THE Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo has appointed a new boss.
Brigadier David Allfrey MBE, until recently commander of 51 Scottish Brigade based in Stirling, assumes the role from the retiring Major-General Euan Loudon.
Mr Allfrey, 51, said he was honoured and looking forward to taking the spectacle to “the next level”.
He said: “I am honoured to be picking up the baton from a long line of distinguished former Producers who have done so much over the last 60 years to put this iconic event onto the global stage.
“I look forward to playing my part in taking the tattoo to a new level and producing an imaginative public spectacle which showcases the very best of what our country’s military and civilian musical heritage has to offer”.
The tattoo is a smash hit, selling out in the last six years, and worth an estimated £88 million to the Scottish economy.
Mr Allfrey was commissioned into the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in 1979 and commanded the regiment from 2000 until 2002.
On the go for 12 years, it has also raised some £5 million for charitable causes through surplus funds, many of them involving ex servicemen and women.
In addition to his military career he has maintained a strong interest in music and events and has been the producer or creative advisor of a number of military spectaculars since 1987; most notably the 50th D-day Commemorations on the South Coast and the production of the hugely successful Scots DG Album ‘Parallel Tracks’.
Edinburgh Lord Provost George Grubb, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Tattoo, said “The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is very lucky to have secured the appointment of David Allfrey’s talents and quality to lead this spectacular event into the next chapter of its amazing story.
“He has experience at home and on the international stage of working with military musicians, pipers and musical artists from all corners of the world.
“David’s initial focus will be on the successful delivery of the new Stands project and, to produce a Tattoo in the summer of 2011 which exceeds audience expectations.
“We had a first class list of candidates and we know that David Allfrey is the right man for the job”.
There have been only seven producers of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo: Lieutenant Colonel George Malcolm of Poltalloch (1950-51), Brigadier Alistair MacLean of Pennycross (1952-67), Brigadier Jack Sanderson (1968-76), Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Dow (1976-91), Major Michael Parker (1992-94), and Brigadier Melville Jameson (1995-2006). Brigadier David Allfrey succeeds Major-General Euan Loudon, a former Governor of Edinburgh Castle, who has produced the Tattoo since 2007.
