Page 146 - MERCIAN Eagle 2011

Worcestershire & Sherwood
(Sherwood Foresters Collection) By Cliff Housley
We are very fortunate indeed to have our museum based within Nottingham Castle, for there we enjoy high security and a very good location catching the three hundred thousand plus visitors who pass through
the gates each year. The displays within
the museum are not “set in stone” but
are changed, by adding new material and removing some long standing items, thus maintaining a continuous turn around of the whole collection.
The same applies to our medal collection. We simply do not have the space to allow us to display nearly a thousand groups of medals at the same time and so they are rotated on a six monthly basis and given time, we will display every group over and over again.
It is always a delight to be contacted by a relative who wishes to donate items to our museum (although we have to be careful
as to what we accept due to the space needed for storage) but medals are always welcome. The last week of September 2011, saw us receive the Military Cross with Bar, which, was awarded to Lieutenant Coleman Leonard James Maurice Sallmayer. “Collie” as he was known served with the 1/8th Battalion but was attached to the 11th Battalion and fought in Italy where he won the M.C. before moving to France in 1918 and winning a bar to his M.C. The Medal and other artifacts were accepted on behalf of the Museum by Mrs Cindy Baines (Assistant Regimental Secretary and Curator) and Mr Cliff Housley (Museum Trustee). (Photograph courtesy of Nottingham Evening Post.)
Notts Museum presentation of MC & artifacts
144
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
Cheshire Military Museum
This year has seen a number of developments
in both the Museum and Archive. Early in the
New Year, the whole of the entrance area was stripped out, a new wall was erected and a new reception desk was installed, providing more exhibition and shop space in the same area. Much of the new exhibition space has been devoted to current operations, with a continuous slideshow
of pictures from Op Herrick as well as displays
of uniform and equipment used in Afghanistan. Another new item, popular with the younger visitor is our Dressing Up box; a mirror has been installed close by so that they can admire themselves in the various uniforms.
In March, a brand new addition to the museum was unveiled by Major General The Duke of Westminster in the Great War/ Remembrance gallery, it is an amazing Triumph motorcycle with customised paintwork. The bike is a tribute to Corporal Steven Boote, a member of the Royal Military Police (TA) from Birkenhead who was killed in Afghanistan in November 2009 in an incident
at a police checkpoint in Nad e-Ali which also claimed the lives of four of his colleagues.
One of Steven’s main passions in life was motorbikes and he spent many hours restoring, building, as well as riding them together with his
father. Corporal Boote’s parents and members of his RMP unit were present at the unveiling. Our thanks go to Mr Rod Simms, the owner, who has loaned the bike to us on a long-term basis so that it can serve as a lasting tribute to Corporal Boote.
A ‘Dig for Victory’ garden, has been built in the Barrack Yard with the aim of showing visitors and children taking part in our life on the Home Front education session what can be grown in a small space. Tended by Museum Assistant Ken Baker, we have grown Blackcurrants, Potatoes, Onions, Broad Beans, Cabbages, Tomatoes, Peppers and Basil, all in a garden measuring approximately
6ft x 3ft. We were visited on Easter Weekend by our friends from the 22nd Foot Re-enactment Society who spent all day on Saturday and Sunday demonstrating their weapons and drills to interested visitors.
No museum can thrive these days without assistance from friends and volunteers. Cheshire Military Museum is no exception and we are very fortunate with our team, who work both in the front of house and in the background. Be it organising on-going digitisation or painstakingly transcribing personal diaries their work is hugely appreciated by us all.
Caroline Mannion
Museums