Flying our Standard at St Pauls
By Ray (Ginge)Higginson
I arrived at St Pauls with the ACA Standard at 0930 and deposited the
same in the RN Guard coach outside the Cathedral. My wife and I were
shown to two of the best seats in the house and then had to wait about
an hour before before HRH,s Charles and Andrew arrived. Meanwhile we
met Ray Colbourne's widow Liz, Alf Tupper and Wife and J O'Donnel from
HMS Illustrious, which was parked out in the Thames.
Before the service started We were entertained by the the RM Band/Orchestra playing 'The Fantasy of British sea Songs' and the new composition called 'Daedalus'. - Quite amusing to hear 'What shall we do with the Drunken Sailor' in St. Pauls! Lovely Service with readings from Simon Charlier FONAC and Kristen Scott Thomas the actress, her father and step father were both RN pilots killed in RN A/C crashes. It took ages after the service for us all to step off and March past the Prince of Wales and it didn't help that the weather was windy and wet.
The RN
paraded the Queens colour in front of the RM band followed by a guard
from Illustriuos and one from Sultan/Collingwood. 9 standard bearers
led about 30 FAA vets, sadly no ACA members. Shame because the
reception afterwards at 3 London halls was fantastic. I was lucky
enough to be invited to the Guildhall with the Royalty. The drink and
the fantastic food was never ending! However We left about 1500 not
forgetting the ACA standard etc and making our way back to Waterloo
Station.
Although the ACA Standard was hit by a Hail storm outside St Pauls it is still in pristine condition which is more than I was after carrying and marching for 45 minutes!!
