“Thank you for the Music: The Cape Town Military Tattoo 2012”

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As the pipers and drummers, attired in their distinctive tartan kilts, sporrans and glengarries, exited the main arena through the Kat archway with its wooden block cobbles, the echoes of the wailing bagpipes, the thumping bass drums and the rattling tenor drums gradually died away.

For one brief moment, silence fell.

It marked the end of the Cape Town Military Tattoo of 2012, which had run at the Castle of Good Hope from Wednesday, 31 October until Saturday, 3 November 2012. The crowd of over a thousand spectators who attended the spectacular final night’s performance in perfect weather conditions reluctantly filed out through the spike-studded doors of the Van der Stel Gate. Some cast one last look back at the arena, which was still bathed in bright light. No doubt, the memories of this dazzling finale would linger for a long time.

Published on the Reserve Force Division Website in November 2012.