Page 118 - Mercian Eagle 2014

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Staffordshire Regiment Museum
By Jim Massey
Our Museum is thriving and we have enjoyed another varied and interesting year. After our revamped WW1 Trench
was completed in November, we rolled
out another Night in the Trenches event, followed by Carols in the Trenches in December. Great War Commemoration has been our point of main effort. We ran two weekend events, a WW1 Weekend and
an Edwardian Picnic on the anniversary of the eve of the Great War, which attracted a record 1,200 visitors. We have expanded our Trench Tour days and these have been a thriving success. As it was the seventieth anniversary of the 1944 Campaigns, (in our case Anzio, Normandy, the 2nd Chindit Campaign and Arnhem), we also ran a WW2 event.
Our outreach activities have been spearheaded by our Kitchener Recruiting
Team which has been out on the ground entertaining crowds in a light hearted
way, in events in Stoke-on-Trent, Walsall, Ashbourne and the Apedale Railway to name but a few. This Outreach Team, which is manned by our Education Volunteers, has had another excellent year and their work has been much appreciated by the Museum’s Trustees. Our Research Team have been inundated with information requests and are being stretched somewhat. We also have people recording artefacts and donated items, which is important backroom work.
We would like to welcome three new Trustees. Paul Hitchin has become Chairman of the Museum Friends in March. Jeff Elson has been invited as a Trustee after years of work running our Research Team. Finally, Susie Lillingston was snapped
Jeff Elson being interviewed by BBC Radio Stoke Centenary Family Research Day – May 2014
Sue Leighfield (Education Volunteer) at one of our Trench Tour Days
up after completing her term as High Sheriff of Staffordshire earlier in the year. Susie
is related to Colonel Luke Lillingston, who as every Stafford / 3 MERCIAN member will know, founded the 38th Foot in the King’s Head Public House in Lichfield on 25th March 1705. At this point, we would like to record our deep appreciation for all the work performed by Phil Schofield, who stood down as Chairman of the Museum Friends and as a Museum Trustee after three years. He has done an enormous amount for the Museum and was one of the leading lights in our Trench Project, mentioned above. We would also like to thank Dani Pritchard our Curator and our Museum Assistants, Steve Hemming and Cordelia Mellor-Whiting, for their hard work during the year.
Box Packing for the 3 MERCIAN Tour. Dani Pritchard (our Curator) with the first batch of 2,000 boxes for our Mercian soldiers. Tamworth December 2013
Dave Shergold (Kitchener Recruiting Team)
with members of the Military Wives
Choir – Stoke-on-Trent Military Tattoo 10 May 2014
Battle of San Sebastian Exhibition 1813
James Whittaker (Museum Volunteer) researched the battle, prepared his own exhibition,
secured the items, imported 38th Foot Buttons from Spain and completed the displays.
James went to immense effort to do this
Bill Ruston with a group at a Trench Tour Day
Steve Hemming (Museum Assistant) at a Trench Tour Day
Jeff Elson at the Museum’s Book Launch
THE MERCIAN EAGLE