Page 53 - Bugle Issue 16 Autumn 2020

BAND&BUGLES
In a year when we all were locked down, up to 40 Association Buglers sounded every Thursday for over 2 months during the ‘Clap for the NHS’. Bugler Paul Sammy Goose sounded Last Post for over 152 consecutive nights to honour those who died of COVID-19 and thus earning himself in the Guinness Book of Record. He is also nominated as a finalist in this year’s Pride of Britain Award.
Our Buglers have attended and sounded at 252 funerals and 66 events such as memorials and weddings so far this year. The most significant of the latter has been the sounding at commemorative events nationwide to celebrate the 75th Anniversaries of VE Day in May and VJ day in August as well as celebra- tions of the D Day landings in Portsmouth. Regimentally 12 Buglers sounded at the annual commemoration of the Ballygawley Roadside Bomb at the Quarry in Shrewsbury.
Association Buglers successfully took part in in The Rifles Bugle Competition. New recruits continue to join the Association in particular Major (Retired) Dave Jarrett (ex LI), a recent convert to bugling. Outreach to cadet bugling continues in particular in Pontefract Yorkshire where Craig Rosser develops bugling in E Company ACF.
None of this could have happened without the support of our Veteran Buglers and without the generous financial support of individual donors and the generous grants from the
RGJ Association and the KOYLI Trust, both of whom have donated bugles as well. We are particularly grateful for this and await the time when we can parade more freely and support the Regimental family even better. Find out more about us on our refreshed website www. buglersassociation.org.
DHRS
Waterloo Band & Bugles of The Rifles
Following a very successful concert in February to a large and appreciative audience at Oxford Town Hall in support of The Royal British Legion, we were looking forward to a busy and challenging year of interesting and challenging engagements. All of a sudden, the brakes were applied in March as the COVID-19 pandemic struck and everything stopped.
Very soon, 7 RIFLES was mobilised in support of the NHS as part of Op RESCRIPT and it was no surprise that the members of the band stepped up to volunteer. I and 16 band members were mobilised, taking leave from their normal employment and began training and understanding the constantly evolving landscape – all at reach via elec- tronic means (including daily PT!).
With 39% of the band’s manpower mobilised, the remaining 61% embarked on
continuous musical training from home and thinking of innovative ideas as to how they could support the Battalion both on Op TOSCA and Op RESCRIPT. Following some pretty swift self-training, Cpl Bloodworth and LCpl Barlow were able to produce some music videos of the Band and Bugles performing High on a Hill and Somewhere Over the Rainbow. These projects required everyone to record their instrumental performances
at home using their phones then our two technical experts combined the images and mixed the audio into one performance. As
a result, both videos received over 100,000 views on social media!
The ladies and gentlemen who volun- teered for Op RESCRIPT were finally deployed onto the streets of Thames Valley and along with their colleagues in Alma Coy. It comes as no surprise that our musicians were able
...both videos received over 100,000 views on social media!
Sjt Keith Vertigan
receives The Rifles
coin for outstanding
performance during
Op RESCRIPT
to switch easily from delivering musical capability to a specific MACA task swiftly. This was proven when Sjt Vertigan was awarded the Commanding Officer’s
coin for services to Alma Coy during Op RESCRIPT.
Maj L Sale, Director of Music
RIFLES The Bugle 53
THE BUGLERS’ ASSOCIATION OF THE LIGHT DIVISION & THE RIFLES