Not a lot to write here as an introduction to this post on the website as it’s simply a load of photographs taken in Portsmouth’s Guildhall Square back in 2016 when marching displays at the Royal Naval Volunteer Band Festival was taking place. The Royal Naval Volunteer Bands – as their name might suggest – are volunteers and are not part of the Royal Marines Band Service, formed instead from serving or retired members of the Crown Service or military, or just because they really, really like dressing up in pseudo-militaria uniforms and playing tunes in front of crowds. Speaking of the tunes: yeah, not my thing. Not one bit. I’ve never liked marching or brass bands, in part through associating the tunes with seeing the Salvation Army out and about and in part because, well, it just grates. We all have different tastes. The reason we stopped to observe and take photos during this festival of marching displays is simply because it was on, it was free, and it was in easy walking distance from our house and the many pubs of Portsmouth. Musical tastes aside, the bands performed well.
As you can see from the Royal Naval Volunteer Band Festival line-up shown on the screen in Guildhall Square below, the bands performing their displays for the crowd and to be judged were:
- Northwood HQ
- HMS Sultan
- HMS Collingwood
- HMS Nelson
- RN Pipers Display
- HMS Drake
- HMS Seahawk
- HMS Neptune
- HMS Heron
Based on the timestamps on my camera, the bands featured in the photographs on this post are likely to be HMS Nelson and RN Pipers Display, but I cannot give any guarantees on that.
