Page 64 - Mercian Eagle Year of 2023

Cheshire Military Museum
The last twelve months have been extremely eventful with exhibitions, events and school visits, all in full swing. Two of our volunteers have received significant recognition for their work in the museum. Geoff Crump,
the Regimental Researcher, attended the Coronation of King Charles at Westminster Abbey. Eileen Simpson has been awarded the Duke of Westminster’s Yeomanry Medal for services to the Yeomanry for her work on the Cheshire Yeomanry archives and collections. The Friends of the Cheshire Military Museum have also been actively supporting the work of the museum. Joining has never been easier, as you can now do so electronically via the website, they even have their own QR code!
Acquisitions
Once again, the museum has received a number of wonderful donations this year. Some of which have now been placed
on display. We are extremely grateful to those who entrusted the items to our care. While there are far too many to mention individually here, these are two of our favourite new acquisitions.
Poppy Display
Marjorie Rigby, 90, started knitting poppies in January 2022 and ten months later she had completed 1,200! Each poppy took around 40 minutes to make. The hand knitted poppies were sewn onto ribbons and assembled by the villagers of Great Barrow, near Chester, to display in the heart of their village for Remembrance Day 2022.
Marjorie’s father William Thomas Moores served in the First World War with the 4th Battalion the Cheshire Regiment, before transferring to the Machine Gun Corps. He was discharged in 1918 due to the effects of poisonous gas.
Marjorie is immensely proud of her
family’s connection with the Cheshire Regiment and presented the poppies to the museum in March 2023. They are now on display in our Great War gallery.
Medals of Major Astley John Cooper
Major Cooper was attached to the Army Air Corps from the Cheshire Regiment during World War Two. He became the first Army Glider Pilot to receive an Air Force decoration when he was awarded the Air Force Cross. Cooper was the pilot in one of the first gliders to be towed to North Africa, his glider broke loose from its tug 140 miles from enemy territory and he skilfully landed in the sea. Later he and his crew were rescued and immediately volunteered for another flight.
Major Cooper was subsequently killed in action in July 1943, during operations over Sicily.
Temporary Exhibition
The first exhibition of the year was ‘Remembering Bosnia, 30 years on’ which looked back at the Cheshire Regiments deployment to Bosnia, as part of a UN
force in 1992 -93. They were the first British Battalion to deploy armoured vehicles in the region. The men experienced the horrors
of a civil war and did their best to help the civilian population protecting convoys of essential supplies.
The exhibition used first-hand accounts from those who were there, their recollections and reflections of the conflict.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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