TROOPING the COLOUR or the QUEEN 'S BIRTHDAY PARADE

The custom of Trooping the Colour dates back to the time of Charles II in the 17th. Century when the Colours of a regiment were used as a rallying point in battle and were therefore trooped in front of the soldiers every day to make sure that every man could recognise those of his own regiment. In London, the Foot Guards used to do this as part of their daily Guard Mounting on Horse Guards and the ceremonial of the modern Trooping the Colour parade is along similar lines. The first traceable mention of The Sovereign's Birthday being 'kept' by the Grenadier Guards is in 1748 and again, after George III became King in 1760, it was ordered that parades should mark the King's Birthday. From the accesssion of George IV they became, with a few exceptions and notably the two World Wars, an annual event.

This impressive display of pageantry is now held on the occasion of the Queen's Official Birthday. It takes place in June each year to celebrate the official Birthday of the Sovereign and is carried out by her personal troops, the Household Division, on Horse Guards Parade, with the Queen herself attending and taking the salute.

Since 1987, The Queen has attended in a carriage rather than riding, which she did before that on 36 occasions, riding side-saddle and wearing the uniform of the regiment whose Colour was being trooped. The regiments take their turn for this honour in rotation as operational commitments permit.

Over 1400 officers and men are on parade, together with two hundred horses; over four hundred musicians from ten bands and corps of drums march and play as one. Some 113 words of command are given by the Officer in Command of the Parade. The parade route extends from Buckingham Palace along The Mall to Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall and back again.

Precisely as the clock on the Horse Guards Building strikes eleven, the Royal Procession arrives and The Queen takes the Royal Salute. The parade begins with the Inspection, The Queen driving slowly down the ranks of all eight Guards and then past the Household Cavalry. After the event, the Royal Family gathers on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch an RAF flypast.

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

During this period, the schools prepare for the next academic year so they undertake cleanup and maintenance exercises which cannot be done during normal class hours. Also, this period offers an opportunity for teachers to seek further education themselves, advancing their knowledge and skill levels for future endeavours. Sometimes, schools use summer vacations to avoid kids being condensed in classrooms in hot weather.
In some countries, students participate in programs such as organized sports, summer camps, and attend summer schools.They may also hang out with friends. High school students sometimes visit college and university campuses. It is also typical for teenagers to get a job during the summer vacation in order to raise some money. Many parents take time off work, in order to go on a family vacation during the summer.

Chriticism and support

The concept of summer vacation has been criticized because students supposedly forget large amounts of information learned in the past year . Alternatives to summer vacation, such as year-round school or Winter vacation are used by some schools

In the United States, any discussions or news stories about schools going year-round have included the claim that what is now summer vacation was originally given as time for kids to work on family farms for spring planting. This seems to be at odds with the facts of spring planting which comes long before summer vacation, and fall harvest which comes long after.
Other education reformers believed that children were overstimulated in a system which required 48 weeks of schooling. They believe that over-schooling could lead to nervous disorders, depression, and insanity. They believe that children need the 2–3 months off to relax and also to take a break from other childhood stresses associated with school such as peer pressure, cliques, bullying, and the pressure of heavy loads of schoolwork and homework.
Some critics of summer vacation point out that American students spend approximately 180 days per year in school, but Asian students are in school for 240 to 250 days. This is consistent with the conclusions of researchers who suggest that advanced abilities are in proportion to the time spent learning. However, supporters of summer would like to point out that Americans supposedly believe in child rights, and taking away any amount of vacation is a violation. They also note that many Asian countries tend to have very different cultural and social values and cultural and social priorities than American and European countries do.

OEIRAS - June 7 - Municipal holiday

History and landmarks

Coat of arms

Flag

The parish dates back to the year 1209 when the area was settled by Christians from the north of Portugal. The municipality was founded in 1759 by the Marquis of Pombal, as a reward granted by king José I to his minister for having reconstructed downtown Lisbon after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, it was at the county that he built a magnificent manor-house, the Palace of the Counts of Oeiras, which still exhibits grand stone staircases, statues, splendid tiles and beautiful gardens with cascades and an aqueduct with arches. Oeiras was once part of a defensive line of maritime fortresses built along the Lisbon coast between the 16th and 17th centuries, including the Saint Lawrence Fort (known as Bugio, rising on a tiny islet in the middle of the River Tagus) and the São Julião da Barra Fort, both examples of the Renaissance military architecture.

Oeiras offers a range of new attractions and sites of interest, from the Fábrica da Pólvora (a former gunpowder factory from the 16th century which has been recovered for leisure and cultural purposes) to the Poets Park (a vast green space with statues of Portuguese poets and writers) and the Palace of the Royal Estate at Caxias, dating from the 18th century and surrounded by wonderful gardens.

Visitors may also benefit from different leisure and sports facilities, such as the sports complex of Jamor, the Maritime Walk (a seaside promenade to link Algés to the Torre beach, still unfinished) or the modern marina at Oeiras, prepared to welcome sixty ships, besides other parks and gardens.

Parishes:

Oeiras has 10 civil parishes:
Algés                                              
Barcarena                                                                                                                 

Carnaxide

Caxias

Cruz Quebrada - Dafundo

Linda-a-Velha

Oeiras e

São Julião da Barra                                          

Paço de Arcos

Porto Salvo                                                                

Queijas                                                                                    

                                                                                                              

                                                                                                                         Poets'Park                                         

                                                                                                   
                                                                                                  

    Ancient Gunpowder Factory

 Main Entrance                                                                        

                                                                                  Palace of The Counts of Oeiras

Canoeing in Jamor

READING is the key to SUCCESS

"Reading is the best way" says Charlie from China:

"In my fourteen years of learning English, I have tried out many ways of learning English, but the most effective so far has proved to be learning through reading.

Reading, I mean effective reading, should involve on the reader's part a thorough concentration on the material he is reading, and an alertness and sensitivity to the wording as well as the general layout of the passages.

First of all, attentive reading can help one build up one's vocabulary. As we read more, we will inevitably encounter words and expressions that we have never learned before; and by making sense of them through the context or by later referring to some sort of dictionary, we will notably increase our vocabulary in a very short span of time.

A second benefit of reading extensively is that one can cultivate in oneself a sense of the language and of the particular language flow peculiar to that target language.

Reading also helps writing. As you expand your vocabulary, you have more idiomatic words or expressions at your command for you to use when you write articles of one kind or another

In all, reading extensively and attentatively will do one a bagful of good."

TOPICS: Online Magazine ©1997-2008

- Sandy and Thomas Peters - topics.mag@gmail.com