Moira Cameron, the first female Beefeater / Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London - Londoner #19

In 2007, after 22 years of service in Her Majesty's Armed Forces, Moira Cameron became the first female Yeomen Warder in over 500 years of the institution's history. Whilst her roles include guarding the Crown Jewels it is clear that Moira's true passion is the Tower community itself; from the families that live within it's walls to the joy of guiding tourists around as they discover this significant part of London.

Having never served in London before this posting, Moira had always dreamed of a position in the capital. Yet it wasn't until she saw a listing in The Soldier magazine that the thought of working within the Tower occurred to her as a possibility. Her full title is now "Yeoman Warder of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard in the Extraordinary" and she is a London landmark in her own right.

1000 LONDONERS

This film is part of 1000 Londoners, a five-year digital project which aims to create a digital portrait of a city through 1000 of the people who identify themselves with it. The profile contains a 3 minute film that gives an insight into the life of the Londoner, as well as their personal photos of London and some answers to crucial questions about their views on London life. Over the course of the project we aim to reveal as many facets of the capital as possible, seeing city life from 1000 points of view.

www.1000londoners.com
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www.facebook.com/1000londoners
Twitter: @1000_londoners

1000 Londoners is produced by South London based film production company and social enterprise, Chocolate Films. The filmmakers from Chocolate Films will be both
producing the films and providing opportunities to young people and community groups to make their own short documentaries, which will contribute to the 1000 films. Visit www.chocolatefilms.com

Transcript:

I'm a Yeoman Warder or Beefeater at the Tower of London. We look after it and we look after the daily prisoners as we like to call them. We're all retired military personnel. We've done a minimum of 22 years in Her Majesties Armed Forces in the army, the navy or the airforce. We have to have our long service and good conduct medal, that one there. And we also have to be the rank of a Warrant Officer class 2, and then we can apply for the job. So it's 22 years build up to just applying for this job. I am the only female Beefeater at the Tower of London, I was also the first one. This is one that I use, when I'm doing my talks, I'm not the only bird at the Tower. It wasn't until my last year that there was an article in The Soldier magazine and it said that it wasn't just a job for the boys. So I applied for it, 'cause I just thought it was a really interesting job.

Thank you very much.

I never had a posting in London. I always tried, 'cause London was one of the places that everybody wanted to go. So this was my final posting. I've got a place to live and work. We look after the security on the ground. Because we have about 45 families that live at the Tower, we have to make sure that people don't go wondering into other people's houses. We make sure that, you know, people are respecting the tower as well, 'cause it is still a Royal Palace. You get a real sense of security in here, which is something that I've been used to for the last 26 years now. Everybody knows each other and it's like a village mentality really, you know. People can walk out and leave the doors unlocked, knowing that nobody's going to go in. A child that was interviewed here one time said 'I don't just have one set of parents, I have...' at the time I think it was 40. So this is the tunic for my state uniform and on the front we still have the EII2. To be able to work at The Tower of London and wear this uniform. It's an iconic site. We're an iconic site, we're a tourist attraction in our own right. It's the sense of pride that you get to continue to be able to serve Her Majesty as well. After 22 years loyal service, you carry it on here as well so there's a real good, warm feeling about the whole situation.