Page 104 - MERCIAN Eagle 2018

The Staffordshire Regiment
Museum
By Danielle Crozier
We were all expecting 2018 to be a fairly busy year with the final year of the First World War Commemorations taking place and we were not disappointed. All Museum staff and volunteers went above and beyond their call of duty, and without them we would not have been able to achieve
all the fantastic work that we did. From myself and all the trustees, I would like to say thank you to them all for the support and encouragement on helping to make everything possible. I also need to say an extra thank you to the Regimental Support Team who supported us so much last year on various events and activities.
Our general visitors and school visits increased upon the previous years figures and we also improved upon on our outreach work numbers through all of the events we attended. We would normally look to hold or support between 10-15 events and outreach activities across a year, but last year we saw this commitment more than double. One of the nicest occasions we were able to support was in August when we attended the 100th birthday of Laetitia Hardie. The Museum holds her father’s medals here in the collection, and for her birthday as she was too ill to travel, she had requested a photograph of them. Her father, Brigadier-General Louis Wyatt DSO was a former Colonel-in-Chief of the North Staffordshire Regiment and was
also the man responsible for choosing the
Brigadier Jim Tanner and CSgt Watchman V standing with Pte Roche and LCpl Togagogarua
World War where she specialised in the treatment of gas victims.
At the start of the year we were invited to re-submit for our accreditation status.
Regiment, they had a full make over and have proven a hit with our visiting organised groups and schools.
We had two new planned exhibitions in
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body of the Unknown Soldier in November 1920. We decided to visit Laetitia on her special day with the medals so she could have a photograph with them herself. It was wonderful to hear her own recollections
of her father and also her own war time experiences as a nurse during the Second
I am pleased to say we were granted full Accreditation in May. Following this, it was decided by the trustees that we needed
to get ready for the busy school season and funds were released to refurbish all of our classrooms, much to the delight of our education team. With the support of Dave Bradshaw, a veteran of the Staffordshire
the gallery to support our key First World War anniversaries. Our first was centred on the 100th anniversary of the Breaking of the Hindenburg Line by the 46th Midland Division. We were successful in a Heritage Lottery bid to create a documentary around this largely forgotten but important turning point at the ending of the war. Our Museum
Museum volunteer Simon Worley displaying the museums anti tank rifle next to Deborah II
THE MERCIAN EAGLE