Thursday 22 June 2017: The Covent Garden Marching Band Heads The Big Parade for the 20th Annual Rent Collecting Ceremony

Thursday 22 June 2017: The Covent Garden Marching Band Heads The Big Parade for the 20th Annual Rent Collecting Ceremony – A Spectacle to Behold!

Not to be missed! So make a day of it in Covent Garden, on Thursday, 22nd June. Arrive in good time – the ceremony starts at 4.30pm.

Flamboyant Rent Collecting With Panache!
“The annual Rent Ceremony is a weird and wonderful occasion when the Chairman and Trustees march around the Piazza, accompanied by the Town Crier and a jazz band, to pay the “peppercorn rents” of five red apples and five posies of flowers for the buildings, known as The Protected Lands, on which the Trust owns a 150-year headlease.” (Covent Garden Area Trust Website)

This, the 20th Annual Ceremony, once again promises flamboyance and panache. It has to be seen to be believed! The band includes star jazz musicians with The Covent Garden Town Cryer at the head of the parade.

On parade with the Covent Garden Jazz Marching Band.

Trumpets/Cornets: Digby Fairweather, John Keen, Chris Hodgkins and John Wacher.
Reeds: Julian Mark Strangle (clarinet), Karen Sharp (tenor) Eric Gilchrist (alto)
Trombones: Chris Gower, Phil Brown and Tim Wacher.
Banjo: Alan Bradley.
Sousaphone: Colin Graham.
Drums: Don Cook and Ben Martyn.

“True New Orleans Style”
Headed by Town Cryer Alan Myatt, the marching band will set off, in true New Orleans style, at 4.30pm from 13, New Row, Covent Garden WC2 (the offices of the Covent Garden Area Trust – opposite Waterstones), keeping up a steady pace down King Street and around the Piazza with appointed stops on route for the collection of the rents. The parade will pause for essential refreshments outside the Punch and Judy Pub before culminating with dignitaries’ speeches
in the Market’s North Hall.

“Quite a Big Sound”
Then comes the grand finale in the South Courtyard of the Market (outside the Crusting Pie) where, after a short interval, the band (finally static!) plays a second set lasting an hour and finishing around 6.30pm. It’s a lot of fun and quite a big sound due to the rather special
South Courtyard acoustics! I can vouch for that!

Jazz&Jazz covers the march each year, featuring Jazz&Jazz YouTubes and brilliant photos taken by my colleague, Laurence Cumming. So we hope to see you there!