STILL GOING STRONG..

I watched bits of the Trooping the Colour last weekend and it brought back memories of 50 years ago when I was knee deep in my 731 days of National Service.   In a week or so`s time, on 30th June, it will be the 50th anniversary of my regiment, the 10th Royal Hussars, being presented with new colours - the Guidon - by HRH the Duke of Gloucester.

The above picture shows the regiment doing its thing by parading the Guidon around the parade ground of Barker Barracks,  BFPO 16 at Paderborn in what was then West Germany.   Yours truly is in the front rank, about sixth or seventh from the left, respendant in blues, white webbing, gleaming boots and brandishing a sword with which we on the No. 1 Guard had to perform various intricate sword drills.   Mine, I fear, were more Captain Jack Sparrow than the rigidly thrusting epee that should have been, but in those days we got away with it as there was no `Elf `n` Safety to worry about and mercifully a ready  supply of Elastoplast.

We had been whipped into shape - almost quite literally - by a group of malevolent drill sergeants drafted in from the Grenadier Guards, who  shouted at us a lot and put us through our paces for months leading up to the BIG DAY.   When it came to it, I think we did ok but I have often wondered whether our performance contributed to the regiment being amalgamated not once, but twice, so nowadays the successors of the Shiny Tenth are simply the Kings Royal Hussars.

And yet, 50 years on, I still look back to those days with a mixture of pride and amusement (I always felt `miltary intelligence` to be the ultimate contradiction in terms) and I still have friends with whom I served at Her Majesty`s pleasure all those years ago.   And almost to the day - on 29th June - I will be attending a lunch with a handful of other former 10th Hussars who are still going strong and who live around this part of south east England.  With a bit of luck, I might not need the sword this time.