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February 2018
London New Year’s Parade Spectacle!
February 2018 • VOLUME XVIII NUMBER 1
& All The Queen’s Horses
Your Veterans 15 PAGES
02
Localrider Magazine
SHOWING • SHOWJUMPING • VETERANS • CROSS COUNTRY
www.localrider.co.uk
OF READERS’ VETERANS & THEIR STORIES COVERING KENT, SUSSEX, SURREY, HAMPSHIRE, BERKSHIRE & THE ISLE of WIGHT
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NeW year’S PARADE
London New Year’s Day Parade & All The Queen’s Horses
All The Queen’s Horses Organiser, Caroline Marsh, leading the Parade past the Ritz Hotel on Joanne Collcutt’s Haflinger, Jana
Pictures by Claire Owen of Attic Photographic
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ery early in the morning on New Year’s Day, while many people are still recovering from the night before, there are horses travelling to London to take part in the London New Year’s Day Parade (LNYDP), a fusion of musicians, performers and those who enjoy taking part in the theatre of the day. The 2018 Parade saw over 10,000 people participate, with over 500,000 spectators along the route, which starts in Piccadilly, near the Ritz Hotel, takes in Regent Street, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall, Cockspur Street, Trafalgar Square and Whitehall, before coming to an end on Parliament Street. In 2016 the Parade was watched by over 300 million people on television, all around the world. The Parade of today is a far cry from the inaugural Parade in 1987, which had just 2,000 participants and a key part of the Parade since 1997 are the entries from London’s 31 Boroughs, along with the City of Westminster, who provide entertainment based on the annual Parade theme and to demonstrate the diversity of London. All of these entries are automatically entered into the Boroughs’ Competition, competing for a share of the big charity cash prize which in recent years has been £40,000.
Frankie
Hannah
Sophie
Zoe
All The Queen’s Horses Co-ordinator, Karent Brett riding Vicki Zeta Price Sanderson’s Rudi
Cara Evenden with her son, Liam
All The Queen’s Horses is the brainchild of Caroline Marsh, who is now organiser for this element of the Parade. Their logo even has the required royal approval. Caroline first took part in the Parade 20 years ago, when she went along to help the late Herdis Churchill and the Donkey Breed Society. Caroline’s young daughter, Sammy Jo, rode a donkey in the Parade and Caroline rattled the bucket along the route. Raising money for charity has been a big part of the Parade, to date, raising over £1.5 million for London charities. Between 2005 and 2007 Caroline was part of the London Borough of Croydon’s entry in the Parade and with her enthusiastic nature rustled up a few horses to take part. It was late in 2011 that her enthusiasm came into play again, when looking at the list of entries for the Parade, she saw that there were no horses taking part in LNYDP 2012. The year of the Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (we all know the Queen loves horses). Caroline duly phoned the organisers to make her disappointment known. By that time, the applications for entry had closed, but the organisers said, that if she could guarantee 25 horses for the Parade, she was in. In just six weeks Caroline found 40 excited volunteers who transported their horses to London for the 2012 LNYDP. There was a lot to learn, but ‘All The Queen’s Horses’ was a big hit and Caroline received a lovely letter thanking her for her involvement and inviting her to do it again. For Caroline, the thing that makes her proudest, is that they keep being invited back. She said: “Each year we get better and better. We started to have regular meetings with the Parade organisers and understand more about what they want. Over the years the costumes have become more theatrical and get brighter and brighter. Last year the
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All The Queen’s Horses
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