'With Prince Philip's cypher, the Asoka wheel and an African eagle, The Green Pennant Awards ('the little green flags') symbolise historic links across the Commonwealth 'identifying the spirit of adventure with crossing the barriers that divide people.'

Welcome to a celebration of the 40^th anniversary of Comex, the Commonwealth Expedition.  You should soon be listening to 'Little Green Flags' from Edinburgh Castle recorded by Pipe Major Angus MacDonald MBE, with tabla (Kamal Kant Sharma), sarod (Promod Shanker) and the Comex Singers of Zambia.  The words spoken by Prince Philip are incorporated. To control the music use the play bar below.

This collection of stories, songs, pictures and poems reflects the experiences of Comex on the road. And the web site draws particular attention to the songs because they represent the best way of expressing those experiences.

The 40^th anniversary of Comex 1 (1965 – 2005) is the right time to remember the people, places and organisations without whose help and encouragement there would have been no Comex - nor would we be celebrating The Green Pennant Awards.

LITTLE GREEN FLAGS is a summary in 150 pages with a map and 200 photographs of the 40 years since Comex 1 took to the Asian Highway in a bold attempt to restore old friendships eroded by time and neglect. It is a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of humble people (and some not so humble) whose kindness and hospitality made Comex 1, and the thirteen expeditions that followed, possible.  The hope now is that The Story of Comex in Song, celebrating the 40th anniversary of Comex 1 will reach as many of them as possible - if only to assure our friends that we have not forgotten them.

Web designed and produced by: Kevin Lacy (Comex 6) and Judith Parkinson (Comex 5,6,7 and 13)

Text by: Lionel Gregory

Special thanks to: Chris Brown-Syed (Comex 8), Stephen Stewart (Comex 3) and Norman Leigh (Comex 2, 3 and 11) for their advice and support.

Thanks also to Alan Waters (Comex 9 and 13) for the Comex photo archive, Lone Marslund (Comex 5) for the drawings and Sarah Lacy for the animations.