“On the Road to Passchendaele”

Johan R. Ryheul

At the occasion of the commemoration year “90 years Passchendaele” (2007), a number of lasting offshoot initiatives were launched. One of them was the design and registration of a special Passchendaele tartan. The dominating colours are dark red to symbolise the blood shed in the Great War in general and at Passchendaele in particular, brown to symbolise the ever-present mud. The smaller additional stripes are: green for the reviving landscape after the war; black for the mourning: clear red for the poppies covering the battlefields when John McCrae wrote his famous poem “In Flanders Fields”; the combination of yellow, black and red to symbolise the colours of the Flemish flag (black lion, red nails and tongue, yellow (gold) background) as well as the flag of Zonnebeke, the community which now includes Passchendaele.

At the same moment, the Scottish piper Major (Rtd.) Gavin Stoddart BEM MBE, former Director of the British Army School for Bagpipe Music, and Alan Brydon, folk artist and piper in the Hawick-based band Scocha, composed the tune and song “On the Road to Passchendaele”. This was played for the first time by the two composers on the 25^th August 2007 at the unveiling ceremony of the Scottish Memorial in Flanders, situated on the Frezenberg, just outside Zonnebeke.

Within a few months, the tune took on a life of its own and is now played by pipebands from Canada to New Zealand. In 2009, it has been recorded by the famous Scottish folksinger Isla StClair.

The song and tartan are strongly embedded in the Passchendaele area: the memorial pipeband “Passchendaele 1917 Pipes & Drums” adopted the tartan for its new kilt and the tune “On the Road to Passchendaele” became the bandtune par excellence. Their cap badge bears the Gaelic motto “Cuimhnichibh”, which means “Remember”, as a tribute to those who fell on the road to Passchendaele.

seadog · Joined: 31 Jul 2009 Posts: 2

This song is also a favourite:

"Will ye go to Flanders"

Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPKYMPKj6us&feature=related

Norman

DerekR · Joined: 03 Aug 2009 Posts: 20

Alan Brydon and Major Gavin performing at Zonnebek on the evening of 25th August 2007.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJdh1M5PGTg

And Alan's "Calling doon the Line": a classic in the making

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrP0JqiRFe4