Page 106 - The Wish Stream Year of 2021 (Crest)

Administration’, economics and essays, but also a certain amount on tactics and the military his- tory of the Great War. Anyone interested in con- sulting this material for personal study may make an appointment with the Sandhurst Collection.
A third set of archival material consists of the records of the ‘Polished Bun Club’. Despite its name, it was not some cookery club, but was instead a literary society founded in 1948. The object of the society was to provide an opportu- nity for the cadets of the Senior and Intermediate divisions and members of the instructional staff, all with widely divergent interests, to meet infor- mally to read papers and to exchange informa- tion and ideas. The records reveal the cadets’ interests in politics and philosophical questions and the attitudes of the cadets to these would surely be of interest to any scholar of social his- tory. Again, the boxes containing the papers and minutes can all be explored in the Sandhurst Collection reading room (ref. CAYMA:2021.7).
Lastly, on the personnel front, 2021 was also the year when we said ‘goodbye’ and ‘thank you’ to one of the collection’s valuable volunteers. Mrs Shelagh Trist began volunteering in 1997 when she was based in the top floor of the New
College officers’ mess cataloguing silver. This detailed work involved examining hallmarks and inscriptions to produce a comprehensive data- base still in use nearly 25 years later. She then moved over to Old College to catalogue the RMAS Band archives where she worked tire- lessly delivering 7.5-hour days in a small room with no natural light. After this, she created pro- tective covers and hangars for the historic uni- forms collection. From 2003 onwards, Shelagh worked on the historic correspondence archive. Up until December 2021, she laboriously but carefully cleaned many thousands of letters in the War Office collection. This involved decipher- ing handwriting from the 19th century onwards and carefully recording all the salient information for entry onto the collection database.
All volunteers, by definition, work without pay, but Shelagh has truly exhibited the central ethos of the Academy in that she has had, through- out her long tenure, a dogged sense of duty and service. In her private arrangements for holidays and seeing friends, she has always kept a cen- tral commitment in her life to what she has seen as her duty to the Academy. We will certainly miss her amazing contribution.
Mrs Sheila Trist receiving gifts of thanks after nearly 25 years’ volunteering at the Sandhurst Collection – Thank You Sheila!
104 HISTORICAL