After a three year absence, due to COVID regulations, Gordon’s annual Patron’s Parade finally went ahead on Saturday to honour its Patron HM The Queen. The event was also a celebration of HM the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Fresh from performing with the 10 Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment Pipes and Drums at Aldershot Garrison, the Gordon’s Pipes and Drums, led by Drum Major Rose Roberts marched on to a Parade Square bedecked in Union Jacks, playing Diu Regnare (‘Long Reigning’) composed by Stuart Liddell for the Platinum Jubilee. Following them, the rest of the student body, wearing their ceremonial Blues uniforms.
Inspecting the Parade was Major General Angus Fay, a Gordon’s parent and Trustee of The Gordon Foundation, who congratulated the students on an ‘outstanding Parade’ and reflected: “As we celebrate our Sovereign’s Platinum Jubilee and Patronage of the school, there can be no better example for any of us of preparing for life’s challenges than the Queen, who on her 21st birthday in 1947, pledged her life to the service of our nation.”
During the Parade, which was watched by parents and staff, the school Chaplain the Reverend Graham Wright read the Jubilee Prayer and the National Anthem was played.
Among the Awards presented to students were those for the two teams competing in the recent 35 mile Ten Tors Challenge and to Abigail Hunter-Blanco, who received the Sword of Honour and Gardiner Memorial Award for 2021 as the best senior cadet in Gordon’s CCF. The award commemorates the life of Daryl Gardiner, a Gordonian, who served in the British Army and was killed on active duty in Afghanistan. As part of the award, Abigail will take part in a tandem parachute jump.
Immediately after the Parade, two of the school’s youngest students, Sophie Wallace and Annabelle Hayakawa – both born on August 31st 2010, helped plant a tree outside the school Chapel as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative. They also buried a time capsule containing a science project on what scientific advances had been made during Her Majesty’s reign.
During the lead up to the Platinum Jubilee, the school wrote a letter of congratulations to Her Majesty and bunting appeared across the site. Union Jacks were hoisted on all three flagpoles and the Catering Department reflected the historic milestone through their lunchtime menus of traditional British dishes such as bangers and mash, trifle and scones with jam.
