The March Of The QARANC

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	» Site Map » Home Page Historical Info » History » QAIMNS for India » QAIMNS First World War » War Graves Memorials Nurses » Book of Remembrance » QA World War Two Nursing » Belsen Concentration Camp » National Service » Korean War and the QARANC » Gulf War » Royal Red Cross Medal » Colonels In Chief » Director Army Nursing Services (DANS) » Colonel Commandant » Matrons In Chief (QAIMNS) » March » Motto » QA Memorial National Memorial Arboretum » Army Recruitment Posters » Museum » QA Association » QA and AMS Prayer » Books Former Army Hospitals UK » BMH Cowglen Glasgow » CMH Aldershot » Colchester Military Hospital » DKMH Catterick » Ghosts » Hospital Ghosts » Haslar » QA Centre » QAMH Millbank » QEMH Woolwich » Musgrave Park Hospital Belfast » Netley » Royal Chelsea Hospital » Royal Herbert » Tidworth Military Hospital France » Ambulance Trains » Hospital Barges » Hospital Ships Germany » BMH Berlin » BMH Hanover » BMH Iserlohn » BMH Munster » BMH Rinteln Cyprus » TPMH RAF Akrotiri » BMH Dhekelia » BMH Nicosia Egypt » BMH Alexandria China » BMH Shanghai Hong Kong » BMH Bowen Road Hong Kong Overseas Old British Military Hospitals » BMH Gibraltar » BMH Malta » BMH Nepal » BMH Singapore » Belize Hospital			The March Of The QARANC The March of the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps The official military march past of the QA's is Grey and Scarlet. Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Brown The QARANC quick march was arranged by Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Doyle Brown MBE who at the time of composing the QA march was a Captain. It was named after the colours of the QA uniforms. Grey and Scarlet was derived from an old Irish Air called The Gentle Maiden and another old tune, Purcell's King Arthur. Lt Col Lewis Brown (MBE), as he became, was the first Director of Music (DOM) of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) Staff Band from 1947-64. He was formerly a Bandmaster of the East Yorkshire Regiment. The photograph below is of Lewis Brown from around 1950 when he was a Lieutenant: The idea of composing a special tune for the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps march past originated from Lieutenant General Sir Neil Cantlie in June 1948 during a Drumhead Service at the Depot and Training Establishment at Anstie Grange (cited in Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (Famous Regts. S) by Juliet Piggott). Colonel Dyson the then Colonel Commandant of the QARANC Depot had informed Captain L.D. Brown that Professor Lewis of Birmingham had suggested the theme be taken from a chorus of the opera King Arthur by Purcell (cited in the AMS Magazine January 1951). She got together with two other QA Officers, a pianist and Capt Brown to play the intended tune. Later Captain Brown was asked to incorporate the tune The Gentle Maiden into the QA March. He played this tune on the piano but found the signature and rhythm not to be suitable. However whilst working on the Band arrangement for the tune King Arthur his mind kept returning to The Gentle Maiden and he found that he could incorporate the tune by making slight alterations. Captain Brown sang the new tune down the phone to Colonel Dyson the next morning and Scarlet and Grey was adopted as the QA March. Captain Brown finished the musical score and the Regimental March of the QARANC was vetted by the Director-General, the Matron in Chief and the Director of Music at the Royal Military School of Music. Queen Mary then gave her gracious approval for the adoption of Scarlet and Grey and it was added to the list of Corps and Regimental Marches authorised for use by the British Army (cited in the AMS Magazine January 51). The First Performance of the Regimental March Past Gray and Scarlet Grey and Scarlet was first performed in public by the Staff Band at the opening of the QA Depot and Training Establishment at Ontario Barracks in Hindhead on the 13th September 1950. Lt Gen Sir Neil wanted the QAs to have a march past of their own whilst on parade because the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps) had their own march past. The General had suggested the QAs could use the song Her bright smile haunts me still (cited in Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (Famous Regts. S) by Juliet Piggott.) This book is part of the Famous Regiments series edited by military historian Lt-General Sir Brian Horrocks and published by Leo Cooper. More can be read about Hindhead and other QA Depots and QA Centres at the QA Centre page. QA March The image below is of the QA March details in the Army Orders of September 1950. It reads: 2/General/1752 A.O. 120/1950 Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps - Regimental March. A regimental quick march for the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, entitled "Grey and Scarlet", has been approved and copies can be obtained from the publishers, Messrs. Boosey and Hawkes, ltd., 295, Regent Street, London, W.1. Authorized bands of the regular army only are required to provide themselves with copies of this march. With thanks to Terry Hissey. Medics In Concert The QARANC march of Grey and Scarlet was recorded by the RAMC Volunteer Band in 2005. It was then released on their latest CD, Medics in Concert which is available for £10, including p&p, from the Band at: Army Medical Services RHQ Former Army Staff College Slim Road Camberley Surrey GU15 4PN. Please make your cheque payable to AMS Band. Below is a picture of the CD cover with a beautiful photo of the Cambridge Military Hospital and the cap badge of the RAMC. Below is an image of the music sheet of Grey and Scarlet: Qaranc.co.uk would like to thank Terry Hissey for the help given to write this page about the March Of The QARANC. Help Needed: Qaranc.co.uk would like to add a page about the QA lanyard but need some help. Can anyone please help with a photo of the lanyard on the uniform and a photo of just the lanyard? It would also be helpful if anyone can give some tips on how to site and fit the lanyard. Please use the e-mail address on the contact page. Thank you! Sisters In Arms: British Army Nurses Tell Their Story Sisters In Arms: British Army Nurses Tell Their Story by Nicola Tyrer is an account of the QAs during the two World Wars. It includes first hand accounts of the Queen Alexandra nurses who were in the dressing stations, casualty clearing stations and field hospitals of Dunkirk, D Day, the fall of Singapore and many more locations where the QAIMNS served. Buy Now. Sisters In Arms: British Army Nurses Tell Their Story is also available as a talking book read by the actress Barbara Flynn and Sian Thomas. Buy Now. View More British Army Nursing Books - with free delivery available. A British Army Nurse In the Korean War A newly published book about the QARANC is A British Army Nurse In the Korean War by Elizabeth Jilly McNair. QA Sister McNair saw active service in Korea and Japan and this book is based on her letters home and photographs she took during her 18 months spent nursing at the British Commonwealth General Hospital in Kure, Japan and the British Commonwealth Zone Medical Unit in Seoul, Korea. Buy Now! If you would like to contribute to this page, suggest changes or inclusions to this website or would like to send me a photograph then please e-mail me. The photos and pictures on this page have been kindly sent to us for inclusion on this page. If you would like to contribute photographs then please contact us. Findextrawork Since leaving the QA's we have done an assortment of self employed work and jobs, some which only take an hour a week, others have been full time. We have written about these at our other website Findextrawork at www.findextrawork.co.uk where we share the information for free to help others with information and resources about earning more money. Visit Findextrawork for more information. For the official Army QARANC webpage please go to www.army.mod.uk/qaranc/index.html For the QARANC Association website please go to http://www.army.mod.uk/qaranc/qaranc_assn/index.htm The Corps quick march of the QARANC is sometimes spelt Gray and Scarlet by some sources.			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