The ‘Changing of the Sentry’ is an authentic staging of an activity which takes place every Thursday, at 12 noon, in front of the 1804 Main Guard (Clock Tower), still known today as ‘The Main Guard’. This procedure would have been performed numerous times a day across the entire site where the Main Guard administered five other guard rooms and eight sentry posts.

The Barbados Defence Force provides all the training and weaponry for this routine. Equally, the men taking part are all military personnel, either retired members from the Barbados Legion (who also have their headquarters at the Main Guard) or current servicemen of the Barbados Defence Force. Together they form the ‘Sentries & Corp of Drums of Barbados’.

The colourful ‘Zouave’ uniform worn in this exercise was originally sanctioned for the famous West India Regiments by Queen Victoria in 1858, after she had admired it on the ‘Zouave Algerian tribe’ which had been incorporated into the French Army at the time. The uniform was retained by the Band of the Barbados Volunteer Force (now the Barbados Defence Force Band) when the West India Regiments were disbanded after 132 years of service, in 1927. The only other Commonwealth military unit to wear this uniform is the Jamaica Military Band; which is directly descended from the last of the former West India Regiments.

EVERY THURSDAY AT 12 NOON

(There are no scheduled presentations from 4th September through 9th October 2015)