Patt 1907 bayonet being carried in 2015

[Richie B]

A bit of an "anorak" moment. Spotted this on a You Tube video from 2015.

[Anderson]

You better explain "anorak" moment for the non-Brit viewers.

[Watchdog]

"Anorak" is a reference to the kind of person often called a "trainspotter" or "geek" and associated with wearing anoraks and bobble hats!

The band in the picture is "The Band and Bugles of the Rifles" to use the formal title.

The Rifles is a current British light infanty regiment that came to be through the amalgamation of;

The Light Infantry (LI), The Royal Green Jackets (RGJ), The Devon and Dorset Light Infantry (formerly The Devon and Dorset Regiment) and The Royal Gloucester,Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry or RGBWLI (itself an amalgam of three earlier regiments).

If you go back further all the componet regiments are amalgams of earlier units when the army was many times larger.

The appearance of the regimental formal dress is generally in the style of traditional "Rifle Regiments" ie the dark green uniform with black facings and buttons.

As is typical in the British Army various traditions and items of dress etc are carried forward from the former regiments into the new. This band is an amalgam itself of several earlier bands from the component regiments.

In this case the use of the Patt 1907 bayonet worn by the band in No1 dress, referred to in this context as a "sword" comes from The Royal Green Jackets (RGJ) and is one example of this carrying forward of tradition into the provenance of the new regiment.

Another example of this is the use by the band of the Brigade of Guards of the Household Division using the old Lee Enfield No7 bayonet in a similar ceremonial style (I'm not 100% certain that they still do but the example is still good).

I hope this is helpful.

Regards

Mark