Re-Enactment Area

Performance Times:

Opening Ceremonies at Noon
2:30 pm

In the predawn darkness of September 13, 1882, the Gordon Highlanders advanced over the desert sands towards the Egyptian fortifications. As the Highland brigade drew closer, Egyptian sentries began to fire at the oncoming shadowy formation. The desert silence broken, commands were shouted out, bayonets fixed, pipers began to skirl and the Gordons charged to begin the Battle of Tel-El-Kebir.

"Bydand Forever," the Commemorative Company of the Gordon Highlanders of 1882, marches out of the pages of history. They are just the Gordon Highlanders were during 1882-1885 when they were sent to Egypt and the Sudan by HRH Queen Victoria! Officially sanctioned by the Gordon Highlanders Regimental Museum in Aberdeen, Scotland, "Byband Forever" recreates this famous Scottish regiment in painstaking detail. From their authentic Victorian uniforms and equipment to their intricate period drills and battle maneuvers, its dedicated members carry on traditions of 1st Battalion, the Gordon Highlanders who fought for Crown and Country around the globe for 200 years. "Byband" was the Gordons' Regimental Motto meaning "steadfast" or "enduring" in Scots Gaelic. The riflemen fire the original Martini-Henry rifles of the period and ar augmented by a Model 1874 Gastling gun and a 52mm breech-loading field gun. Their larger shows are supported with crews of Royal Navy sailors and Royal Artillerymen of the period, present at Tel-El-Kebir.

"Byband Forever" first performed in the "Gordon Country" of northeast Scotland in 1994 before HRH Prince Charles, the Officers and Men of the Regiment, and civilian onlookers at the 200th anniversary of the Gordon Highlanders and Trooping of the Colours in Aberdeen.

Their appearances endeared them to the Scottish public and military alike and in 1997 they were again invited to Scotland to perform their "battles" at majestic Fort George in the northwest highlands, then at the Tall Ships' Race in Aberdeen.

Maintaining its close affiliation with the Regimental Museum, the Gordon Highlanders go to great lengths to keep alive the proud history of the gallant highland regiment which Winston Churchill called "The finest regiment in the World!"