Student Charity Appeal Launch Is A Great Success
Sunday, June 26, 2011
A parade made up of 400 pipers and drummers made their way down the Royal Mile to Holyrood park playing to a fantastic crowd who turned up to show their support for the DecAid Appeal at their launch event “Massed Pipes and Drums” in Edinburgh on Sunday as part of Armed forces weekend. The appeal is run by students under the age of 25 and aims to raise £350,000 for three existing service charities with a series of six events taking place this summer.
Despite the weather forecast, the streets of Edinburgh were packed yesterday for a second day of celebrations for the UK’s armed forces. The DecAid launch followed a similar programme to the day before, beginning with a parade but instead of the veterans seen on Saturday, 400 pipers and drummers from across the UK, including the National Youth Pipe Band, made their way down the Royal Mile to help raise awareness and kick start DecAid, a brand new charity appeal.
The appeal was founded by Rupert Laing and Tom O’Connell and over the last 18 months they, along with a team of about 30 students from the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, have been preparing for this summer and the six events taking place across the UK.
The day began with a British Military Fitness session in Holyrood Park, where locals and Swedish tourists alike were put through their paces in the morning sunshine. As they began the warm down, the sound of pipers and drummers could be heard approaching at what was sure to be DecAid’s loudest event this summer.
After entering the park, the bands lined up in front of the main stage and performed in front of HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, the appeal’s Royal Patron, who then addressed the crowds before meeting the DecAid team. Throughout the day, the students were commended for their work and their fantastic efforts in organising the event. Edinburgh University student Ivo Herries (21) said, “It was a really great way for us young people to show our support for the forces. It’s been really fun!”
The appeal aims to raise awareness for the work done by UK troops on the tenth anniversary of the conflict in Afghanistan. The DecAid appeal is raising money for three charities (SSAFA, BLESMA and Talking2Minds) who all help support the forces and their families. More than half of the British forces that have been killed in the conflict have been aged between 18 and 25, and to recognise this all of DecAid's events are run and organised by people of from the same age group and aim to encourage young people to show their support and get involved.
The event was advertised as a “fun-filled family day” with hundreds of children taking part in the military style assault course. There was live music throughout the day on the main stage presented by Forth One’s Ian Waugh. The final for battle of bands competition run by Forth One battled it out with The Rising Souls winning a day’s recording at Banana Row Recording Studios. Live music from Clan Ann Drumma, Carrie Mac, Callum Beattie and Xander Rawlins entertained the crowds as they enjoyed the sunshine at Holyrood.
Jamie Graham, the event organiser aged 21 said, “The day went better than we could have possibly hoped for. It was fantastic to see the work we put in pay off in the queues of children for the assault course as well as the young pipers and drummers, some of whom had only been playing for a year, making their way down the crowded Royal Mile. It came together really well and the DecAid has now found support from a new group of people in the Edinburgh area.”
During the closing ceremony for armed forces weekend there was a symbolic handover of The Baton to DecAid’s next event The Munro Mission, where a team of three will be climbing all of Scotland’s 283 Munros in just 49 days.
