Gunners and musicians send birthday greetings to The King June 2024

Gunners and musicians joined forces in Colchester today (June 15) to mark His Majesty The King’s Official Birthday.

With a crowd of hundreds watching in Castle Park in a perfectly timed break in the rain, the guns of G Parachute Battery (Mercer’s Troop), 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery fired a Royal Salute to send birthday greetings to the King.

The 21-gun salute was fired by a battery of four 105mm Light Guns. The troops, based at the city’s Merville Barracks, were then inspected by the Lord-Lieutenant of Essex Jennifer Tolhurst as the King’s representative in the county.

Gunner Sam Hayes joined 7 Para RHA in February and this was his first ceremonial duty.

“We don’t get to fire our guns in public very often, and to do this for the King’s birthday makes it particularly special,” the 26-year-old said. “My job in the gun crew is to load the cartridge and we did lots of rehearsals through the week to make sure everything went as well as it did today.”

Before and after the salute, a brass ensemble from British Army Band Colchester played at the bandstand to entertain the public, alongside a gun set up to demonstrate the troops’ operational role with 16 Air Assault Brigade, the British Army’s global response force.