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By Ken Purvis The Fort York Guard has done it again! For the third year in a row the Fort York Guard, generously sponsored by The Friends of Fort York, has taken top honours at the annual Fort George field day and drill competition on the August 16/17 weekend. Under the direction of Sergeant Keiko Twist the nine member team marched, wheeled, and delivered “hot stuff” from the muzzles of their flintlock muskets edging out teams from Forts George and Erie. The field day was a great success despite the weather and the great power outage of 2003. Unfortunately the Guard from Fort Malden (near Windsor) were unable to attend this year, narrowing the competition slightly, however Fort George was still able to field a total of four drill teams making Fort York the best of six. The competition was tight with Fort York garnering 146.87 out of a possible 155 points (94.7%) – an excellent showing by them in their threepeat year. The 41st Grenadiers from Fort George came second with 144.66 (93.3%); the 41st Battalion (also from Fort George) came in 3rd. The lowest mark of the day was 82.5 % – still a very respectable finish. Congratulations should also be passed on to Jeffery Colden (Fort York) and Jim Hill (Fort Erie) who tied in the speed-loading competition. There was some excellent camaraderie and sportsmanship and good-natured fun that all groups bring to the competition. One of the objectives of the competition is to improve the quality of military demonstrations at the various War of 1812 museums throughout the Province. “I think the level of drill performance has really improved exponentially since the first field day 4 years ago,” said Gavin Watt, Education Officer at Fort George and one of the key event organizers. “I think all the sites benefit from the co-operation and sportsmanship these groups bring together and the mutual enhancement of all the sites.” This year’s victory for Fort York was made more difficult by the fact that there were so few returnees this year. Aside from Srgt. Twist, only two members of the nine-person team were at Fort York last summer. The remaining seven had never held a musket in their hands before June 23rd.
Congratulations Fort York Guard and let’s do it again next year! Ken Purvis is Senior Program Officer.
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