I hope they remember perfect format for festival

THE other Saturday saw myself and senior management transfixed by the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance broadcast on the BBC in its iconic lockdown mode for this year. This has been a compelling programme for me since I was in my early teens and I may well have watched the first festival at the Royal Albert Hall attended by the Queen.

I guess some readers will assume my regard for this programme stems from my time in the Royal Engineers, where I served with some old sweats who had taken part in the ‘D’ Day landings.

I certainly had a great respect for them and what they and their colleagues gave to the war effort and the eventual victory…but that was not the compelling reason for my viewing.

The key motivation for me was always that the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall was for some reason always attended by my old maths teacher, but of far more importance to me was the fact that the programme was produced by Ralph Reader of Scout Gang Show producer fame.

During the latter years of the war he was a member of ENSA and wrote and produced the RAF Gang Shows that developed a number of future entertainers for the TV screens.

My personal involvement with the Scout Gang shows performed at the Golders Green Hippodrome in the 50s and 60s meant I got to know Ralph and was fortunate to play the title role in “The Story Of Mike” which he wrote and appeared with me in the staging at the Palace Theatre in Watford for a week run.

I wonder if any readers remember that way back, the Festival of Remembrance usually had two senior scouts standing at the base of the stairway during the church service before the silence.

These were two teenagers from the Gang Show and were fulfilling a role that I cherished. I asked Ralph, who picked the two lads, and I often knew when my turn would come. Despite obtaining a Queen’s Scout badge, I was never favoured for my dream appearance on national TV

However, this is all simply some background to confirm I have watched the Festival of Remembrance for so many years that I often felt I could produce it myself! The festival this year was forced into a major change because of the pandemic.

There was no audience, far fewer members of the serving forces, and far less bands than usual.

Even the Queen had to be absent this year due to being in lockdown.

I have not known royalty to make a speech, but this year both the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall made a contribution.

It fitted the festival well, and I hope is included in future years.

In fact I hope the whole programme is considered to form the basis of the design for next year’s event.

I have made this observation to senior management, who also keenly watches this programme due to her father’s flying days with Bomber Command during the war.

He was fortunate to survive the war, but died too early to enjoy the later years of life he had richly earnt.

What I now hope is that the specialists who nowadays formulate the programme for the Festival of Remembrance seriously consider if they have found a perfect format for years to come despite this having been forced on them by the pandemic.

This service did not lose sight of the great work undertaken during the pandemic by the civilian nursing profession, as well as those serving in the Army, Navy and Air Force. I am sure they appreciate the respect they were given in the festival.

My plea must be that next year we continue the format for the Festival of Remembrance that we have discovered and enjoyed this year, even if by accident!

I hope the whole programme is considered to form the basis of the design for next year’s event.