Malcolm Kennard RMB 3562 Principal Clarinet - Leader   Malcolm Kennard RVM (Principal Clarinet) writes: ‘There it was on the telly, in glorious black and white, the 1954 Greyhound Derby from London’s White City Stadium with the Massed Bands of HM Royal Marines beating retreat. “That’s what I want to be,” I said, a 14 year old pupil of the Portsmouth Building School, studying carpentry, bricklaying, plumbing, painting and decorating (favourite subject music!) I joined the RM School of Music at Deal in 1955 and studied the clarinet with Mike Thatcher. Training was completed in 1958 and travels began in HMS Victory II (now HMS Nelson) under the direction of Commissioned Bandmaster Jim Pottle. This was followed by a move to HMS Pembroke in Chatham, where amongst other things I learned to play cards. Then on to HMS St Vincent to join the newly formed training band of young musicians. Malcolm - Portsmouth Cathederal November 2008   I married in 1960 and a draft to the aircraft carrier HMS Centaur soon followed in early 1961! In June 1961, after runs-ashore in Gibraltar, Malta and Sicily Centaur was due to turn right out of the Mediterranean for a Summer cruise of the North Atlantic and visits to Norfolk, Virginia, Boston and Quebec. Unfortunately one of Saddam Hussein’s predecessors declared that as Kuwait was a province of Basrah it belonged to Iraq. The first oil crisis then ensued and Centaur was ordered to turn left through the Suez Canal to the Persian Gulf. The band then transferred to a frigate via a jackstay transfer to go ashore and entertain the troops at the front line. A very eventful commission finished in May 1963; I was then drafted to Deal where I completed my Cpl and Sgt’s courses then continued as a solo clarinet in Lt Col Vivian Dunn’s Staff Band. I joined the Royal Yacht Band in 1967 and enjoyed three world tours including Royal visits to such exotic places as Easter and Pitcairn Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Hawaii, New Guinea and the Galapagos, Cook and Solomon Islands (rough, eh?!) I left the Royal Yacht in 1980 having served under three directors of music: Tom Lambert, Jim Mason and Graham Hoskins. The highlight of my career came when I was honoured by The Queen in her 1979 Birthday Honours list with the Royal Victorian Medal. I received it from The Queen at Buckingham Palace on my birthday, 27th November, the proudest day of my career.      I left the Royal Marines in 1980 and joined the staff of the Portsmouth News whilst continuing to teach clarinet and saxophone privately. I took early retirement in 1994 and took up instrumental teaching in several private schools in Hampshire and Wiltshire. When the RM School of Music moved to Portsmouth in 1996 I was invited to become Professor of Clarinet at the new school in HMS Nelson. I spent 8 very pleasant years in the post; however I was retired in 2003 and went back to teaching privately. I joined the RMA Concert Band in 2006, a band I very much enjoy playing in: long may it continue.'