A royal engagement

We marched down the Mall in front of the Queen and 10,000 guests, for her 90th birthday on 12 June, 2016. This was possibly the highlight of the band’s history.

Members of the band expressed their delight at being asked to take part in the Queen’s 90th birthday celebration parade at the weekend.

Chiltern Hills Brass Band in High Wycombe joined forces with the Egham Band at the prestigious event on 12 June after the invitation to take part ‘came out of the blue’ in April. Spokesman Lindsey Davies said the group jumped at the opportunity and that the invite was extra special as her Majesty is a patron of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain. She said: ‘We were told there would be two parades, one in the morning and the second one in the afternoon which would be in front of the Royal Family and be broadcast live around the world on the BBC. It was a very special occasion and we were honoured to have been asked to take part.’

The section of the parade the band took part in was devoted to the 1970s and so were asked to play the Star Wars theme song, Largo from the New World Symphony and Eye Level, the theme tune to ITV’s Van der Valk. The songs had to be continuously played from the Horse Guards Parade, along the Mall, past the Queen Victoria Memorial and Buckingham Palace, around the outskirts of St James’s Park along Birdcage Walk and back down to Horse Guards.

Lindsey said security requirements were ‘really tight’ and the group had little time in which to get and submit the necessary documents. They arrived in London at 8am on the morning of the parade and were addressed by Her Majesty’s grandson Peter Phillips who organised the extravaganza.

She said: ‘The first parade took part in pouring rain and we were all drenched at the end of the 1.3km route which took 40 minutes to complete. It was exhausting work, and yet we knew we had to do it all again for real a couple of hours later. Fortunately the sun came out on cue, and in front of 10,000 guests lining both sides and the full length of the Mall, plus the Royal Family in front of Buckingham Palace, the most amazing event in Chiltern Hills Brass’s history went fantastically well. It has left us with many new friends and wonderful memories that we’ll treasure forever. We are very proud to have done it.’