Hi everyone, Bunmonster’s back, and I’d like to tell you about the great day I had at a garden party at Buck House, helping with a special celebration of the 60th birthday of Land Rover, who were using this milestone in history to hand over 60 Land Rover 4x4 vehicles to the British Red Cross Society.

The occasion, which took place on Wednesday 9th July, also marked the 100th anniversary of the Royal Charter being granted to the British Red Cross by HM King Edward VII, and provided an ideal opportunity to celebrate the work of Red Cross volunteers, staff and supporters, as well as Land Rover’s contribution to the help the manufacturer had given to global aid agencies over the years.

The Land Rover vehicles were all presented as a mixture of Discovery’s, Freelander’s, and of course, the ever dependable Land Rover Defender’s. These vehicles were going to find themselves being used in the UK and all over the world, and in all different types of environments.

I was of course again working with Roddy Hamilton, who I have come to know well, and through his operations with Land Rover and Jaguar. He really didn’t need to ask when he came to me with the idea of my help with the job, even though it was potentially going to be a logistical nightmare.

Getting 60 Land Rovers Into Buckingham Palace

To get the required end result this was going to need effective liaison between many different agencies, but in case you are wondering what that end result was supposed to be, that was a question that was going through my mind as well! The end result was to actually get the 60 Land Rover vehicles into the Quadrangle at Buckingham Palace and in a specific formation around a huge Red Cross, and then afterwards, get them back into Wellington Barracks in the correct distribution order for immediate shipping abroad, or delivery within the UK, and all within an incredibly short time frame.

“Okay, how long have we got?” The reply was like one of those great big bits of elastic, being very stretchy, but with a couple of loose ends. This had to commence as soon as the last formal reception by HM the Queen had left in a horse drawn carriage, and by approximately 12.45pm. After that, the vehicles would be handed over to a member of the Royal family and photographed from the roof of the building, as well as from a helicopter (weather permitting) and then Roddy would present a single Land Rover to the Prince of Wales as part of the garden party programme. This had to be at 4.00pm precisely, after which we had to get the vehicles back and across to the barracks, arrange into shipping order, for collection at 4.03pm. Not 4–o’clock, not 5–minutes past 4, but 4.03 on the dot! In between the handing over and return we would all have to retreat to Wellington Barracks – probably to not make the place look untidy!

I had arranged at the barracks the day before to complete a recce of the area, and when I arrived I saw the 60 Land Rover vehicles very neatly laid out and taking up about half the area of the parade square. This was quite a sight, I can tell you. I listened to Roddy, who had been working on this project for some time, as he talked through the plan. I was relieved to hear that a series of practice runs at getting the vehicles into formation had been completed back at Gaydon, the Warwickshire home of the Land Rover company. They had recorded a best time of 27–minutes to get every one into the exact formation, but even so, it was going to be tight.

The vehicles were to be laid out in four blocks of 15 with different colours making up each quadrant. As Roddy spoke I made some notes, and as we discussed the method by which to get all the Land Rovers from A to B, I was further reassured with the news there would be an escort arranged from the barracks to the Palace, carried out by the motorcyclists of the Special Escort Group (SEG). I know it’s not far, but traffic is always busy around that junction, so we would need all the help we could get if this was going to run as a seamless operation.

Beginning to feel confident this would be easier than it at first appeared I headed off into St James’s Park on what was a lovely sunny afternoon, whilst I ran through the programme of the next day in my head.

The Big Land Rover Day Arrives

The weather on the great day, Wednesday, couldn’t have been more different. Really dark and overcast skies, and it was beginning to rain. Ashley, a colleague and veteran of some of the other driving jobs I had been involved with, joined me as I walked across the park to tie up with Roddy for the arranged 11.30am meeting.

It had started to rain heavily by the time we caught up with the whole team at the barracks. The Land Rover team, who had set up the vehicles, were there, as were the valeters, who had prepped the vehicles to a spotless condition, and the Welsh Guards, who were going to help drive them between the two locations. Being a practical sort of person I had worked out a spreadsheet, detailing the order in which the vehicles were going move and this I explained to Ash and Roddy over a quick bite for lunch.

Afterwards, the SEG turned up, but where were their motorcycles? “Uh Oh, ” I thought. “Who’s going to lead the pods (convoys) now? ” Already I could see a big hole developing in the plan, and was wondering why it was that despite meticulous thought the whole show was suddenly looking very shaky.

After a quick discussion, and having been told the SEG would stop traffic to facilitate the movement of vehicles, I organised Ashley to drive Roddy’s Discovery as the lead car at the head of each pod. It didn’t need much arm–twisting for that part, but it took a bit of talking round to persuade him everything would work out okay at the Palace.

Fortunately, I had worked at the palace many times and I am quite familiar with the layout and protocols, but Ash hadn’t and he was slightly overwhelmed by the expectation suddenly thrust upon him. However, once we had spoken to an officer from the Palace, Ash was more comfortable about the driving tasks, and so it was straight into the briefing for the drivers of the pods.

Roddy and the Warrant Officers, who had all been at the practice runs at Gaydon, left for the Palace as soon as the last official guest had departed in their carriage. The time was past 1.00pm now and things were getting tight. As soon as we got the all clear I called forward the first pod of 12 Land Rovers, formed them up in two rows of six, and then gave a last–minute briefing to each driver, confirming the details of their responsibilities. This was actually an easy task, as all of them were from the Land Rover team, and who had been at the practice runs. They were key players, and they had to be, as the first vehicles needed to be inch perfect for position if the plan was going to work.

Suddenly It Was Go, Go, Go!

The next task was to brief the pods of Welsh Guards and then we waited for the call. By now it was pouring down and I couldn’t even use the umbrella I had brought, as the vehicles were all so close together. I just simply became soaked. That was all quickly forgotten as the SEG stopped the traffic and the shout came, “Go Go Go!”

Ash led the first pod around to the palace, in through the South gates and then back again, leaving the rest to split up inside the Palace courtyard and to go through the 2 arches into the quad. They were held at the arches until everything was in place and then parked up to the inch on marks made in the gravel. As Ash came back the second pod had formed up and it was then a case of waiting patiently for the call to go forward.

It took 15–minutes for the first vehicles to leave the start point and get into their exact position. Were we going to make it, I thought? Then came the call for the second pod, then the third. This was no time to think about weather, as this was just manic. The SEG held traffic, Ash led the teams across to the palace and then returned to immediately do the same again. By now I was trying to brief the last two pods, and bearing in mind they had been hanging around for a while, I found I was having to chase those who had gone off to the toilet etc. Nightmare!

Thinking back, I must have looked like one of those traffic cops you see on those fly–on–the–wall telly programmes, gesticulating wildly trying to get people to come to me and follow direction. I’m sure the senior officers looking out of their windows wondered what the heck was going on. The call came soon enough for the last pod to set off, and thankfully everyone was in their vehicles as I jumped in the last car for a ride across to the palace.

We got in through the South Gates, and then as the vehicles lined up to go through the appropriate arches, I jumped out and went ahead on foot. When I got to the quad, what a sight greeted me. It was fantastic to see, and was a picture to which none of the photographs can do justice.

The Land Rovers Were Formed Up in Four Blocks

The Land Rovers were all parked up in four blocks of perfect symmetry with large swathes of bright red cloth laid out in the form of a giant red cross between them. What was also impressive was the fact it had only taken twenty or so minutes so far to achieve this. I was still getting soaked though, as I walked back to find Ash and Roddy.

There was a great buzz of excitement and I was really pleased with the result. Roddy confirmed that all the vehicles had been placed in position within 26–minutes, actually beating the best practice time set at Gaydon. This was in spite of the fact none of the troops had driven any of the vehicles before, been involved in the practice runs or had seen the final formation, except as a diagram at the briefing. I doubt this could be repeated with such precision in many other places around the world. This was teamwork at it’s very best, with all the agencies doing as asked and using initiative when a gap in the plan emerged. I think we all deserved our break and coffee whist we waited for the Royal family to come and inspect the lay out.

The Presentation to HRH Prince Charles

Having changed into dry clothing, Roddy made his way across to the Palace to present one of the vehicles to the Prince of Wales, President of The British Red Cross. Once he had made his presentation of the token vehicle, and the National Anthem had been played, the troops made their way back to the palace by coach and made ready to bring the vehicles back to the barracks. This presented its own problems, as the SEG had decided it would be better to move the whole lot out in one go!

It was decided that Ash would lead the way and I would be ready at the barracks to receive them. Don’t forget these vehicles had to be arranged in a specific order relating to their intended shipping destination, and having sixty of them thrown at you all at once was always going to test anyone’s organisational skills.

Having briefed the guys to the effect we would separate the vehicles into colour groups, as well as those for export and those for the home use, I knew I also had to single out Blue 10, a stand–in vehicle that had to be replaced by the token vehicle as presented to Prince Charles, and then put it in the export batch.

Now, I know this doesn’t sound that complicated, but with the rain still pouring out of the sky, and with no time to step back and ponder, I had managed to rearrange the traffic cones on the parade ground as a guide as to where the vehicles should be parked up. We still only had half the parade square and the initial layout, before the bun–fight, had been set up over a couple of hours, leaving us with the challenge of doing it in the fast time of a few minutes.

The call came in, the roads were cleared and Ash led a convoy of 61–vehicles out of the Palace gates and back into the Barracks. I was ready as the first wave came in and got them to line up, but it wasn’t happening quickly enough. Soon we were struggling to get everyone in through the gates and off the road, as the tail–enders were causing a bit of a jam. This is where it was so easy for it to all go to rat poop, as one vehicle out of place at this point and the whole lot would become a shambles. Everybody did their best and all squeezed in, and began pulling them up into close formation. I managed to pull out Blue 10 and Roddy immediately filled the place in the line up.

As the vehicles were put into formation they had hardly stopped before the Land Rover team began putting on the tax discs and fitting registration plates to the vehicles for transportation before the whole lot were whisked out to two different bases as soon as possible, and then on to be used by the Red Cross.

This was without doubt a unique event, and I was very proud to have been involved. I won’t easily forget it, least of all because I hadn’t been that wet for ages. The people who were guests at the Palace for the Garden Party had endured possibly the worst summer weather conditions for a long while, but had no dount enjoyed the chance to visit I’m sure.

The resulting press coverage included a piece in the Daily Mail, illustrated with a great aerial photograph taken from the roof of the Palace and showing the full formation of vehicles.

After leaving Roddy with the team prepping vehicles for transport I walked back through St. James’s Park with Ash. I was wet and tired, but feeling chuffed to have done such a good job. We had both experienced new challenges that day, and seen new sights, and I felt pleased that me and the team had done their bit to help raise the profile of the Red Cross.

The vehicles will see service in many countries on several continents, helping diverse and impoverished communities in different ways, and although Land Rover isn’t land Rover any more, least ways not like it was 60–years ago, I still felt as though wherever they ended up, they were waving the British flag, representing a wonderful piece of automotive engineering and British heritage.

Just to finish on this topic, click on the video link below to view a short film of the preparations to this event.

Until next time.....