THE FIELD GUN COMPETITION
The world-famous Field Gun Competition is steeped in history from its real life application during the Relief of Ladysmith to its current iteration in Birmingham.
At the 2022 Birmingham International Tattoo in September, audiences will once again cheer-on crews representing the Royal Navy, Army and the RAF in the Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity (RNRMC) Field Gun Competition. However, most of the younger people in the stands will not know that, thrilling though it is, the competition they are watching is a far cry from the format devised for the Royal Tournament. What are they missing? To answer that, we must go back in time to the origins of the race, to the disastrous opening weeks of the Second Boer War, and to humiliating setbacks inflicted in quick succession between December 10-17, 1899, known ever after as Black Week.