Page 89 - QDG Volume 9 No. 2 2021

1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
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The Regimental Trust
2021 was another year when COVID-19 prevented the serving Regiment from undertaking activities such as team sports and adventure training that have been a significant part of the “quality of life” financial support the Regiment receives from the QDG Regimental Trust. Expenditure in support of the serving Regiment has therefore been minimal and much lower than the resources of the Trust are able to sustain. Hopefully these conditions will have eased for 2022 and the return of the Regiment from Op NEWCOMBE in Mali. There are many embryonic plans for sports tours, adven- ture training and profile-raising events in Wales and the Border Counties in the calendar for 2022.
The Trust has however been able to support the QDG Engagement Team that is operating in our recruiting area, and the important work being done to preserve the Welsh connection through many initi- atives. These have included sponsorship of the Wrexham Youth Rugby Club. The
Trust has also been active in the recruiting channel for soldiers and officers to make sure we continue to recruit the best that we can.
Fortunately, the COVID situation eased sufficiently during the year for the team from Cardiff to make several visits to Robertson Barracks to continue their important work connected to the heritage assets in the three messes. These are all now the property of the Trust. The work to ensure the Timeline database has a proper record and provenance of all items is largely complete. External conservators have also inspected the collection and in 2022 a major restoration project should be completed to bring the important items up to a good standard.
For benevolence, the principal point of contact is the Regimental Secretary, and he coordinates our cases with other charities, which are mostly service ones. The majority of cases have a SSAFA case officer and overall the system works well. The Regimental Secretary
has a very good working relationship with other service charities such as ABF (The Soldiers Charity), SSAFA, Help for Heroes and BLESMA. They are generous in supporting our cases. During the year requests for benevolence have again been running at below normal levels. The reason for this is not clear but could be connected to extra funds released through various Covid support measures. We are expecting an uptick in 2022.
If any members of the Regiment were considering making a bequest or donation to the Trust, these would be gratefully received. The full name of the charity is 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards Regimental Trust, and the Charity Commission Number is 274689. The Trustees would normally apply any gifts for the general benefit of the Trust, although they also maintain a restricted fund for benevolence. This is available for those who might particularly wish to support that part of the Trust’s activities.
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Regimental Museum – The Firing Line
Well, as I write this journal article, the museum is temporarily closed to come in line with Cardiff Castle closing for essential maintenance on Christmas Eve – both are expected to reopen at the end of January 2022. This temporary closure has allowed us to carry out a deep clean of the museum and refresh various displays ready for reopening. Previously the museum was closed from March 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, until May 2021. During this time our staff were all placed on furlough, apart from the management team who worked tire- lessly to raise funds and continue to carry out museum tasks whilst working from home. When we reopened in May 2021 it was on shorter hours in line with Castle timings. This seemed to change weekly as the year progressed. We were also restricted to a maximum of forty visitors and all wearing masks. We did see a major drop in visitor numbers as we lost a large amount of our overseas visitors. However, as we move into 2022, we are hoping restrictions will ease and we can hopefully get back to some normality. We look forward to seeing what 2022 will hold for the museum.
During 2021, myself and Miss Hannah Searle, the Assistant Regimental Curator, visited the Regiment during July and September to carry out our annual audit of the Regimental collection in the various Messes. As usual we were well looked
after. The September visit also incorpo- rated the Annual Trustees’ visit and dinner. Since reopening, the museum was able to host some exciting visits. Peter Doogan, who is a relative of John Doogan VC, became the first family member to see and hold the VC. Peter is a serving Army Reservist with 81 Signal Regiment,
Royal Signals.
The museum was also visited by
the Royal College of Defence Studies, who have incorporated the regimental museum as part of their programme. During this visit, a Welsh Government representative gave a briefing to the multinational delegation on the pandemic on behalf of the Welsh First Minister.
Ongoing Exhibitions:
March 2020-present
Modern Day Regiment: Equipment This exhibition shows the modern-day equipment that the Regiment uses now and will stay in position until 2022.
June 2019-present
KDG in Afghanistan 1919
This exhibition was set up to commem- orate the last cavalry charge by the KDG in Afghanistan in 1919.There are several artefacts from that time and some particularly good personnel accounts.
Gulf War 1990/91
This has now been completed and is online to view.
Future Exhibitions:
Regimental Medals through history
This exhibition will be an interactive exhi- bition allowing visitors to scroll through the years of conflicts, the medals that were issued, stories of recipients and artefacts that we have on display and in our collection.
The Living Regiment
This is an exhibition of the modern-day Regiment; interviews were carried out with several Regimental personalities and this will be another interactive exhibition.
Waterloo exhibition
The present Waterloo collection in the museum will be updated and new arte- facts incorporated into the present cases.
We have quite a few exciting new exhibitions and projects to look forward to in 2022. I also ask serving and RCA members to support your Regimental Museum in order for us to move forward after the pandemic. We are always looking for volunteers to work in the museum. The museum is always avail- able to serving and RCA members for talks and visits. Please feel free to contact me for details.
The team and I look forward to welcoming you back to our Regimental Museum in 2022.
ME