Page 74 - MERCIAN Eagle 2020

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The Mercian
Regiment Museum
(Worcestershire)
Dr John Paddock, Curator
COVID-19 has meant 2020 has been a challenging year for the Mercian Regiment Museum (Worcestershire). The pandemic has closed both our Museum Gallery and the archives, resulting in a significant loss
of revenue. It has necessitated changes
in our way of working, our service delivery avenues and even the Museum’s priorities. For much of the year, it has meant working from home, with little direct contact with our volunteers, Friends, colleagues, researchers and our visiting public. Even Trustees’ meetings have been conducted via Zoom.
Fortunately, just prior to lockdown,
the Museum Trustees adopted a new
and ambitious strategy to secure the Museum’s future. This envisages significant expenditure to extend the reach, impact and appeal of the Museum, through the widespread application of social and digital media. It includes
the commissioning and developing of a new website, www.worcestershireand mercianregimentmuseum.org to facilitate
landmarks in the Worcestershire Regiment’s history, is postponed to 2021. This includes an exhibition on the role of the 7th and 8th Battalions in the 1939- 40 campaign in France, ending in their evacuation at Dunkirk, and a display exploring the
role of the 1st Battalion in the
Malayan emergency 1950-53.
In the meantime, the research for these exhibitions has been turned into virtual articles on the Museum’s website.
The Worcestershire Soldier Gallery, which is housed in the Worcester City Museum and Art Gallery, was closed to
the public on the 22nd March 2020 in accordance with Government guidance. The Museum reopened to the public on the 4th July with social distancing measures
in place. Important improvements to the Gallery, such as the installation of the new Regimental Treasures Case, the £18,000 cost has mostly been raised from grant
Military General Service Medal 1793- 1814 of Drummer John Freeman
the current restrictions ease on the 2nd December.
To mark Heritage Month, and promote the many museums in Worcester, on the 9th of September our Gallery received two very important visitors; the High Sheriff of Worcestershire, Lt Col (Ret’d) Mark Jackson OBE, and the Mayor of Worcester, Cllr Jo Hodges. It was a great pleasure to show them and their party around the museum and share some of the fascinating stories surrounding the collections.
The ARC at Dancox House, Worcester, which houses the Museum’s offices and archives has also been closed for much
of the year, and all 32 volunteers, who support the Museum in a wide a variety of ways, have been stood down. Depending on the government guidelines, we hope to welcome our volunteers back in January 2021.
However, it has not all been negative a small number of volunteers, including the WW2 project volunteers, have been able to continue to do some remote transcription work. The Worcestershire Regiment 1881-1920 database enhancement has continued; It now stands at over 63,500 entries, which includes all those serving
in the Militia and South African War. In addition, we have digitised into searchable pdf formats the following works: ‘Firm’ and ‘Firm & Forester’. In all this covers 239 issues containing about 20,000 pages; The Nominal roll of the 29th Regiment of Foot 1808 to 1880; and the Records of Service of the Officers’ of the 36th Regiment of Foot 1710 to 1880.
The Museum has also continued
to acquire significant material for the collections, including two important medal groups. At a virtual sale at Spinks Ltd,
in April, the Museum acquired the WW2 medals of Quartermaster Captain A. H. Cooper, MBE. His was the only MBE
publishing the museum’s catalogue on line, and making a subset of the museum’s many databases available to our national and international public audiences.
Our planned exhibitions programme for the year, which aimed to mark significant
Heritage Month: The High Sheriff of Worcestershire, Lt
Col (Ret’d) Mark Jackson OBE and the Mayor of Worcester, Cllr Jo Hodges
giving bodies, has been put on hold as the manufacturer has been closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Unfortunately, the museum closed once again on the 2nd November as part the second national lockdown, but will hopefully reopen after
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