On Sunday 25 October 2015, the Castle of Good Hope in central Cape Town hosted the 73rd anniversary commemoration service of the Second Battle of El Alamein. This annual service was organised by the Cape Western Provincial Dugout of the Memorable Order of Tin Hats (MOTHS), the Department of Military Veterans and the Cape Town…
The timings of the entrances and exits of the various participating acts in this year’s Cape Town Military Tattoo were particularly slick, I thought. One act was hardly out of the arena, when the next one was already marching on – there was no time to catch one’s breath or to take one’s eyes away…
Since the very first Cape Town Military Tattoo, held in 2003, each performance has begun with two centuries-old rituals: Drummers would beat out the ‘Tattoo’ and the Castle Ceremonial Guard would close and lock the heavy spike-studded Van der Stel Gate to the Castle of Good Hope. Beating the Tap Toe The word “tattoo” is…
If you’ve ever wondered what is happening outside the Castle of Good Hope, while the massed military bands inside the arena are playing the 1812 Overture at the Cape Town Military Tattoo – this video taken by fellow photie Brent Best will give you some insight into the complicated process of ensuring that the Cape…
In the run-up to the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2015, the Expresso morning show on SABC TV interwiewed our Production Manager WO2 Charles Canning, the Director of Music of the Tattoo Captain Vernon Michels, Major Asim Hussain, the Instructor of Music of the Pakistan Army Band and Major Dalene Coetzee. The video is finally available…
The Cape Argus has posted a short but wonderful video, containing some clips from the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2015 – to the accompaniment of the Pakistan Army Band’s exotic music! Enjoy!
Ian Landsberg has put together this wonderful selection of little video clips recorded at the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2015. It’s bringing back so many happy memories already – so enjoy! This year, we had a team of videographers recording the show each night, and I for one am chomping at the bit to see…
On Saturday morning, while I was writing the blogpost about that evening’s final performance (see Tonight is the Final Performance), I was frantically trying to upload photos at the same time. But multi-tasking like that doesn’t work so well in WordPress, and in fact it took so long that I thought my computer had hung.…
With the final night of the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2015 sadly behind us, I took a drive through to the Castle this morning, an obliging Mom in tow, to get some ‘after’ pictures – having taken some ‘before’ pictures just over a week ago. See It’s Getting Real, Constructing the Jigsaw Puzzle, and Seating,…
Tonight is the final performance of this year’s Cape Town Military Tattoo, and I can already sense the familiar feeling of melancholy starting to seep in, between all the adrenaline rush and thrill of the performances and of being part of the whole Tattoo Experience. After tonight, alas, we will go our separate ways again…
After an absolutely rocking Opening Night at the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2015, I realised that I must have been beaming from ear to ear all the way home, humming the tunes of Band of Brothers, Highland Cathedral and The Prayer out loud. I felt like I was floating on a cloud! I had missed…
Tuesday was a long, looooong day. When I eventually returned home, totally whacked after 12 hours of dashing about with camera stuff, Miss Tuffy-Cat didn’t know whether to scold me for neglecting – yet again – to bring home some fresh chicken, which meant that she would be fed dry pellets yet again, or to…
After the Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph in Adderley Street on Sunday morning, a couple of the bands participated in a mini-Tattoo at the V&A Waterfront on Sunday afternoon. The South African Army Band Western Cape and the Pipe Bands of the Cape Town Highlanders, Cape Field Artillery and Cape Garrison Artillery were joined…
After a beautiful and moving Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in Heerengracht Street, central Cape Town, I headed through to the Castle of Good Hope for the glass of ice-cold lemonade that a certain friendly captain of the Dukes had promised me in exchange for some photos I/we had taken at the Parade. From…
In the run-up to the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2015 at the Castle of Good Hope, I was tasked with putting together the programme booklet for the event. Challenging, exciting, daunting, stressful, inspiring… and beyond exhausting… are just some of the adjectives that describe the experience. With this being the 10th Anniversary of the Tattoo…
Grains of Sand 
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