The Savage Report

An Insight into the Role of MFM 1

or

Our Reg's 'Mental' March

A True Story by Steve Savage aged XL and XI months

The Band Service is again riding high on the back of another extremely successful Mountbatten Festival of Music (MFM) concert series in the Royal Albert Hall. But this was the concert series that nearly never was. The Band Service was hit hard with manpower restrictions through 'Operation Fresco', the Firefighters strike, which were then made worse by commitments to the build up of British Forces in the Gulf. In January this year, the Principal Director of Music made the decision that there would be a Royal Marines Band on stage at the Royal Albert Hall for the concert series despite the fact he didn't know just how many players would be available. Unfortunately neither did I and my job was to put all the bums on the seats! I can tell you that the manpower situation changed on an almost daily basis, sometimes three or four times in a single day. Frustrating wasn't the word for it. The final changes were made the Friday before MFM week!

However, every effort was made to ensure that everything went smoothly for those who were selected to participate. Not only by the production and technical team but also by the team from the MFM Office at Whale Island.

This year the team was led by the Staff Officer 1 MFM, Lt Col CR Scott OBE RM, who was ably supported by his MFM 1, Band Colour Sergeant Reg Sheen. Last year Reg shadowed the outgoing Gareth Davies, but as this was his first solo effort I felt that it would be a good idea to inform my reader exactly what he does in support of the MFM. Before I do though, I should tell you a little of the man himself.

Having 'wowed' the audition board with his performance on trombone, Reg consequently joined the Band Service as a flute and sax player in 1981. He passed out of training in 1983 and was drafted to Commando Forces Band at Stonehouse Barracks, Plymouth and then on to the Band at HMS Raleigh. Passing the various command courses on the way, he spent some time juggling the role of flautist in the Staff Band and Instructor at the School of Music at Deal. In fact, Reg and I were the last two 'on duty' Band Service personnel to leave East Barracks prior to the relocation of the RMSM, as we were in charge of turning off the lights and putting the cat out! We also had to ensure that all the buildings were free of equipment and that it was packed up, loaded onto the lorries and sent on its way to Portsmouth. Post-relocation of the RMSM, Reg was drafted to BRNC and then on to HMS Seahawk as the Volunteer Band instructor. Eight eager faces greeted Reg at his first rehearsal, however by the time he finished his tenure the band had grown to 40 players. It is also testament to his leadership that the band won the Bambara Trophy, the best marching band, came runners up in the concert band section, and were consequently deemed the best overall band at the Volunteer Band Festival that year. During his time as a VBI Reg discovered he really enjoyed the challenge of being left to his own devices. Once he had seen the signal asking for volunteers to undertake the role of MFM 1, and he had enquired as to what it entailed, it was no real surprise to see Reg's name appear on the list and consequently get the job.
Before going on, Reg is at pains to point out that he has a reputation as being one of the worst travelled members of the Band Service. He always seemed to join Bands just after and leave them just before they set off for somewhere nice. As an example, before he joined BRNC they had just been to Portland, Oregon, and just after he left they went to Italy and Washington. I pointed out that he had been on the Canada tour of 1994 with Staff Band. Reg then went on to explain that he only went by default, as he was actually an Instructor at the time! It was a standard joke among those of us who knew his travelling history - or indeed lack of it - that if you were drafted to the same Band as Reg then you wouldn't be going foreign for some time! Anyway, I digress.

Reg's official job description is as an administrator for both the concert series and the triennial Beat Retreat. Experience shows, however, that his post also encompasses much of the administration of all major Corps ceremonial events in one form or another. Insofar as MFM is concerned, it will come as no surprise to realise that much of his administration directly impacts on the smooth running of things from the Band Service perspective. You may, however, be surprised to realise just how much of an impact Reg's work has on the general public's enjoyment of the event.

As I mentioned earlier, Reg took over as the 'stand alone' MFM 1 when the then Band Colour Sergeant Gareth Davies MBE retired last year after eleven years in the job - no easy feat as Gareth had produced excellent results during this time. Reg decided that the first thing he needed to do to 'mark his territory' was to completely redesign the MFM office. Now, anyone who has ever been to 'Chez Sheen' will have undoubtedly noticed that interior design is something that he and his wife, Wendy, take a huge interest in. I therefore presumed that this, combined with the recent award of his black belt in Feng Shui had something to do with it. Apparently it was because Gareth was a just a whimsy slimmer than Reg and could actually get behind the desk without doing himself a mischief on his 'in tray'.
Reg started work on MFM 03 in March 02. Even though he had been through the administration processes before, he had never been left to his own devices. Gareth had gone, Reg had lost his safety net, the ink on the post-MFM 02 report was not yet dry and now he had to start working on the next one. It was, as Reg put it, a manic time. (There's a secondary title somewhere in that last paragraph, as if you hadn't guessed!). It may surprise my reader to know that at each MFM there is a requirement for a support group of upwards of 100 Service personnel without whom the concert series could not take place. This group includes two further office staff, the 24-hour protection party, access control parties, programme sellers, cash control NCOs, signals staff and catering staff. With this in mind, Reg's first job was to confirm and forward the manpower requirements of the support group for the following year. Although an ongoing project, his next task was to 'housekeep' the database held by the Corps Secretariat. This database consists of over 22,000 names and addresses of people who express an interest in Corps activities, for example, subscribers to the Globe and Laurel and those on the mailing list for MFM. Reg then had to trawl through and amend any changes of addresses that may have been forwarded, and also remove names of those who had passed on for example.

Discussions with the Corps Trustees then ensued as a means of setting the ticket and programme prices for the following year. Not such an easy task as it may sound, as the Corps Trustees need to ensure that the general public do not feel that the tickets are overpriced, whilst at the same time ensuring that all costs, inclusive of the annual rate of inflation, will be recovered based on expected sales projections. Once the price has been finalised, Reg then had to put the artwork together for the ticket application form. Never having used - or indeed ever having seen one of these forms, I was oblivious to the amount of work that actually goes into them until Reg shoved one under my nose. I was impressed. These are not your 'bog standard' application forms. They are full-colour, double-sided, glossy A4 flyers that happen to have a ticket application form on the back, and they are obviously something that Reg is fiercely proud of. Of course, all the other relevant information needed to have been confirmed at this point too, such as dates, timings, methods of payment and booking fees otherwise there was little point in producing it, especially as it doubled as an advertisement. Once agreed upon it was sent off to the printers. In the mean time, Reg had to crack on with some more pressing administration - please, no ironing related puns. This included organising the contract for the Royal Albert Hall, taking out an insurance policy to include fidelity, cancellation, and public liability clauses, and discussing next year's event with Sgt Adrian Oliver, who is the point of contact in the Ceremonial Planning division of the Metropolitan Police (MetPol), CO11.

By the time the contract had been signed and returned the extra MFM office staff had arrived and the Staff Officer 1 MFM has been appointed. Reg then spent a great deal of time briefing the team as to the current state of play and detailing the two office staff, Cpl 'Wally' Walters and Mne Steve Creasey, as to their specific tasks. Reg then needed to ensure that part of SO1 MFM's 'joining routine' was to visit the Royal Albert Hall to familiarise himself with the building and the surrounding areas. This was swiftly followed by the first round of meetings appertaining to all aspects of the show, from security through to the technical side of things, as a means of identifying all the key players and understanding their particular role in the show's production.

CSgt Reg Sheen, Cpl 'Wally' Walters and Mne Steve Creasey
in the Mountbatten Ticket Office

The next major tasks on the agenda were to prepare the souvenir programme and to prepare and trial the mailshots from the database. Whilst the mailshot is relatively easy project, the souvenir programme is not and is very time consuming taking up to three months from conception to the actual production. Reg designed the programme in consultation with SO1 MFM, having chosen all the photographs and collated all biographies, advertisements and Band Service and Corps related articles and set them accordingly. The reason this process took so long was because it involved umpteen trips to the printers to view the latest edition, have it proof read, adjust where it was applicable and passed back for reprinting. I have no idea how many times it was proof read in total, but Reg, SO1 MFM, the PDM and I all had a go and I still never spotted that my middle initial 'P' had been omitted from the acknowledgements on the inside rear cover. When I mentioned it to Reg, he apologised but said that he couldn't resist an opportunity to take the 'P' out of the Corps Bandmaster and get away with it!

Having delivered the mailshot, having trained Wally and Steve in the ticketing procedure and having received the tickets back from the Royal Albert Hall, Reg opened the ticket office for business. Now, it is worth mentioning that the MFM office is solely responsible for the ticketing of the MFM concert series. This works out to 3,901 tickets on both Thursday and Friday, and 5,222 on Saturday night. The reason that we have more tickets on Saturday is because we are granted 'exclusive let'; i.e. we are afforded the privilege of being able to sell the 1,321 privately owned seats. So all in all, the office dealt with over 1,500 ticket applications allocating 13,024 tickets in the process, the majority of which were dealt with by Wally and Steve. No mean feat I'm sure you'll agree.

With things hotting up and with MFM gaining momentum, Reg organised further meetings and recces. One of the most important of which was viewing the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance. This gave SO1 MFM, the Engagement Security Officer (ESO), who this year was our own Staff Officer Band Service, Major Andy Thornhill RM and Reg the opportunity to witness Service security personnel and the MetPol on the ground - an invaluable experience. As a 'knock-on' from this, Reg organised the first full security meeting at the Royal Albert Hall. This meeting included members from the Royal Marines Area Security Team, the Royal Albert Hall Security Staff, the ESO, SO1 MFM, various divisions of the MetPol, and members of the Royal Military Police who, complete with their dog teams, were ultimately responsible for conducting a 'deep search' of the venue prior to the MFM personnel arriving. The importance of the participation of these agencies, particularly the Police, cannot be underestimated in anyway shape or form. Whilst the majority of the major players are invisible to the general public, they are permanently on hand to instigate the well practised contingency plans should there be, Heaven forbid, a security incident of one form or another.

As the year edged its way towards Christmas, final details concerning the support group were tied up, tickets were sold and distributed, and, based on the success of the sales, Reg then gauged whether it was necessary to advertise. Although sales were going quite well, he felt that a little advertising wouldn't go amiss and so he arranged ads on 'Classic FM' and to appear in the London tourist magazine 'This is London'. As it transpired, they worked a treat as we ended up with three very full houses.

"Yes, those seats are now booked in your name"

As the New Year arrived, Reg was kept busy supporting and advising SO1 MFM in the construction of the massive security and administration instructions, and by assisting the Corps Secretary with the VIP invitations, briefs and catering. With a month to go, Reg started to tie up all the loose ends. This involved booking bouquets of flowers for the comperes, arranging the delivery of the security equipment, organising the float and banking facilities, writing orders for all the various support party divisions and ordering the water boilers, as you wouldn't believe the demand for tea and coffee over the week. Reg also had to take the catering SNCO to view his 'kitchen'; i.e. the loading bay some forty-odd feet beneath the Hall itself. Last year, Reg suggested that it might be possible to use a field kitchen in the loading bay as a means of feeding the Bands. Whilst it was presumed that there was no way that it would pass the stringent Health and Safety regulations, it was deemed a great idea as it was out of the way, spacious, very accessible and easy to clean up. The other plus was that a field kitchen would allow the Band to enjoy a full hot meal rather than just the pasties of old - or should that be old pasties? When the Health and Safety issues were broached with the proper authorities, miraculously, there were no violations at all! Consequently, the field kitchen went in and over the next few days 200 plus Band Service personnel had difficulty doing up their No 1s trousers.

"How many tickets do you want?" I said

Come MFM week itself, all the behind the scenes administration was in place, personnel had been given the correct detail, liaison with the Royal Albert Hall Staff was complete and the audience had their tickets sorted out. The team moved to the Hall on the Tuesday and proceeded to set up the control centre for the event. This involved the installation of all of the associated computer hardware, blue prints of the Hall, maps of the local area, signals diagrams, stationery and office equipment, thus turning two changing rooms into a production office, from where all general show issues were dealt with, and an operations room in which the security teams, signals teams and Police were to be based. On the Wednesday, at early o'clock, the security teams went in and searched the building from top to bottom, and believe me there is a lot of building to search. Once completed, the Band began to arrive to get on with their business of making music, but Reg was still busy behind the scenes. Firstly, he had to meet and greet the various elements of the support group and brief them all as to their specific tasks. Next he had to give them a guided tour of the Hall in order for them to sight their changing rooms, access points to their place of duty, first aid posts, wheelchairs and lifts for example, and in fact anything that may aid the general public. I walked past Reg as he was doing this and I swear I heard him say; '…and if you care to look over to your right you will see'…

Reg also took delivery of the souvenir programmes, 7,500 of them to be precise. Needless to say Wally and Steve were on hand to lug them into the production office. Imagine Reg's surprise when the first boxes were opened and the 'all-singing, all-dancing' programme had no embossed-gold writing on the front cover! This was not what had been planned! The three guys frantically opened up all the boxes and checked the contents, as the bottom was very quickly falling out of Reg's world… or vice-versa. Thankfully most of them seemed to be okay, but Reg thought he should contact the printers anyway. Apparently, when dealing with publications of this nature, it is often the case that the first few copies can be a little dodgy, which was why they had supplied an extra 500 copies free of charge!
During the concert series itself Reg was to deal with any ticketing issues, all of the banking and the production of daily orders for the support group, but he remained a trouble-shooter more than anything else. Any problems over and above what was happening with the Band undoubtedly arrived on his doorstep. Whilst most people would be oblivious to these problems, it was only because he sorted them out swiftly and in a most professional and diligent fashion. He was in and around the Hall from 0830 to 2300 each day and he was kept very busy. Even silly little things like the late arrival of a bouquet all took time and effort to sort out, but at the end of the day it all went well.

Mick Cole and Verity Steele from the Central Music Library prepare
the music for use during the Mountbatten Festival of Music 2003

It seemed that no sooner had it all started, than it was all over for another year - for the musicians, support group and the audience anyway. The Band Service Production Team arrived back pleased with the success of this year's series of concerts and went straight into the planning of MFM 04. As for Reg, he was also involved at that meeting but he still hadn't finished MFM 03. Reg's final tasks were to submit all the bills for payment, submit a VAT return, produce a full financial breakdown for the Corps Trustees - to enable them to see how much money can be given to charity, and to assist SO1 MFM in the production of the post-MFM 03 report. But no peace for the wicked, because as Reg begins to plan for MFM 04, there is the little matter of assisting in the planning of the Beating Retreat and Corps Reception that is to take place in Buckingham Palace in June to celebrate the birthday of the Captain General. I'm sure Reg will draw from his MFM experiences to ensure that all goes as smoothly.

There is no doubt that Reg has taken to this role like a duck to orange - sorry, water. His unquestionable commitment and his unceasing quest for excellence is undoubtedly why the recommendation section of the post-MFM 03 report is very, very thin indeed. He is a crucial link between the Band Service Production Team and the Corps driven elements of the MFM concert series, and I for one look forward to working with him again in the future.

I went round earlier to the Blue Band office to speak to Sgt Bug Mark Snell about my article. Unfortunately I had to tell him that it would be slightly late arriving on his desk as I had messed it up and had to go back and change the tense. On hearing this, the Band Service Stage Manager, one Musician Karl Westlake, piped up and said; "Nine-man tents for two-man tents? Ha, ha, ha…" His laughter petered out and a deathly hush soon fell across those assembled. The wind began to pick up, some tumbleweed rolled along the floor and I swear I could hear a bell tolling in the distance. "Yeah. Good one Karl" I said, with just a hint of sarcasm, "but don't give up your day job will you?" As I left the building, I looked back at Mark who was silently and despondently shaking his head and thought; 'Oh, I don't know though'.