THE GUARDS

Radio Record, 1 July 1938, Page 18

THE GUARDS

WELSH BAND TO BROADCAST IN- NZ

BEST feature of ‘all about: the engagement. of .the Band ‘of H.M. Welsh Regiment of Foot Guards, known as. Welsh Guards, for. ‘the. of the New. Zealand Exh’ bition, is that’ the entire country: will hear the". band through. broadcasting. The band. was: ‘formed’ ‘in. 1916, the year following the. raising of the regiment. On, St. .David’s Day, 1916, the band did duty* with the guard at. Buckingham: Palace for ‘the first time; the . Same evening made: ‘its: first’ appearance ‘on ‘the concert platform’ at a: grarid Welsh patriotic meéeting, held: at «the London Opera House. . At the end of October, 1916,:the band went. to France ‘for duty: ~ -with the Guards D‘vis‘on, and a few weeks later met the First Battalion returning from the front line just outside Meault and played’ them to their billets, The troops were so tired:and muddied that the band had‘ to play in slow march time. Writing of this event, the regimental historian,’ Mador Dud'ey, Ward, D.S.O., M.C,, says: "After a few hours rest at H Camp the battalion marched to Meault, a ‘dreary ruin of 4 village, and there a surprise. was in store for them-the Welsh Guards Band, which they: had . never seen or heard. a Since the war, ‘the band" his played in Paris, Milan, Florenge and Rome, and has fulfilled engagements in. all the principal cities :of the United Kingdom. Its‘ reputation is now. equal to that of the old bands: of the. Brigade of Guards.