normal training (says The Times) except that the beams of their lamps were directed earthward instead v of skyward. “A”. Corps, Royal Signals, laid some 75 miles of cable and, with five officers and 120 other ranks, connected “points"' as far distant as Egham and os near as the gates of the arena with central box high, above the stands from which the controllers of traffic and seating were in direct contact with “forward posts" and “ supports." Another heavily worked section, manned entirely .by civilians, was the electric lighting department, which was responsible for some 200 miles of wire and 3600 lamps used in connect tion with the lighting enclosures, car parks, and the roads connecting them With the public highways. About 400 Aidershot Boy Scouts'were on duty each evening, mainly as ushers and orderlies, and they were rewarded by a visit from the Chief Scout, who went over from Bentr ley one afternoon and made a never-to-be-forgotten call at the Scouts Tattoo Gamp. THE SERVING SOLDIER. In a leading article the Daily Telegraph stresses an interesting point, and suggests that the growing popularity of the tattoo must he found in the quickening of the national interest.in the, Army, not by any means to bd confused with the spirit of militarism. “It was much remarked at Aldershot last week," says the writer, "that the loudest applause wAS for' the battalion which brought the familiar khaki service uniform into ithe forefront of the display. What that meant was a keen interest in the serving soldier and the Army of to-day. Superficial people please themselves with believing that the war made us all weary of military things. To say that .the war taught the ordinary man to think of the Army as paft of the national life would be nearer the truth.”