'Royal' Tournament Returns? 'The British Military Tournament''

If the Field Gun is to return I don't think it will be in the same format as the old style; the dreaded H & S people will make sure of that to begin with, as will the sex equality people (I'm all for equality but some events are just not suited for females and the old FG is one of them - the current style however is another matter) and not forgetting the "Did you have an accident at work which wasn't your fault?" injury claim culture.
I would imagine that if it is resurrected it will be in its current 'Brickwoods' format which is nicknamed 'Car Park Field Gun' and is a poor shadow of the former competition, but allows all genders & teams not used to FG to participate after some training allowing the Army & RAF to each supply a team instead of 3 Naval teams. The Navy is still in the position that it can't supply the amount of crews it used to for the old FG competition over such a long period of time the training & tournament took so Car Park FG would be my bet as the participants only train for an hour or two a day (i.e. lunchtime, end of the working day etc) as well as doing their normal work.

Brickwoods Field Gun at HMS Collingwood...
YouTube - HMS Raleigh Brickwoods field gun Heat 3 run 1 2008

 

I love my G/F, fingers crossed she is getting tickets tomorrow!

 

I got 4 tickets today for evening show on Saturday the 4th Dec. Anyone else planning on going ?

 

I was there for the Saturday evening show - Well the second half anyway, we missed nearly all of the first half !

The show itself was rather good and the theme this year was based on the role of the horse from the North West Frontier, Boer War through to WW1.

My only disappointment from the military part was the 'Gun Run'. Whilst very good it was a scaled down gun and limber with the participants being of an average age of 16 from Wellington College. By the looks of it the RN and FAA have stopped doing it and don't look like it will ever be done by them again.

As for the civilian organiser - As much use as 'tits on a fish' or a 'chocolate fire guard'. Due to their poor effort at running the event we missed around 40 minutes (most of the start). After FUBAR after FUBAR the cherry on the topping was when some skinny oriental chap who could not speak English properly came up to where I was struggling to sit with a knee brace on me and told me not to take pictures as we do not allow professional photograhy in the event. Failing to take a deep breath and count to ten (I think I had counted to around 750 already).

I looked around the arena at the hundreds if not thousands taking pictures with a flash and I pulled my jacket around and showed him my veterans badge and said to him 'Do you see this?' A confused look came over his face and I said to him, 'I'm not a pro photographer, I used to fight for this country not so long ago, most likely with some of the chaps that are taking part in this show tonight, so I'm taking pictures of my mates and if you want me to stop taking pictures I suggest you go and get the others to stop first and then I will.'

Thankfully I never saw him again. The stewards in the main were 'proper crap and were a right cluster.

All that said and done I will be going again next year if I can-I just won't be bothering with the disabled facilities and help as they were shit !

I'll try and post some pictures tomorrow.

 

Myself and some mates went to Earls Court on Saturday evening to watch this show. It is basically the old Royal Tournament revived under a slightly different name and organised in aid of by ABF, The Soldiers Charity. A great night with lots to see and the performances were superb. I also learnt that the Army Physical Training Corps (APTC) was granted the title "Royal" this November and so is now the Royal Army Physical Training Corps!

One thing though, the traditional "gun run" which the Navy used to do was done instead by two teams of cadets from Wellington College. They were between 14 and 17 years old and although the course was identical to the one used by the Navy teams when they did it, the guns etc that were carried were half scale replicas. Both teams were excellent and there was nothing between them at the finish but I was wondering why the Navy has stopped doing the event themselves, any ideas??

All the best........

 

Andy

Many thanks for a cracking report.................. I share your frustration at the attempts to stop you taking snaps !

Pity about the gun-run

That was, for me anyway, the highlight of the show and the element of danger (because of the weight of the gun) added spice to every presentation.

Glad to see that you are getting back to what passes for normal

Best regards

Ron

 

Paul

See my comment on http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/postwar/26669-royal-tournament-returns-british-military-tournament.html

Perhaps one of the mods could merge these two threads ?

Ron

 

Hi Paul,

Shame you never said you was going-You could have got the beers in

I beleive the RN and FAA month balled the gun run back in 1990 after the last Royal Tornament due to a lack of funding and its stayed that way ever since. I suspect the experience and skill that was handed over to teams year after year is now sadly gone for good.

Cheers Ron - I was spitting feathers at one point.

Andy

 

Hello mate,

It was a sort of last minute thing really!
I know what you mean about the people taking photos! No sooner had the announcer said the "flash photography is not allowed" line the whole place seemed to erupt in a blaze of "Flashes" .

All the best..........

 

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