Cadets Saycell, Murphy, Melles, Handley, Matleys S and C, Lowe and Parker took part in the T200 Trafalgar Square Celebrations in London. Below is Charlotte Saycells report from her weekend in London performing for Royalty and over 10,000 people.


Display Team takes Part in Spirit of Nelson Celebrations in London


Friday, 21st October 05 (Two hundred year anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar)It was an early start, we met at the unit around 5.30am this morning and loaded all the window ladder equipment and our bags onto the van and mini bus. We left just after six o'clock as we had a long journey ahead of us. We got in the bus and made a stop on the M6 which was halfway, but other than that the journey was uneventful and but it did seem to go quite quickly.

We fought with a lot of traffic getting into London with Mr Mottram directing the CO, he was also giving us a running commentary on places of interest and saying look there is Madonna or Hugh Grant for a joke.

We finally arrived in the city at 12.30pm and parked up right in front of the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square. The staff helped get the window ladder connected and up and then we had a quick climb to get the feel for it in the square. The view from the ladder was excellent, you could see down to the thames and were directly in front of Nelsons Column.

We then went to check into our hotel, we were lucky the staff had sorted us out in a Hotel 3 mins from the square, other cadets were staying in Portsmouth a 3 hour round trip and they had to hang about most days. After sorting our stuff out we went back to the square for a practice and afterwards went up to Leicester square for a McDonalds. When we got back to the room some of us were still hungry so we ordered more food from a pizza delivery bike which was nice and we just sat in our room chatting and thinking about the weekend ahead. We had already had so much fun we needed to rest for the next day.


Saturday, 22nd October 05We got up around 8am, my dad was in the small kitchen in his room cooking us breakfast, he said it was like a Sauna but we all got fed well and then headed up to Trafalgar Square where we met up with the girls who were organizing our moves Rocky and Gina. They have spent time with us over the past few weeks and were very pleased with our progress, we did a few rehearsals to the music and as we did this the crowds gathered to watch and take pictures of us

In the afternoon we had some time to rest so the staff took us for a walk around London, we went in St James Park and headed over to see the queens household cavalry, we had our pictures taken with one of the guards on foot and another on horseback. We then went down past the Cenotaph and looked up Downing Street to see if we could see Mr Blair, he wasn't in so off we went to big ben and the houses of parliament. Mr Rowell kept asking people what the time was when they were stood under big ben and some of them fell for the joke. We did some PT by falling about and jumping over bollards with Mr Rowell snapping away with his Camera.

It was excellent fun after which we headed back and had hot dogs for tea and then straight over to the square for a full dress rehearsal, We did the display a few more times and saw some of the other displays and the crowds just kept getting bigger, they were nothing compared to the crowds on the night though. We didn't finish until gone 10pm so it was back to the Hotel for some rest.




Sunday, 23rd October 05 The big day arrived, this is going to be the night we have been preparing for these past few months and we couldn't wait for the show to come around and do our bit, we were all told how good we had performed so we were feeling nervous but confident. In the morning along with the staff we put our best rigs on to watch the big Trafalgar parade, there was a Royal Marines band at the head of the parade and loads of Sea and Marine Cadets on parade, The Duke of York Prince Andrew was there and inspected some of them. We were lucky, we didn't have to parade and managed to get some VIP seats looking down on all the action with lots of officers.

When it finished we went back got changed and had a look around, Steph and Laura had a water fight which we all found funny, we then got ourselves organized, costumes ready and sorted out our hair. We left the Hotel thinking we would get one more run through, but things were behind and we wouldn't be able to do this so it was going to be straight into it.

The square was packed, with over 10,000 people in the square plus more on the outskirts watching, the whole show was going well and then we did our bit and we all did really well. We all were really proud of what we had done and in front of the queen. The staff said we were fantastic and that we were indeed the stars of the show. During the displays one of the speakers set on fire but was quickly put our by a rigger, everybody was waving flags and cheering, the whole thing was just excellent and when we went back to the Hotel we all had big grins on our faces, we got changed and then all headed out to Leicester Square for some food. We then all went back and the whole team spent the night in Jenny and Stephs room and initially the staff couldn't figure out which room were in.


Monday, 24th October 05 We got up and sorted out our rooms ready for checkout, Mr Harrop the CO and Mr Mottram got the transport and we left for home. It was very quiet on the bus going back, but when we hit traffic due to a flood we then started to have a laugh, we had to get out and go to a pub for the toilet and we nearly lost the CO as the bus was moving quicker when he got out to go to the loo.Anyway, we all had a great time and it was fun all the way as usual with Tameside Sea Cadets

Finally, I just wanted to say a big well done to all the team, we did a great job and kept Tameside on the sea cadet map. by Ordinary Cadet Charlotte Saycell. Want to know how to get involved in more activities or go on courses with the sea cadets then talk to the training officer.