Our First Remembrance Day March Past
For the first time as an Association, we have had representatives marching in the Remembrance March Past at the Cenotaph on 10th November 2024.
The national ceremony is held in London at the Cenotaph on Whitehalll, starting with two minutes silence at 11am and concluding with the end of The Nation’s Thank You procession at 1:30 p.m.
The main part of the ceremony consists of the laying of wreaths by members of the royal family, and other dignitaries, a service of remembrance with prayers and a hymn.
It is immediately followed by a march past by thousands of ex-service personnel and contingents from other organisations. Marchers salute the Cenotaph as they pass and wreaths are handed over to be laid around it.
The association had not approached the Royal British Legion to register our association in the past and our involvement was triggered through an observation that our branch was only being represented by one of our specialisations, namely PJI’s as The Canopy Club rather than the trade itself, so your exec committee set out to investigate!
The membership was canvassed to make sure there would be sufficient interest to warrant the work to register and to make sure that we would have a worthwhile representation from our members, and happily there was a good level of interest.
So, the bid was submitted and after a lot of hard work and we were able to register as an association* with the Royal British Legion and we were given the go ahead to allow a maximum of 14 PTI Association members to march, this lengthy initiative was assisted by John Read of the Canopy Club and led by our Cenotaph Lead Dominic O’Sullivan, inevitably assisted by Denise Street Brown our secretary.
Places for the march were limited and were offered out to the association membership using a criterion to ensure as many members who had not previously marched were included (some had previously marched with the Canopy Club) and we were pleased that we easily filled the places.
Very detailed individual joining instructions for this massive parade were received from the Royal British Legion a week prior to the march with each member of the contingent receiving an E Ticket for Accreditation on entry.
As many of the contingent had travelled up on the Saturday, various meet ups were arranged, one being at The Union in Paddington Basin and at the Albert pub to watch the England vs Australia rugby (enough said about that!).
The approximately 1-mile route for the march past was to first assemble in Horse Guards Parade and then march out onto Whitehall and adopt the review order, then march up Whitehall past the Cenotaph and then past Parliament Square, Great George Street and finally returning to Horse Guards down Horse Guards Road past the reviewing Officer who was HRH Prince William for this year.
The day of the march dawned cloudy but not too cold and this was a blessing as there is inevitably a bit of hanging around required to get so many veterans and other agencies into the right place at the right time!
There was a great deal of effort expended by RBL and other agencies for this important weekend; to make the Veterans journey to the event as easy as possible, rail travel was free from the mainline stations and a troop of Poppy Taxis cruised the hotel areas and rail stations to pick up the easily recognisable veteran marchers.
With all association members scattered around London and some travelling on the day, the team individually went through accreditation on The Mall Via Admiralty Arch with their E tickets and then gradually mustered at Horse Guards Parade at 08:30 onwards We found our numbered marker sign and we soon joined up to make up the RAF PTI Association contingent.
L-R: Justin Scholes, Les Hammond, Paula Matthew Watts, Sam Page, Chris Williams, Gary Scott, John Reeves, Denise Street Brown, Paul Bryant, Roy Hunte, Dominic O’Sullivan and Phil Cook. Gareth ‘Bob’ Roberts and Jan Bendy were on the list but could not make it on the day.
Dom, as contingent lead had picked up our two lapel badges from the Lapel Collection Tent on Horse Guards, ours were D48 and these numbered badges are worn by the front rank of the association and relate to the Order of March and this is shared with the BBC to assist the commentary team to identify marchers’ association identities during the Remembrance broadcast, Paula and Roy were voluntold that they would be the left and right markers!
Whilst waiting for things to start up we also managed to meet up with the Canopy Club Association who have marched previously and this meant that the oldest trade in the RAF had a representation of 24marchers for this year’s march!
The massive parade gradually assembled numbering some 10’000 veteran servicemen and women, then we all came under order from the Guards Marshal who brought the parade to attention and commenced the complicated system of getting all marchers onto Whitehall.
During our waits both before and after the march there was a lot of interaction with other arms of the services, several of our contingent had found other servicemen and women with whom they had shared part of their careers and this was an added bonus to the day. Additionally lots of photos were taken and recorded significant elements of the event.
We had three ‘young ladies’ marching with us and we even found another Army PTI to talk to!
We were able to make these images part of the PTI Family history.
Typically, if PTIs are not suitably occupied there were lots of merciless banter and PTI-isims being bandied about whilst we were waiting for our order to step off.
The association managed to field four members of the Exec Committee, two Area Reps and some of us even wore the PJI Brevet! There was some talk of, as we had a quorum, we could authorise Bacon Rolls and Coffee from association funds, (not enacted!).
Our turn finally came to ‘move’ and six abreast we joined the march, at this stage there was a palpable emotional charge that went through all marchers as the size and importance of the occasion became real.
The route from Horse Guards was through the Horse Guards Arch and onto Whitehall where the massed veterans were organised into individual sections to wait for the march to begin, the parade was brought into marching order and then we were off and the emotional aura of the occasion hit home for real.
After getting through the narrow arch, we were assembled on Whitehall into three columns and again we waited for the real march to commence.
Standards were suitably observed and as the contingent’s footwear seemed to have collected a significant amount of dust from Horse Guards, a short period of shoe cleaning was adopted to return the contingent’s footwear to a condition to meet the required standard! (thanks Sam!).
All the way down Whitehall there were very large TV Screens that showed what was going on at the Cenotaph and this was linked to the live BBC feed being shown on TV, this was a good way of keeping everyone involved with the whole event.
Whilst we waited Dom was able to speak to his family who amazingly managed to find us in the massed columns of veterans!
We were right next to where Sophie Rainworth was interviewing some senior veterans in their wheel chairs and despite some posing from the older and better looking PTIs we were not picked up for an interview!
However, the RBL had captured Roy holding the association wreath and published it on their website! Roy said any fees received would be donated to the association.
We had been waiting for around two hours at this point and we could see from the screens that things were starting to move, we had been watching, and applauding the other columns as they passed us to take up their marching positions.
This was welcomed as we were starting to feel the cold and needed to move! Some suggestions of forward rolls and other gymnastic contortions were suggested (much to the amusement of the Masirah contingent) but luckily none taken up!
At 10:58 the cannon report warned of the commencement of the 2 minutes silence, it was a very eerie experience to be stood in the midst of thousands of people and you could have heard a pin drop, this silence and the Last Post followed by Revelle installed a real atmosphere to the proceedings and we knew we were about to follow the many veterans in front of us for our first march past the Cenotaph.
Finally, although haltingly, we moved off and Dom set us off with an impressive command of: “RAF PTI’s by the left quick march” and after an ‘acclimatisation period’ we all were in time and moving forwards, the Masirah guys were not the best marchers and we soon learnt to listen to Dom Justin and Roy rather than try to follow the timing of those fine gentlemen in front of us!
As we marched up Whitehall the street was lined with spectators all of whom showed their appreciation (how do they manage to clap for so long?) and again the emotion surfaced and our backs became a little straighter, our chins a little higher and our attention to keeping time a lot more focussed.
As we approached the Cenotaph the road was lined with a single military rank and for a few moments it was just us and the Cenotaph with no spectators clapping, just the band playing, this was again quite a poignant part for the march and the appropriate eyes left was sounded by Dom, Roy dutifully passed the association wreath for the guys to lay at the foot of the Cenotaph to mark our respect and we could now say “we were there”!
We were soon back in the spectator’s view and their appreciation continued unabated as we continued along Whitehall, turning into St Georges Road and on to return into Horse Guards Road.
Again, we smartened up our act as we approached the Reviewing Officers Podium where HRH Prince William, The Prince of Wales was taking the salute, I realised that this was the first time I had ever marched in front of Royalty!
Again, with a bit of stop start and marking time we returned to Horse Guards where we reformed as we had prior to the parade and the formal element of the day was complete.
Most of the footsore contingent gathered at The Admiralty in Trafalgar Square after leaving Horse Guards.
Dom had booked a table but once we all got in there, we gradually expanded our presence and manufactured an ‘RAF PTI Corner’!
Joe McCready joined us there and to complete the tri service interaction (to include previous contact with the Army PTI) we found some Club Swingers to talk to who subsequently stated that “The RAF were welcome in their ‘Navy pub’ in the future”!
After some refreshments and banter continuance everybody gradually went their separate ways and the extraordinary event which had brought us together, reestablished old acquaintances and made some new friends, a memorable day was complete.
The next day it was good that everyone got home safely and on our Cenotaph WhatsApp group contributed the following comments regarding their thoughts on this unique experience:
“There are days in your life that you will never forget. This was one of them. Lots of laughter and emotions” Gary Scott
“I was a Cenotaph virgin, wow what an experience” Paul Bryant
“I was honoured, privileged and very proud to be marching with ‘The PTI Family’ on such a memorable occasion. A humbling experience and one I will not forget” Denise Street Brown
“It was a great and humbling experience. The honour of representing our branch and knowing and showing that we are part of the big collective. There were so many different generations working together in harmony. A great day” Roy Hunte
“Days out like these with the ‘family’ just don’t get better. Truly Humbled. John Reeves
“It was my first time and I would do it again” Paula Matthews-Watts
“Like many others I felt privileged and honoured to take part in such a memorable occasion” Chris Williams
“Everyone has their own private moment of thought on the day, about the personal experiences and memories of service, funny and solemn, but it is also a realisation that we were all part of something bigger than ourselves and that unique identity and sense of belonging and pride does not leave us. I encourage everyone to share their memories with family. It is our responsibility to pass on the memories and the importance to the future generations” Dominic O’Sullivan
“Later that evening as I made my way back to my hotel, I was both elated and at the same time saddened at having experienced this wonderful day, it is an important and vital event in the annual military calendar at which I was proud to represent our association and to have been involved in and will I not forget it, as we will never forget those who gave their lives for us. Les Hammond
Finally, many thanks must be re-recorded to Dominic and Denise who nursed us through this memorable experience.
RAF PTI Association Cenotaph Marchers!
*The RAF PTI Association is currently registered with RBL as a new organisation under the title “The RAF Physical Education Association” enquiries are underway to get our registration renamed as The RAF Physical Training Instructors Association” for next year.
RAF PTI Association 