Somehow I had completely forgotten that the Queen’s Birthday was coming up. This was therefore a reminder of what is to come. A pre-view . We set off at 4.00 am to be on site at about 6.00 am. All was good as you would expect with very little traffic until Hyde Park Corner. The usual merry–go–round !
This time we were setting up in a slightly different location, or at least we thought so. The Gurkha met us and removed security bollard and opened up. This allowed us to park below the Officer’s Quarters. The event was for the Sergeants who were all part of the various parades. It turned out that we set up on the first floor as we have done many times before. It also soon became obvious why we had to use a different 
entrance. There were all the horses being groomed and look after ready for the display on the main parade ground and later on in the Mall . However our job was to set up a Hog Roast Kensington. We duly did and carefully alternated so that we could have a sneak preview of the preparations for the Birthday parade. First there were all the Gun carriage’s lined up which were ceremoniously inspected. Needless to say they were immaculate. This was the 7th. practice in front of the Colonel in Chief. They proceeded to leave and this was soon followed by all the various Guardsmen of the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream Guards, the Irish, Welsh, and Scots Guards. As they all left for marching around the Mall the parade ground was cleared up. We carried on our set up and ensured all was ready on time. Service was at 2.00pm when they had all returned and had a shower. It was pleasant to meet some of the staff that I had met before and judging by the response we might even meet again. Everyone enjoyed the event and were happy to come up several times for the hog roast Kensington. It was an honour to be sort of part of the celebrations, albeit a week early..
Hog Roast Buckinghamshire