9th-12th-Lancers - Year 2000 - Page 0080
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| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 2000 |
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REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE 9th/12th ROYAL LANCERS (PRINCE OF WALES’S) 79 Old Comrades Association Notes 000 was an eventful year for us. We have reached the end of the 20th Century during which we saw so many changes in the British Army and especially of course in our Regiment. This year we also celebrated the one-hundredth birthday of our Colonel-in-ChiefQueen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The year started by the OCA Committee inviting the Staff Sergeants and Warrant Officers of the Serving Regiment to dinner in the W0 & NCOs Mess of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in Knightsbridge Barracks. This tradition goes back some time but it had fallen out of use in the past few years because of the Regiment’s many commitments. So it was fortunate that we managed to get everyone including those SNCOs attached to 9/12L together. The Household Cavalry laid on a superb meal with excellent wine and we were all very grateful to their RCM for allowing us to use their very well- appointed Mess. In March we had our Annual Museum Day in Derby. Captain Boag gave us a very interesting talk on how 9L had to give up their horses and convert to tanks in 1938. The problems faced by the Regiment during this change were very similar to what happens today. The only difference was that a war on a massive scale was imminent and the politicians with one or two notable exceptions seemed not at all prepared. The same evening Mr and Mrs Jordan organised what has by now become the traditional Derby Reunion. It was, as in pre- vious years, a great success when more than 300 past members of the Regiment came and met up with friends from their Army Days. The buffet and the entertainment were of the usual high standard we have come to expect and we all are very grateful to the Jordans for making this Reunion possible. We know only too well that a lot of organisation goes into the preparation of this event. In early April we went to Weymouth to our Annual Wessex Reunion. Mr and Mrs Draper had organised a very good lunch- eon and although not as many were able to attend compared with the Derby Reunion it was voted, nevertheless, to have been very enjoyable by all those who were there. Again we all wish to express out thanks to Mr and Mrs Draper for all the hard work they put into making this reunion possible. We had a very successful OCA Dinner at the Duke of York’s HQ, which 108 serving and retired members of the Regiment attend- ed. The following day we all paraded as usual in Hyde Park for the Annual Cavalry Memorial Parade. Field Marshal Sir John Stanier took the Salute. To mark the last year ofthe Millennium we marched behind our Regiments’ Guidons. This had never been done before. The weather was cool and not as bright as in previous years but the rain held off and the parade was consid- ered a great success. Shortlybefore our Colonel-in-Chief’s One Hundredth Birthday a magnificent pageant was held in her honour on Horse Guards Parade in London and the OCA was allocated some 80 seats. Despite some small-minded attempt by the BBC telling the nation that they would not televise it and some anarchists to dis- rupt trains to London, all the stands were packed with specta- tors and no seat was left empty. The Regimental Guidon was carried on parade together with all other Guidons, Standards and Colours of Her Majesty’s Regiments. It was to be the last time our Guidon would be on public display before the Regiment received a new one. Three days later on 21st July, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother flew to Norfolk to visit her Regiment shortly before the move to Germany and to present 9/12L with a new Guidon. It was a lovely warm and sunny day and a great many Old Comrades joined the Regiment for a very impressive Parade in HM The Queen Mother’s Pageant on Horse Guards Parade wrth the 9/7 2L Gurdon /n the front row "n. —- —...—., H ' . Fun,» _ up”: |
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