Haywards Heath resident attends the Royal British Legion Remembrance Concert as Standard Bearer

Paul Buckland is a memorial fixer for P & S Gallagher Funeral Directors in Haywards Heath. He also has the honourable job of being Standard Bearer for the Lindfield Royal British Legion. This is a voluntary role, which when requested, he will parade the RBL Standard at a funeral of ex service personnel and at other RBL events.

On Saturday 12th of November, he was invited to the Royal Albert Hall in London, to be part of the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance. For Paul, the process started back in August when registration for the event took place and then as the 11th of November approached more instructions arrived giving details of times and key information. Guests were asked to arrive at the Royal Albert Hall on the Friday, late afternoon, to collect their security passes and to attend a briefing in the Great Hall under the supervision of the National Parade Marshall. There were 100 RBL branches in attendance from all areas of the United Kingdom along with Ex-Service Associations’ Standard Bearers. Security was strict with passes checked and the Standards X-rayed each time they entered the RAH building. The first rehearsal was the Standards Muster and for this they were handed over to the Garrison Sergeant Major, who certainly knew his left from his right and told everyone very politely that tick-tocking was not exclusive to clocks! By 19:30 the GSM was happy!

Paul had a very early start on the Saturday as he had to be on site for 07:00. Rehearsals resumed for all the elements of the programme and breakfast was served to all, service personnel, standard bearers, musicians and the choir. Quite a feat itself to feed all the participants in just 20 minutes. “The Full Albert” breakfast was very welcome for Paul!

During the course of the morning up to lunch time, two more full rehearsals including a dress rehearsal. The afternoon matinee performance was when the general public got the first opportunity experience the 2023 Festival of Remembrance - ‘Service’ and ‘Service Not Self’.

Through personal testimony and storytelling, through music and ceremony, the Festival expressed the core values of Service. Paul cannot express highly enough the admiration and esteem he has for our Armed Forces, placing others before themselves, devotion to duty and unfailing reliability. The Festival commemorated lived experiences of our Armed Forces community by honouring veterans who lost their lives or were injured in service. It further honoured their families, descendants and representatives. Paul defies anybody who says they were not emotionally moved by the personal stories that were relayed to the audience and participants. In all, Paul sat through four full performances of the Festival during Saturday, each time sitting as an emotional wreck as he witnessed and heard of the personal sacrifices.

The matinee and evening performances were separated by a dinner break. Again, in the company of all personnel taking part and a great spirit of togetherness could be felt in the atmosphere.

After another vigorous security check and we were lined up again waiting for the King and Queen Consort to arrive. Trumpeters sounded and part four had commenced and just like the three previous times that day and all the preparation paid off and the Festival proceeded to a conclusion in a faultless fashion. Incredible singers - Colin Thackeray aged 93 and a Chelsea Pensioner performed Arirang, remembering the Korean War, Mica Paris MBE, Katie Melua, Calum Scott. During the Drum Laying, Alfie Boe performed ‘Bring Him Home’ during which the RBL Standards mustered on the main stage and around the arena.

Once the muster was complete, the Book of Remembrance was carried in by Petty Officer Jones and his family, recently reunited and a lovely video tape played their story. The fall of the poppies was preceded by Malakai Bayoh, a 13-year-old boy, singing Pie Jesu. The Act of Remembrance followed, bringing the Festival of Remembrance to an end. Paul has just three words to summarise the two days: Unforgettable - Humbling - Admiration.

An amazing experience for Paul, one that will live with him for the rest of his life.