Page 118 - Chronicle Vol 17

A RIFLEMAN’S MUSEUM – AT WINCHESTER
The Winchester Museum has looked after the Army’s Rifle Regiment collec- tion, dating back to the 18th century, for many years. This important collection now also underpins the ethos of The Rifles, who must decide how to respond to planned MOD reductions in funding due to take effect in 2030. The Rifles Council has therefore asked the Museum’s Trustees to take responsibility for the collection that has been assembled since The Rifles’ formation in 2007 (already at Winchester) and to lean the curatorial effort of the whole museum there towards helping serving Riflemen to assimilate Rifle Regiment history. The Council has approved the concept that, acting as a ‘hub’, the Winchester Museum will develop ‘spokes’ to other Rifles-linked museums and communities.
The Rifles has confirmed to the Army’s Heritage Committee that the Winchester Museum is to be its (at present single-) funded museum, and this will release MOD Grant in Aid funds which will be used to improve the Museum’s ability to communicate with a wider audience, including serving Riflemen. MOD support will also secure a more permanent tenure of the museum building, which will improve access to grants and other funding. The Museum intends to provide wider advice and advocacy to help ensure the survival of, in particular, those other Museums at Bodmin, Dorchester, Durham and Salisbury, whose future lies in their regions, but will currently, most of them, lose any MOD funding in 2030.
Using a combination of MOD, Rifles, Royal Green Jacket Association, existing museum and other grant funding, the Winchester Museum’s trustees are planning a programme of work to transform the Museum’s output, as the Regimental ‘hub’, emphasising its Rifle Regiment theme. This will include:
• Changing the name of the Museum to better reflect the whole collection;
• Developing the on-line element of the Museum so that it is better able to com-
municate virtually, particularly with Riflemen;
• Highlighting those historical factors that define a Rifle Regiment, our Ethos
and the ‘Golden Threads’;
• Improving the Museum’s overall layout to display Rifle Regiment history,
from its origins right up to the present day, including offices for research and
areas for display preparation;
• Improving connections to the other Museums in The Rifles network;
• Creating permanent and temporary Rifle Regiment displays for other
locations.
These changes will ensure that the complete Rifle Regiment col- lection, reorganised under its new name, has a secure future whilst also playing an important part supporting the health and fighting power of The Rifles Regular and Reserve Battalions. The Rifles also intend to argue strongly for an increment to the initial MOD policy of only funding a single Regimental Museum.
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