Time for anthem to change
As a nation, we are known for many things: drinking tea, the British empire, the Queen, fish and chips, being an island, having a parliament and Shakespeare.
Although the Queen is part of this list, I think that she is not all that we are known for. This is why I believe that we should change our national anthem.
This sounds like a big task and a lot to change but I am sure, with the nation behind us, it will be worth it in the end.
For instance, if it was the Queen’s birthday, her jubilee or a coronation then our current song would be perfect. However, singing this song at a rugby match or other celebrations not to do with the Queen seems, to me, out of place.
If you think that our current anthem is fine, compare it to Australia’s (whose national anthem is emotional and empowering), ‘Australians let us rejoice, for we are young and free; We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil; Our home is girt by the sea’.
Australia is not the only country with a good anthem, the Welsh national anthem is about their ‘Land of The Kings’ and South Africa’s is about God and blessings, but ours is simply about the Queen. Considering that we are a nation of 57,678,000 people, only mentioning one of those individuals in our anthem seems crazy!
The obvious choice for a new national anthem is Jerusalem – ‘And did those feet in ancient time, walk upon England’s mountains green? And was the holy lamb of god…’ The one problem is the geographic reference to Jerusalem.
Another choice is – ‘Land of hope and glory, mother of the free how shall we extoll thee, who are born of thee?’ But that doesn’t even mention England or Britain. We could go French style and use a marching song like ‘The British Grenadiers’ but this may sound childish - ‘With a tow, row, row, row, row, row…’.
So, choosing the song may be a challenge. But I’m positive it will be worth it in the end as we are a great county who deserve a great national anthem!
We have had our current national anthem for a very long time (since 1619) and some may say this is a reason not to change it.
But so much has changed since then and I think that it’s time for out anthem to change too.
It may help to know that changing our national anthem does not mean that we don’t love our queen as much, it simply means that we’re proud of ourselves, our country AND our queen.
Georgie Reeves
Weston Rhyn
