The Company had decided to put Michael and myself forward to receive awards for the 3rd Enfield, which meant attending the awards ceremony which took place at Barnet United Reformed Church, home of the 1st Barnet Company. The ceremony was for Companies north of the River Thames in London, and so included young people from the Havering & Brentwood, Redbridge & Waltham Forest, Barnet, Enfield, Haringey and West London Battalions.
After the initial welcome and opening prayer, the evening was kicked off with a performance by West London Battalion’s Gymnastics Team, which featured some very strong gymnasts and included some jumps so high that some people were left thinking the roof may be too low! Next up, the Awards Officer for the Foundation, Geoff Russell-Jones, gave an outline to the work of the Foundation and was followed by an item by the 1st Barnet BB/GA. Following this, it was time for the main part of the evening, where the awards themselves were presented to all of the young people - this meant that every name got read out along with their Company, and each person that was there had to go up onto the stage and collect the award (we were waiting to see if anyone would trip on the steps but it didn’t happen, thankfully I didn’t either!).
The final item was to be a band performance, and who better to provide it than the Devonshire Cup holders? A performance by the combined 1st and 3rd Enfield band was met with approval by the audience, after which the evening was brought to a close.
Written by Tom Boorman