LORD MAYOR'S PROCESSION

MONDAY, 10th NOVEMBER, 1947.

PRESS COMMUNIQUE

(released for publication on the 4th November)

The Lord Mayor's Procession this year will, as it did last year, assume to a large extent the splendour of pre-war days. The Lord Mayor will drive,in his State Ohariot and the Sheriffs in open carriages. There will be detachments from the Royal Navy, the privileged Regiments of the City of London, the Royal Air Force, the Pikemen of the Honourable Artillery Company and the King's Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery who will be wearing their full dress uniform. Accompanying the Lord Mayor will be the Mounted Bands, the State Trumpeters and detachments of the Life Guards and the Royal Horse Guards.

Many famous Bands will be taking part including those of the Royal Marines, the Royal Regiment of Artillery, the Brigade of Guards, the Central Band of the Royal Air Force and the Bands of many other famous Regiments of the City of London. In addition there will be the Massed Bands of the Sea, Army and the Air Cadets.

Londoners will have the opportunity this year of seeing the Mounted Bands of the Household Cavalry in their State Dress"for the first time since 1959.

The theme of this year's Pageant is topical and appropriate to the times of economic stringency through which we are passing.

"The Country Comes to the City" is the subject illustrated in a series of tableaux and exhibits designed to give to the town dweller a clear picture of British farming to-day and of its important place in our national economy.

The Navy,Army and Air Force are co-operating in the Pageant by shewing in a series of Tableaux the various ways in which the Armed Forces of the Crown help the vital industries of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The subject is treated both in its broad significance and in its particular application. The general all-out attack on the problem of our food shortage is effectively symbolised by the "Steel Commando" of thirty tractors drawing the tools with which the farmer tackles the job of winning food from the earth - a job which goes on all the year round without a break. The "Steel Commando" is mounted by Ford Motors of Dagenham.

The significance of an acre of land in terms of actual food ready for the table is illustrated in another section of the Pageant. Average yields of wheat and barley, average production of milk and beef, average crops of potatoes and sugar beet are translated into terms of the finished product of bread and beer, butter and beef, and other foodstuffs essential to the nation's diet. This section is mounted by the Association of Agriculture, the body responsible for organising the Pageant.

The Pageant opens, appropriately, with a pictorial representation of "Agriculture through the Ages." The four historical periods into which the story of British farming is divided illustrate development frcn

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•the most primitive times when the hand hoe wag the only known farming tool, to the present day when Britain leads the world in mechanised agriculture.

Recruits are wanted urgently for work on the land, and the drive to secure a quarter of a million volunteers is stressed in the tableau staged by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Although farming to-day is highly mechanised, the farm horse ^ 1 an essential part in produotion. The three leading

tSr£ Suffol^an^Peroheron^reeds?1* * te™e of the

important aspect of their activities - the home preservation of foodstuffs. The travelling store-cupboard shows the great variety of products that can be handled.

*,T -p Tf16 ?oung Farmers' Clubs under the presidency of the Duke of

Norfolk play a great part in the countryside to-day, ensuring that tne rising generation of farmers are fully trained and equipped for the important task of food produotion.

_ Symbolism is employed in the exhibit of the National Farmers' Union ivO represent the workers of town and country cutting their way through the crisis ahead. The Union also displays a variety of garden produce grown by members of the Horticultural section. Film star sheep dog Fleet" and his master, Mr. Joseph Relph of Keswick, also, figure in the Union's display. " ^

Corn and Agricultural Merchants perform many services for the farmer at every stage of produotion. Their exhibit illustrates some aspects of these essential activities.

,T1}e generally do not realise the painstaking methods by which doubtful eggs are eliminated from their meagre ration of home-produced supplies. The Agriculture Co-operative Society illustrates the stages of oandling and grading through which all eggs must pass to ensure that only the best reach the table.

Milk production by the most up-to-date methods is shown by the Milk Marketing Board who tell the story "from Cow to Consumer" in their tableau.

Housing, key to many rural problems, is the theme of the displav mounteo. by the National Union of Agricultural'Workers. An old-fashioned country cottage, primitive and inconvenient, is contrasted with a typical modern house with all the up-to-date fittings whioh help to lighten the load of the farm worker's wife*

Making "the wheels go round" is the theme of the display indicating the importance of lubrication of farm machinery.

The Worshipful Company of Brewers mount an attractive tableau of a Kentish hop garden, complete with oast-house. The family of hoppers round the bin are the genuine article and feel very much at home with the hop binds from which they pick the hops for the breweries.

The necessity for saving is Illustrated by The National Savings Association whose exhibit is an elevator "stacking for the future. "3

Relating official statistics to the realities of life is the

task which the Association of Agriculture has attempted in the sections telling the story of the British acre. An acre is about half the area of Fleet Street, about twice the area of Ludgate Circus, about half the area of a football field, or of Trafalgar Square or Leicester Square. On a plot this size can be produced sufficient wheat to keep nine people for a year in bread, 21 people in milk, butter and cheese, four people in beef, 108 people in sugar 43 people in potatoes or 28 people in beer at the rate of a pint a day, for a whole year.

Bringing up the rear of the Pageant is the Steel Commando in which Messrs. Ford's of Dagenham show the immense variety of weapons which are in the modem farmer's armoury to help him fight the battle of food production. Divided.into seasons, each with its appropriate implements, this section illustrates the never-ending struggle to get the most out of our fertile acres.

The Women's Land Army have provided staffs of drivers, demon­strators, mechanics, livestock attendants and dairy workers to illustrate the versatil ity and indispensibility of this essential service.

THE ARMED FORCES.

All three Services contribute substantially to the never-ending work of providing food for British tables. Land establishments assist by providing personnel for many urgent operations on the farm, and contribute materially by growing large quantities of foodstuffs. Farming and fishing are traditionally linked together, and the Royal Navy provides the necessary protection for the British fishing industry which contributes such a large proportion of our present-day diet.

THE ROYAL NAVY.

The Royal Navy's contribution to this year's pageant is in two parts. The first represents the stern of one of H.M. Ships engaged on fishery protection. A whaler, manned by seamen of the Royal Navy, is seen pulling away from the parent ship. The second part of the exhibit is a realistic representation of the actual operation of trawling for fish, carried on from a large-scale model of a modern trawler.

THE ARMY. Army personnel throughout the country assist the farmers in

their areas with the urgent operations of the farm, particularly at harvest time. In addition, a very considerable contribution is made to the food supply of the nation by soldiers working on the land attached to their own stations. Many military establish­ments are practically self-supporting so far as vegetables are concerned through the efforts of their own personnel.

Two vehicles tell the story of the Army's contribution to food production. One carries a tractor, hay stack and com stocks to illustrate the help given to the farmer. The other shows a typical barracks surrounded by vegetables grown and tended by army personnal.

THE ROYAL AIR FORCE.

The R.A.F. has a comprehensive scheme for the training of personnel for their careers after they leave the service. One of the subjects taught is agriculture, and the first section of the R.A.F. Display in the Pageant illustrates this scheme. An airman and an airwoman, under the guidance of a qualified instructor

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are learning about dairy farming with the assistance of a model dairy oow. On the same vehicle a tractor and plough symbolise the work which R.A.F. personnel are doing to increase food production. On some stations even the land between the runways is ploughed for food.

On the second vehicle the sequence of production from'the soil to the cook house door is illustrated. Some stations grow 90% of their own vegetables.

The "Met-men" occupy the third vehicle, demonstrating the value of the service of weather forecasting carried out by the Meteorological Office. The value of frost and gale warnings to the farmer is inestimable.

This year's Pageant is of special interest to Fleet Street and the Oity generally.

Shortly after the inaugural dinner of the Association of Agriculture which was held at the Mansion House during the Lord Mayoralty of Sir Oharles Davis, in October last year, the suggestion was made by a well-known Fleet Street journalist, that an attempt might be made by the Association to "bring the Country to the Oity""' via the Lord Mayor's Show. Actually tentative suggestions along these lines had already been made to the Lord Mayor, and it was agreed that no more appropriate theme could be adopted.

The Association's own exhibit,,in which the British acre is related to well-known London landmarks, including Ludgate Oircus and Fleet Street itself, was the idea of another former Fleet Street journalist.

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