A phrase taken from a speech made by the Queen during lockdown has been taken to heart by the massed band of the East Kent Sea Cadets.
It was Her Majesty’s comment that “We WILL meet again” that inspired the Hill 112 Memorial Foundation to plan its exciting ‘forties family extravaganza at Betteshanger Park on 11 and 12 September - and those same words have now inspired the band to get together again to play at the fun-filled weekend event.
When the band of drums, bugles and bell lyre Beat Retreat during the weekend, which is being staged as a fund-raiser for the Foundation, it will mark its first public performance since 2019 and the Covid-19 lockdown.
Band master Sub-Lieutenant Adam Smith RNR, said: “It will be great for us to be able to play in public again after months of lockdown and online meetings. We’re very excited to be playing for such a good cause and helping to raise money to complete the Memorial on Hill 112 in Normandy, where 7,000 men died in the weeks after DDay in 1944.”
The reunion of the Kent Sea Cadet band is part of a packed two-day programme that includes the best of Kent produce, a funfair, ‘forties-style food, and a stunning line-up of World War Two vehicles.
Also on display will be a Spitfire and a Hurricane, aircraft that played a large part in the RAF’s victory in the Battle of Britain, fought largely in the skies over Kent. At the start of Heritage Week, the music will echo the 1940s – including We’ll Meet Again – and there will be talks on the Kent coalfield during the war, including the bombing of Betteshanger and how Kent hops and brewing survived the conflict.
The Sea Cadets who will march and play at Betteshanger will include five national award-winners. In 2017 and 2019 the Southern area Sea Cadets Massed Band won the UK National Band Contest held at the Tower of London. Kent cadets are drawn from units at Folkestone and Hythe, Ashford, Dover and Herne Bay.
Sub-lieutenant Smith, who is responsible for all Sea Cadet Bands between Kent and Southampton, said: “We have been practising hard for this reunion and the relaunch of the ban. It has been a relief to get away from zoom meetings, though they have been invaluable as we continue our cadet training. But there hasn’t been too much opportunity to play together. So – at Betteshanger, let’s go!”.
Foundation chair Annette Oliver, daughter of Canterbury veteran Sergeant Gunner Albert Figg, who spent the last 30 years of his life creating the Memorial on Hill 112 to those who died in the battle, said: “Albert thought it very important that future generations should not forget the sacrifices made in the 1940s. He would be delighted that these young people have stepped up, and got together to show that they, too, remember and care.”
We WILL Meet Again is open from 10am to 8pm on Saturday 11 September 11 and 10am to 5pm on Sunday, 12 September. Tickets can be booked in advance on the Betteshanger Park Website and cost £7.50 each day on the Saturday and Sunday, or £12 for the weekend. Entrance on the day will cost £10. Children aged under 13 have free admission. Car parking costs £3.50 all day.
