RAF Fairford will be re-starting the formal Retreat at the end of the working day, starting this Thursday, 10 November. 

The Retreat is a daily ceremony held at all USAF military installations across the world, as the national flags are lowered at the end of the day. The ceremony of Retreat is derived from the one of the three required formations in the US Army. These formations date back to the Revolutionary War and were held every day in garrison settings to take a roll call. These were held at Reveille (in the morning), Retreat (at the end of the duty day) and Tattoo (before lights out). Over the years, the ceremonies evolved into a flag raising during Reveille and flag lowering at Retreat to mark the end of the official duty day. Today, the Retreat ceremony serves a twofold purpose; It signals the end of the official duty day and serves as a ceremony for paying respect to the UK and US flags. 

Fairford will only perform the Retreat ceremony, (not Reveille in the morning) which will include the Retreat, followed by the British National Anthem and finishing with the National Anthem of the United States of America. This will be played on the base loud speaker system, and you may be able to hear off base, especially if the weather is clear.

The Retreat will be played at 5:01pm starting on Thursday 10 November, and will be played every Monday to Friday after that, with the exception of US holidays.