The Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas gave a spectacular performance at All Saints Church Lydd last Saturday November 16 at a concert hosted by Lydd Town Council which had been in the planning stages since January.
The principal guest was the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Admiral of the Fleet, Baron Boyce KG, GCB, OBE, KstJ, DL who opened the concert at 7pm.
The band was first raised in 1859 as part of an Indian Army Gurkha regiment called the Sirmoor Rifle Regiment, but when India was partitioned in 1947 and became independent, the 2nd Gurkha Regiment chose to join Britain, but the band members all stayed in India.
In 1949 sanction was given to raise the band again in Britain and 56 recruits were given musical instruction and in May 1951 Captain JPC Bailey MBE was appointed as the first Director of Music. From that day forward they have delighted crowds with their fast and slick marching displays, lively concert music, ethnic Nepali folk tunes and colourful traditional dances.
The band has travelled extensively throughout the world to Australia, Brunei, Canada, South Korea and Malaya and more recently the Solomon Islands, Falkland Islands, France, Canada, Korea, Germany, Cyprus, Belgium and Australia.
Today, musicians are recruited into the band after their basic military training. Initial music instruction then commences, first under the supervision of the Director of Music and then after approximately four years at the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall in London.
Operational tours include Op Palatine (Bosnia) in 2000 –1 and Op Fingal (Afghanistan) in 2002.
Most recently the Band has toured Nepal, Germany, and attended the 46th International Pilgrimage to Lourdes, the Queen’s Birthday Parades at the Ambassador’s residences in Luxembourg, Brussels and Dusseldorf, the 23rd NATO Festival of Music, services at the Battle of Somme memorial at Thiepval in France, the Nijmegen Marches, Berlin, Nice, the USA for the International Military Tattoo, Cyprus, India and for the second time in Lydd!
The Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas appeared by kind permission of The Colonel Commandant Brigade of Gurkhas and the money raised from donations for tickets and raffle tickets will be given by Lydd Town Council to the Gurkha Welfare Trust in December when the final amount raised will be made public.
This year marks fifty years of the Gurkha Welfare Trust in Nepal. In the late 1960s it became apparent that a great number of Gurkha veterans and their dependants in Nepal were facing destitution as many had served in the Second World war, but had not completed the minimum 15 years to qualify for a British Army Pension.
A public appeal was launched and today, 50 years on, with the incredible support of the British public the Trust continues to support Gurkha veterans and their communities in Nepal.
Thousands of Gurkha veterans and their families now receive a guaranteed monthly income, have a roof over their head, have medical assistance and live in communities who have vital access to clean water and education
The Lydd Town Concert raised a brilliant £2,000 towards the work of the Trust in 2018 and to put this into perspective £1,350 is the average annual cost of a motorbike, allowing teams to reach the homes of beneficiaries to provide vital care.
In addition, the average cost of fuel for these bikes is £232 a month so the concert last year could have paid for nearly nine months worth of fuel.
Source: Lydd Town Council
Image Credits: Lydd Town Council .