Band of the Royal Armoured Corps
The Band of the Royal Armoured Corps is the British Army military band representing the Royal Armoured Corps (RAC) in the Corps of Army Music. The band is stationed at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire.[1] It consists of 35 full-time and professional musicians form a variety of ensembles that include a traditional marching band, a big band and a jazz band. The band supports military and civilian events within the United Kingdom and overseas. Since its formation, the band has performed areas such as Cyprus and the Falkland Islands as well as Afghanistan.
Origins
The band is a descendant of the many cavalry mounted bands that existed in the 19th and 20th centuries.[2] In 1965, there were 23 bands in the RAC, including the Band of the Junior Leaders' Regiment.[3] By the 1990s, the RAC was reduced to four bands serving the regiments of Royal Dragoon Guards, Hussars and Light Dragoons, Royal Lancers and the Royal Tank Regiment:[4]
- Band of the Royal Lancers (amalgamation of the 9th/12th (Prince of Wales's) Royal Lancers Band and The Queen's Royal Lancers Band)
- Band of the Royal Dragoon Guards (amalgamation of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards Band, 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards Band, Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Band, and 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards Band)
- Cambrai Band of the Royal Tank Regiment (amalgamation of the Cambrai Band of the RTR, Alamein Band of the RTR, Rhine Band of the RTR)
- Band of the Hussars and Light Dragoons (amalgamation of the 13th/18th (Queen Mary's Own) Royal Hussars Band, 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars Band, The Queen's Own Hussars Band, The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars Band, The Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) Band, 14th/20th King's Hussars Band)
The Alamein and Cambrai Bands were previously reduced to 22 members from 35 in April 1985.[5] In 2006, the Band of the Dragoon Guards joined with the Cambrai Band to form the Heavy Cavalry and Cambrai Band.[6] The bands in the RAC would later be reduced to just this band and the Light Cavalry. The modern band was formed on 1 April 2014 by the amalgamation of the HC&C Band and the Light Cavalry Band.[7]
Performances
- In 2011, it took part in the Buxton Military Tattoo, performing pieces such as I Vow to Thee, My Country and The Planets.[8]
- It performed during the official ceremony for the 95th birthday of the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in York.[9]
See also
Citations
- ^ "British Army Bands in 2019". November 4, 2019.
- ^ Macfarlane, Peter (October 31, 2019). The Royal Dragoon Guards: A Regimental History, 1685–2018. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781472838575 – via Google Books.
- ^ "The Junior Leaders' Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps, August 1965". Imperial War Museums.
- ^ "History of Military Music". www.imms-uk.org.uk.
- ^ "Service Bands - Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk.
- ^ "Regimental Music - RDG Museum". www.rdgmuseum.org.uk.
- ^ "The Band of The Royal Armoured Corps with dubb and DUCB - Durham University". www.dur.ac.uk.
- ^ "The Heavy Cavalry and Cambrai Band (Buxton Military Tattoo 2011) – The Cavalry Music Traditon Lives On | Gilmore Horsemanship".
- ^ "The Band of the Royal Armoured Corps plays ahead of the guns from P..." Getty Images.