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Planning starts a year in advance and the event involves over 100 members of staff – a Britannia Royal Naval College Passing Out Parade is certainly not an easy occasion to organise. The task is made harder still if it is a Lord High Admiral’s Divisions parade, which usually involves a visit from a member of the royal family. Last month The Duke of York took the salute and watched over 150 young cadets celebrate their formal commissioning as Royal Navy Officers. Steph Woolvin found out what goes on behind the scenes in the run up to such a big event…
“I would liken organising a Passing Out Parade (or POP as they are known at the college) to setting a juggernaut in motion! Once it gets moving there is no stopping it,” says Commander Rob Dunn whose job it is to co-ordinate every department and make sure they are all working together on the run up to the big day. “It is a well-trodden path - we do them year after year and pretty much stick to the same formula so there are rarely any surprises - but there is an awful lot to get ready. We have to deal with tickets, catering, health and safety, transport, access, the media and security.”
The college holds three passing out parades each year and the Lord High Admiral’s Divisions which took place on the 12th of April, is the most prestigious. Rob puts in the request for a Royal about a year in advance and college staff eagerly await the email to tell them who will attend to take the salute. This year the nomination of The Duke of York created a buzz around the college but soon after that initial excitement of a royal visit the hard work begins. “We have strict safety measures in place for any high profile event at the college,” Rob is clear to point out, “but if a member of the royal family is coming members of the royal household will visit ahead of the parade.
"Once the date and the VIP is organised the logistics of the day itself start to take shape and a big issue for cadets is tickets! The parade is the culmination of 30 weeks of intensive training for the young men and women and as you can imagine, everyone wants to watch - little brothers, proud grannies, great aunties… Each cadet is issued with just four tickets and it is up to them to get other tickets anyway they can. We’re assured no dodgy dealings go on and nothing more than a packet of biscuits or half a pint is exchanged between cadets!"
A small number of foreign students pass out each year, perhaps from Afghanistan or Oman, it’s less likely their families will come over for the event so their tickets are often up for grabs first. Issuing the 800 tickets is the job of Linda Login who works up in the college’s operations office: “It’s not just proud families – we also invite local civic dignitaries and representatives from the police.” Most guests will have to stand but these high-ranking types get a seat and it’s Linda’s job to reserve it for them; “It’s quite important who sits where and there is an official order!” she says. Linda is also responsible for booking the Royal Marine Band and putting together the programme. The latter is an arduous business, as she has to double check the names of every young officer who is passing out, making sure each is spelt correctly.
“This is my 14th parade and I never get bored with them,” she says affectionately. “It’s a special moment - watching all the parents’ faces as their sons and daughters do the special slow march up the steps and as commissioned officers, are allowed to walk through the main doors of the college for the very first time.”
The person in charge of that slow march and the rest of the parade ground drill is Ceremonial Training Officer Jon Nicholls. He makes sure the cadets are neat, tidy, in line and in time. “We put them in size order so the platoon looks pleasing to the eye, shoes must be shiny and men close shaven.” That’s the thing he says he has to pick them up on most: “I learnt the hard way when I was training in the 80s and was made to shave with a razor and a bucket of cold sea water in front of all the other men.” The poignant slow march up the stairs takes each cadet up to 20 hours to master as it has so many precisely co-ordinated small steps. Jon chats to the royal guest and invites them to inspect the men and women. This can take anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours depending on, among other things, how talkative the VIP is. “Things are often shortened if it’s bad weather! The only weather that will stop a passing out parade is lightening because of the swords that are held sky-wards during the march. That becomes a bit of a health and safety concern!”
There are quite a few health and safety issues that need to be considered before an event of this scale and the job of addressing them falls to Jacqui Hunt. She has to make sure the day goes by without any slips, trips or fainting. The college has a park and ride service for the day courtesy of South Hams Council. People are bussed into the grounds and Jacqui has to make sure all the older visitors get off safely and make it up to the parade ground. Once there, those eager to rest their legs make a bee line for the parapet wall: “My heart literally skips a beat every time I see someone perching on it as it has a five metre drop the other side,” says Jacqui with her hand on her chest. Her answer is to send cadets round giving out chairs and encouraging people to sit on the grass. It doesn’t stop there though: “Pretty much every activity has health and safety concerns if you look hard enough. This is a beautiful historic building which we can’t really change so we just have to warn people about things like slipping over on the wooden floor. If it’s been a wet day you will often find me on my hands and knees with towels to try and dry it as people walk through!”
For those who manage to stay upright there is plenty of food and drink to look forward to throughout the day and the thousand canapés are the responsibility of Tracy Harrison from ESS Catering. Her team start organising the food months in advance, she will need 70 staff on the day and the chefs are in from 6am. “The cooking and serving is usually the easy bit, the hard part is getting everyone’s information back on time – how many guests are the cadets bringing? How many of them are planning to eat? Do any of them have any dietary requirements?” As well as arranging two formal receptions, a VIP get together at the Captain’s House and a special sit down meal for the team of cadets who have scored the most points over the year, Tracy also has to feed the cadets who aren’t passing out and expect their lunch and dinner as usual!.
First published in By The Dart magazine, May 2017
