The regimental band of the Royal Scots Borderers led by Captain P Wilman and the pipes, drums and dancers of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland were in Barga this afternoon for a stirring display of Scottish Military precision marching, music and dancing. The rain kept away long enough for the one and a half hour tattoo on the Fosse by the 55 members of the Royal Scots Borderers.
The Royal Scots Borderers is the name given to the 1st Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The battalion was formed in August 2006 by the amalgamation of the Royal Scots and King’s Own Scottish Borderers.
The Royal Regiment of Scotland is unique in the British Army in that the names of the regiments that were amalgamated to form it have been retained, with their battalion numbers used as subtitles. Two of the initial six regular battalions, the Royal Scots Battalion and King’s Own Scottish Borderers Battalion were amalgamated in August 2006 – upon their amalgamation, the new battalion took the name Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland. The current Commanding Officer is Lt. Colonel Bob Bruce, formerly of the Royal Scots.
Nemo Me Impune Lacessit (No One Assails Me With Impunity)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McZvRxOnJOg
The battalion wears a flat black hackle behind the Royal Regiment of Scotland cap badge on the TOS (Tam O’ Shanter) to distinguish itself as the Royal Scots Borderers. It recruits its soldiers from Edinburgh, the Lothians, Borders and parts of Lanarkshire, which was traditionally the recruiting ground of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) until 1968. The battalion home headquarters and Royal Scots museum is based at Edinburgh Castle. A Company of 52nd Lowland, 6th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland maintains an affiliation to the 1st Battalion.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qi10QLzGpg
Click on the link below to hear a brief interview with Andrea Colombini, the artistic director of The Caledonian Academy of Tuscany (in English AND Italiano)
“The Royal Regiment of Scotland is unique in the British Army in that the names of the regiments that were amalgamated to form it have been retained, with their battalion numbers used as subtitles.”
Not so sure about that “unique” assertion, as there is (at least) one more quite famous example of an old regimental name living on in somewhat shadowy form in the reconstituted modern British Army:
Exactly 30 years ago, the celebrated Prince of Wales’ Own West Yorkshire Regiment — which led the catastrophic World War I British offensive on the Somme — was joined with its eastern Yorkshire counterparts in the unified Prince of Wales’s Own Regimental Battalion of Yorkshire. In 2006, it was merged once again with other battalions to form the Yorkshire Regiment, the sole infantry unit in the contemporary British Army that draws on a single county. According to the regimental website, “the direct descendants of the West Yorks of the 1914-1918 war now serve in the 1st Prince of Wales’s Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment.”
Knowing how much Monacu is in touch with his Scottish side I am surprised that he is does not appear in the above video. Was he ill that day,or is this another example of the city fathers not advertising up and coming events? Wonderful stuff Scotland. 55 replacements for Hamish Moore. This will truly keep the “auld alliance” between Barga and Alba alive!
Yours sincerely,
Zambo
PS Am I not right in thinking Cambelltown Loch (I wish you were whiskey) is Monacu’s all time favorite toe tapper?
Ach, that makes me even more annoyed – I was supposed to travel to Barga this weekend, but then I got my ankle injured and couldn’t go. 🙁