'It reminds us of the selflessness of those here before us' Tumpeter marks 26 years of playing Last Post at Liley Remembrance Day service
Thomas Mercer will be playing the trumpet at the Remembrance Day service in Lilley on Sunday (November 9), just as he has done every year since he was a young lad of 12.
He’s now 39 and is a partner at Deloitte – the world's largest professional services firm – after reading for an MChem at Jesus College, Oxford.
And in his 26 year history of playing the Last Post and Reveille at St Peter’s in Lilley, he has been absent for only two performances.
Barking-born Tom recalls: “I missed 2006 because it clashed with the Isis Winter League – an Oxford college rowing competition.
“And I also missed 2019 due to a diary mishap, when I was on holiday in South Africa.”
But he did make it in 2020 when the country was shut down because of Covid: “And that seems remarkable in hindsight.”
He’s been a fan of pretty much all music since he was a youngster: “I started playing the trumpet aged nine, I think, and particularly enjoyed being part of an orchestra, jazz band or any type of group setting.”
He’s also played the piano since he was four but admits: “I’m a little rustier on the ivories these days.”
Tom, who has two daughters (who were both christened at St Peter’s) with his barrister wife Victoria, remembers the first time he played on Remembrance Sunday at the church.
His core memory is of an unusually cold and wet day with his Mum standing next to him holding an umbrella. He smiles: “I’m not sure it was quite as polished a performance as I strive for today.”
His Vincent Bach Stradivarius 37 trumpet was bought in 2003 and he will treasure it forever because it has brought so much joy: “I clearly remember collecting it from John Myatt in Hitchin. I was with the Bedfordshire County Youth Orchestra at the time and we were playing alongside the Royal Philharmonic - and even they thought it was very cool.”
Although he knows the Last Post and Reveille “back-to-front and upside down,” he says there’s no substitute for a dry run in advance. And prior to a performance, he keeps the mouthpiece in his pocket and ensures his trumpet is warm. This usually takes place at Bow Cottage in Lilley, home of his grandparents, Geoff and Ann Mercer.
Tom says that even after all this time he still gets goosebumps playing the iconic melodies: “Remembrance Sunday is an important part of our heritage and culture.
“It reminds us of the selflessness of those here before us, as well as the scale and needlessness of the sacrifices they made and – I hope – serves as a stark warning to avoid such conflict ever again.”
There are two Last Posts and two Reveilles - an infantry and cavalry version of each.
The Last Post Tom plays is the infantry version, which is the one everyone knows and loves - but there is more of a split on which Reveille to play.
The cavalry Reveille - which Tom has always played historically - cannot be played on a bugle, so when he dabbled with this instrument, he flipped to the trumpet for the infantry version - which most people seem to prefer.