New Year's Day Parade

New Year's Day Parade

The New Year's Day Parade is a parade through the streets of the West End of London, which takes place annually on 1 January. The first year the parade took place was 1987, as the Lord Mayor of Westminster's Big Parade. The parade was renamed in 1994 and for 2000 only it was renamed the Millennium Parade.

Contents

Organization

The London parade is the biggest New Year's Day street event of its kind. The parade is used to raise funds for charities in London and representatives from each of the 32 London boroughs are encouraged to take part as a 'borough entry' which are judged as part of the event. The winning entry in the 2009 parade was the London Borough of Merton. The parade is also used to honour people from each borough who have been heroic in some way during the previous year. Every year BBC London holds a competition to find two talented young musicians to travel to the United States and play with an American high school marching band, both in America and in the London Parade. The parade dates back to the 1920s to celebrate the special relationship between England and the USA.

The 2 mile (3.2 km) parade route begins at Parliament Square in Westminster and continues along Parliament Street and Whitehall to Trafalgar Square. It then continues along Cockspur Street and Regent Street. The final section is along Piccadilly and the parade ends at Green Park. The parade attracts around a million spectators, and there is ticket-only seating at the start and end of the route.

New route 2010

The parade route has been reversed from 2010 with the event now starting at the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly and finishing at Parliament Square. The revised route is now:

The decision to reverse the route was taken to "appease US television broadcasters" and to "give the American audience the best views of the capital's landmarks, such as Big Ben and Trafalgar Square." [1]

2007 parade

The 240-member Walker Valley High School Band from Cleveland, Tennessee, directed by Alan Hunt, and the vocal ensemble from the same school, marched in the 2007 parade. This was the second year that they had participated in the event. The vocal ensemble was also honored by being asked to start the parade off by singing the British national anthem. The 140-member marching band from Fort Myers High School in Florida, USA, were initially banned from taking part in the 2007 parade because US education officials feared they may be caught in a terrorist attack. The decision was later overruled.[2] The school also hosted the two winners of that year's BBC London competition.

Other American high school groups to perform included the Aberdeen High School Marching Eagle, from Aberdeen, Maryland, the Troy High School marching band from Troy, Michigan, which placed fourth out of the numerous marching bands competing from Europe and the United States, the Deep Run Marching Wildcats of Glen Allen, VA, and Turpin High School marching band, from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Over 200 Scouts from across London took part in the 2007 Parade. The scouts were led by the Enfield District Scout Band. This is the first time that London scouts from the 6 different counties have got together to do something which publicises scouting to such a large audience. They started the UK's 2007 Centenary of Scouting Celebrations. London's town crier is also part of the parade.[3]

References

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • New Year's Day — For other uses, see New Year s Day (disambiguation). New Year s Day Observed by Users of the Gregorian calendar and others Significance The first day of the Gregorian year Date January 1 Celebrations …   Wikipedia

  • New Year's Eve Live (CNN program) — New Year s Eve Live Format New Year s television special Starring Anderson Cooper Kathy Griffin Country of origin United States Production …   Wikipedia

  • New Year tree — New Year trees are decorations similar to Christmas trees that are displayed in various cultures, but should not be confused with a North American practice of not removing a tree until New Years; such a tree is still considered a Christmas tree.… …   Wikipedia

  • New Year's Eve with Carson Daly — Format Variety show Starring Carson Daly Country of origin  …   Wikipedia

  • San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade — The San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade is an annual event held in San Francisco. Held approximately two weeks following the first day of the Chinese New Year, it combines elements of the Chinese Lantern Festival with a typical… …   Wikipedia

  • New Year's Eve — For other calendars, see New Year. For other articles with similar names, see New Year (disambiguation). New Year s Eve Also called Hogmanay (Scotland), Calennig (Wales), Silvester (Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary,… …   Wikipedia

  • New Year's Eve at Underground — The peach waits for the New Year celebrations to begin at Underground Atlanta. The Peach Drop is the name of the annual celebration on New Year s Eve held at historic Underground Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia. The entire event is similar in style… …   Wikipedia

  • New Year's resolution — A New Year resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to one or more personal goals, projects, or the reforming of a habit. This lifestyle change is generally interpreted as advantageous. A New Years Resolution is generally a goal… …   Wikipedia

  • New Year festival —       any of the social, cultural, and religious observances worldwide that celebrate the beginning of the new year. Such festivals are among the oldest and the most universally observed.       The earliest known record of a New Year festival… …   Universalium

  • Red Bull New Year No Limits — New Year No Limits is an annual American television special that airs on ESPN since 2007 during the New Year s Eve period (December 31, 2007/January 1, 2008 2009,2010). It was created, hosted and sponsored by Red Bull. The program usually airs… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”