Shropshire school pupils taking part in London Lord Mayor’s Show
Pupils from two Shropshire schools are preparing to take part in one of London’s finest displays of pageantry this Saturday at the Lord Mayor’s Show.
Fifteen of the Haberdashers’ Adams taiko drummers will perform on top of a double decker bus as it makes its way through the crowds of tens of thousands which line the streets to watch the traditional event.
Another 15 pupils from the Newport school have also been selected by former pupil Radzi Chinyanganya, of Blue Peter fame, to represent the school by walking alongside the bus greeting the crowds.
Haberdashers' Abraham Darby, which is based in Madeley and is Haberdashers' Adams' sister school, will be sending some of their 60 piece wind band to perform at the event as well.
Haberdashers' Adams headmaster Gary Hickey says he’s incredibly proud of all of the pupils.
He said: “This is an amazing opportunity and I’m sure pupils won’t realise quite how big an occasion the Lord Mayor’s Show is until we pass in front of St Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday morning in front of the enormous crowds and the TV cameras.”
Rachel Morton, Abraham Darby’s head of music, said: "The musicians of the show band are very thrilled to be playing at this unique event and will be watching the procession move past St. Paul’s Cathedral near to where we are performing."
More than 6,000 people will take part in the civic parade, with dozens of marching bands, military detachments, carriages, dance troupes, inflatables, giant contraptions and ceremonial displays.
The two schools have been invited to take part because the new Lord Mayor, William Russell, is a Haberdasher as well as a former governor in Newport.
The Lord Mayor’s Show is 804 years old. It has been a fixture of London life for centuries, from its origins as a medieval carnival to become the world’s greatest unrehearsed civic procession.
