Events

Tuesday 21st June 2016

Beating Retreat event

Long Eaton residents have the chance to watch a historic Beating Retreat and Sunset Ceremony with the Band of the Royal Engineers in the town centre on Tuesday 21 June.

The ceremony promises to be a moving spectacle for people of all ages, giving local residents the chance to turn out and support the armed forces at the event in the Market Place at 7pm.

The ‘Ceremony of Beating Retreat’ is a military music ceremony performed in some form by most armed forces in the Commonwealth. Its origins date back to an old Army custom of ‘watch setting’, when a gun was fired at sunset to mark the end of the working day. The later formation of regimental military bands developed this ritual into today’s pageant-style Beating Retreat ceremony.

A large crowd is expected for the event so the Market Place will be closed to traffic between the Regent Street and Beaconsfield Street junctions from 6pm to 9pm. Diversions will be in place from the Green along Derby Road and Waverley Street and Fields Farm Road.