THE father of a Westcliff schoolboy has spoken of the “life changing” experience his son had as he took part in a Russian military tattoo in Moscow.

Westcliff High School for Boys pupil and trumpeter Bretton Watt, 11, was one of 72 members of the Brentwood Imperial Youth Band to travel to Russia’s capital over the weekend to take part in the Spasskaya Tower Military Tattoo.

The event saw military bands from around the world perform in front of 20,000 people and a 50million-strong television audience in Red Square with the Brentwood band being the youngest to participate in the event.

Bretton had to be back in school on Tuesday morning, despite only arriving home at 9pm on Monday.

But dad Peter Watt, 52, of Romford Road, Aveley, said it was worthwhile to take part in such a grand event.

He said: “It was absolutely spectacular – it was much more of an epic event than I thought it would be. It was really quite extraordinary.

“It’s very much like the Edinburgh Tattoo but the bands are from all over the world. The band was asked to play there for two weeks after a performance in front of Buckingham Palace for Waterloo 200, but because of school commitments we just did the last two days.

“It was quite an epic journey taking that many kids from all over Essex out on a plane and they got to mix with bands from all over the world.

“Afterwards, they had a party and were all dancing together to music by Kazakh, Greek and Pakistani bands – I think it will be quite a lifechanging experience for him, though he probably doesn’t realise it now.”

Mr Watt added he had been to Russia a couple of times, but it was the first time Bretton had visited the country.

“Bretton was absolutely thrilled,”

he said.