FORT NELSON TO RING TO THE SOUND OF PARA BAND - Friday, 31 August 2012
An Army band which entertained our troops in Afghanistan takes centre stage at the Fort Nelson Tattoo next Saturday (September 8), led by local man Captain Evin Frost.
Evin – who hails from Horndean – is Director of Music of the Band of the Parachute Regiment and has overall responsibility for the event’s musical programme.
Saturday’s Tattoo will see the Victorian Fortress come alive with explosive gun firings, rousing military bands, historic re-enactments and breath-taking displays.
Evin’s role will include conducting the massed bands of over 130 musicians, pipes and drums in the spectacular finale of both Tattoo performances – as well as leading the military band.
The members of the Para Band are veterans of Afghanistan, and were based at Camp Bastion during Christmas and New Year 2010/11. After entertaining British troops over the festive period, the band moved to Kandahar to partner with both the American and Afghan Army Bands and then to Kabul.
Royal Armouries Museum Director Peter Armstrong said, “We are delighted to be welcoming Captain Frost and his Band to Fort Nelson, and it’s particularly fitting as Evin is a Hampshire man and so is coming home.”
All Tattoo profits will be shared amongst three Armed Service charities, in recognition of the huge debt we owe our servicemen and women both at home and abroad.
The charities are the ABF The Soldiers’ Charity; Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity; and the RAF Benevolent Fund. Other acts include:
- Rose and Thistle Pipe Band
- HMS Sultan Volunteer Band
- British Youth Corps of Drums
- Solent Overlord Executive Military Collectors’ Club
- Screaming Eagles Living History Group
- Colonel Robert Hammond’s Regiment of Foote (Sealed Knot).
The Tattoo also features a spectacular flypast during the afternoon, with a flypast by a C-47 Dakota from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. The Dakota is one of the world’s most famous military transport aircraft and saw widespread use by the Allies during World War Two.
It will take to the skies as part of the Fort’s World War Two sequence, which highlights the role of the servicemen and women, and local civilians, as Portsmouth came under sustained attack from German bombers.At the end of the evening performance, the Royal Armouries will light up the darkness, with a dramatic fireworks display, staged by Selstar Fireworks, one of the UK’s leading fireworks companies.
Tickets are now on sale and each performance lasts approximately two hours. Grandstand prices range from £18 per adult. A family ticket for the picnic area (two adults and up to three concessions, including registered disabled, plus serving members of HM Armed Forces) costs from £46.
For full details and more prices, visit www.fortnelsontattoo.co.uk or call 0113 220 1887. Alternatively, email tattoo@armouries.org.uk
...ENDS...
To find Fort Nelson, follow the brown Tourist signs from the M27. The Fort is open seven days a week, from 10am to 5pm.
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Notes to editors
- Royal Armouries is the national museum of arms and armour and has sites in Leeds, HM Tower of London, Fort Nelson and Louisville, Kentucky. It is the first British national museum to open a permanent presence in another country
- Admission to the museum is free. However, there may be a small charge for some special events.
- Open all year daily, 10am-5pm. Closed 24-25 December
- Information Line: 0113 220 1999
- Website: www.royalarmouries.org
- The Royal Armouries Museum should not be confused with Royal Armouries International plc, the private sector corporate hospitality business.
To find Fort Nelson, follow the brown Tourist signs from the M27. The Fort is open seven days a week, from 10am to 5pm.
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