The events which led-up to it included
various one-day or weekend 'Army Shows' and Military Tattoo's including the
Berlin Brigade and Edinburgh events; these could be up to a week long.
There were certain memes and standards
associated with these shows among which were the four brightly coloured jeeps
of the REME juniors from Shrivenham (? Or RE Arbourfield?), which would be
driven into the arena, taken apart, moved in pieces, put back together again and
driven off; as a race!
The RHA would always be on hand with their
'musical ride'; dragging the guns to music, the Royal Marines could usually be
counted upon for a blank-firing arctic warfare scenario, outdoor events would
usually include the Red Devils or their lesser rivals while the White Helmet
motorcycle display and MP dog display always pleased.
The host unit always had to come up with
something, friends from abroad became regulars like the RCMP 'Mounties' and the
US Marines Pokey-drill display team (did West Point have a bigger team, all in
grey?) and the whole would be interspersed with various bands or pipes and drums,
with larger massed-bands or massed pipes & drums (often with guest or
civilian bands participating) bringing the show to a crescendo with fireworks.
There was much more (a bit of clowning,
some marching stuff, Lipizzaner horses . .
. bull-fighting with horned-bicycles!) and another five minutes would drag more
of them from the old memory-box - as I sat through enough of them! But the one
I always looked-forward to the most was the competition between the Naval
Academies.
It had elements of most of the above (no
music), with an obstacle course greater than the RMP dogs had to face, broken
and reassembled military equipment - each piece of which was heavier than the
various jeep components - and spectacle which put the White helmets in the
shade and made the Red devils look like cosseted show-offs!
The competition ran through the KAPE season
but the climax (when two teams were usually ahead and vying for top spot) was
the Tournament week, and each night they would heave, carry and swing their
naval guns over, under and through walls, wooden-horses, imaginary canyons and
water features in a race of epic drama!
They used various telegraph-poles and
rope-jigs to create levers and swing-cranes and the whole thing was pretty
awesome to watch. If they got something wrong the DS (Directing Staff) would
make them do it again, while the other team crept-away up the course, heaving
and yelling like berserkers!
Someone made a set for us to play with . .
.
I say 'someone', I'm pretty sure it was Phoenix Model Developments, and if it
wasn't, I 'know' who it was; as I have the paperwork in a 40' shipping
container in Basingrad! But - I can't find them in the scanned catalogues,
can't remember and know that while Phoenix
had a range of 30mm ceremonial troops including bands, I just can't find these
. . . or the set of White Helmets I think were also made - by the same maker;
whoever it was, on Google?
In addition, I seem to remember there was a
firm doing the London Shows about ten/twelve years ago who also had a range of
30mm ceremonials which may or may not have been Phoenix, or from Phoenix
moulds, or 'after' Phoenix?
Asking Phoenix
- who still exist but now concentrate on 1:12th dolls house accessories and
larger bronzes (although they do still carry some of the costermen's carts
which so pleased JG Garratt) was fruitless, so I'm hoping one of the 'metal
guys' (Tim, Doug, Ross, et al?) might
have the definitive answer, as it'll be years before I get my stuff out of
storage I fear!
Anyway, I'll list them as Phoenix as they
are 'in the style' of their 30mm ceremonial figures, on the presumption (far
worse that a mere assumption!) that they are late-catalogue or un-catalogued
Phoenix - until I know otherwise.
The above shots are of a vignette of the
'run down' after the final firing - they did two circuits if I remember rightly,
slightly different order each time, with (obviously) reverse order on the
second run down the obstacles, assembling the guns and firing a blank round at
the end of the run-up, they then disassembled them again, did the 'part two'
and then reassembled the guns, fired another blank and then ran them as fast as
they could (with their effort-withered lungs) to the other [mid-point or] turn-end
for a finish time.
The DS is looking carefully for
infringements!
These all came - I believe - from a deceased collectors
estate about 10 years ago, and I don't know what he's trying to do here, two
men couldn't pull that gun and limber, that casually, and the paint treatment
is very different (compare with the wonderful gun-metalling on the race
vignette), while the gun doesn't have the race carrying-pole wedged in the
breech, or the rope hand-hoops in the muzzle?
I think he was going to finish this as an
in-service piece for shelf-display?
These were also in the set, I think maybe
they were going to be the 'march-on' group. There are only three figure types
in all these pictures; an officer or ensign, a running man and a marching/walking
man, everything-else is done with moveable arms and paint.
One of the arms has gone AWOL, but then . .
. one of the features of the race used to be the announcer telling the audience
about the worst of the injuries sustained in races and training that year, how
many were unable to attend the final race because they were in hospital, or -
occasionally - if anyone had died. Both teams in each race had a couple of
supernumeraries on the team to allow for injuries while under the stop-watch!
If that's not enough for you; on the last
night of the Royal Tournament, after the final race, all the teams would parade
for the prize-giving - with all the injured; arms and legs in plaster, a couple
in wheelchairs and the hospitalised would get another name check! Those in
plaster were also visible working the recruiting stands during the week and manning displays outside
the arena - "Join the Navy and you
can break you femur in three places, on training, too!"
The past is a not just a different country,
it's a bloody rough place! But it helped us win the Falklands back, vastly
outnumbered, from thousands of miles away.
Maybe that helps explain Brexit and the
apparent (very apparent) popularity of the awful Mrs. May means Maybe, Maybe
Not, but another thing about the past is that you can't return to it, progress
is inevitable, for good or ill, and anyone who thinks differently is deluding
themselves.
The previous owner had started to
scratch-build the obstacles, one day I'd like to finish the project but time
waits for no man! The limbers were levered over the wall like this, but in
reality the wheels would have been removed and they had to be rolled through
the hole in the middle of the wall - if the two wheel sub-teams got their
timing out, they would wedge-tight as it was only wide enough for one, while if
the receiving sub-teams got their part wrong the wheels would be the wrong way
round to go back on the limber (or gun) and time would be lost - precious
seconds.
Also a close-up of the movable arm, you
simply press the receiving stud with a screwdriver blade or something similar
to burr it back against the shoulder, which holds the arm on, but allows
movement.
The paint difference between the two main
elements of this collection, it's not that he hasn't finished the one; it's a
different treatment, a different blue. So I suspect he was doing one as a race
team from the collages, the other as a WWI or WWII era parade piece?
Anyway, if I ever finish them, they will be
a hell of a sight, and can anyone cast firmer light on the maker? I've just Googled both these and the White Helmets (being scrapped this year!) again with no luck, yet can picture the paperwork in my head!
