the wellington college year book 2010/2011
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The initial entrance to the arena struck awe
into even the most senior ?eld gunners
and as I looked around all I could see
were pale faces and open mouths.
we felt huge pressure to continue the legacy,
which all the lads handled extremely well.
However, by the time it came for us to walk
out into the arena on Saturday evening, all that
the boys could think about were the 15,000
strangers waiting for us on the other side of
the Entrance to Earl’s Court 1.
‘The initial entrance to the arena struck
awe into even the most senior field gunners
and as I looked around all I could see were
pale faces and open mouths. The first part
was our march into the arena, but with
shaking legs there was no chance of what I
thought was to be a proud, brave and formal
entry; everyone was feeling the pressure. I
remember talking to a veteran field gunner
who said that every time he did it he ‘felt
physically sick’. I can now testify that feeling
and I have never felt so nervous.
‘Waiting for the start while doing our
final checks, the roar of the crowd, deafening
us with the chants of ‘go powerful crew!’
a strange calmness overtook me. It was
a curious feeling — perhaps like going into
battle — as I felt all the anguish go down my
body and into the ground. Suddenly I could
hear the crowd no longer. For a moment I
visualised my training and the people I would
let down if I messed things up. And then it all
seemed simple.
‘At the crack of the thunderflash we
sprinted off, in all honesty though, I don’t
remember much of the first race. All I can
recall is firing off the rounds and extracting
the hot shells. At the end of the run I began
to notice the crowd again. And we ran out
of the arena with shouts of applause coming
from every direction. The races over, all the
performances were much the same and every
time I felt the same fear and emotions. What
was especially rewarding was the ex-field
gunners coming up to us after the show and
weeping with happiness. I fondly remember
an enormous guy coming up to me and
grasping my hand in a tight hand-shake and
saying ‘thank you boys, remember you are
doing it for England’. Those word stayed with
me and I just hoped we could live up to this
man’s expectations of us.
‘I am not exaggerating when I say that
Earl’s Court was the greatest experience of
my life so far and it is a memory that no one
can ever take away from me or any of the
other lads. To finish, there is an extract from
a field gunner’s prayer that I read just before
our final run. “Let us enter into the doors of
doom and in the darkness deliver us”. This
sums up exactly the field gunners spirit, we
know we are doing something that is known
to be “almost impossible, with too few men,
on a surface that is poor and in a ridiculously
short amount of time”. In the end we did it to
create a truly epic spectacle that will stay with
the people who saw it, forever’.
Six months later in the v&a, a group of
Field Gunners , including Sam Fiddean Green
and Sam Spicer reminisced.
‘It was nerve-racking and I didn’t sleep
a wink the first night — no, terrifying !’
‘Knackering, performance after performance;
we couldn’t let the team down’. ‘Our coaches
were magnificent, Kevin and Jim: they were
so keen for us to get it just right’. ‘We learnt
to trust each other, covered for each other’s
mistakes, that’s true camaraderie’. ‘We lived,
ate and slept on site for the duration. Being
next to the stables was at first nauseating,
but we got used to it’. ‘The Army gymnasts
were rather frighteningly fit’.
‘A truly
unforgettable experience — and miraculously
no lasting wounds’.
Lieutenant Ian Frayne and Major Tom
Norton (cr and ccf) were in command, and
took so much of the formal responsibility for
what everyone must realise is an occupation
not without real risk. An ow, co-author
of this account, was infiltrated into the
commentators’ box. Faithful to the script
when he had to be, he managed to say much
else beside, both forthrightly and in subtle
praise of Wellington College. What other
school could have done anything like this ?
We are a college, not a mere school. Our
oldest ow serving soldier participating was
Honourable Artillery Company Captain of
Pikemen and Musketeers Tony O’Hagan [Hl
1956 –1961]. Our President, hrh the Duke of
Kent, took the final salute and must have been
justly proud of the teams representing his
the wellington college year book 2010/2011
73
I am not exaggerating
when I say that Earl’s Court
was the greatest experience of my life so far
and it is a memory that no one
can ever take away from me
or any of the other lads.