Page 89 - Mercian Eagle 2014

RHQ CHESTER – Maj Eddie Pickering, Asst Regt Secretary
Where to begin? Writing a couple of paragraphs about life in what was, until the 2nd Battalion moved into The Dale Barracks, 2 miles north of Chester Castle, the North West Frontier of the Mercian Regiment is never an easy task. The
main role of the outstation Regimental Headquarters is to forge and maintain
links with the people of our Regiment’s recruiting area; to keep in contact with our veterans and their families, paying special attention to those who may be in need;
and to support members of the serving Regiment, their families and also those bereaved families whose loved one lost their lives whilst serving with the Regiment. Add to that shared responsibilities for running Regimental business, an antecedent Regimental Association and a Military Museum and it makes for a busy, yet mainly unexciting workload.
We are housed in A Block at Chester Castle, one of the better addresses in
the city. It is a Grade 1 listed building in a Conservation Area, and was built in 1810, serving as barracks until the early 1950s. The building’s Heritage status makes life quite difficult at times because we cannot drill holes into walls and erect signs, put up notices or change the colour of the front door without getting permission from some official body or another. It is a major undertaking to keep on top of repairs and damages and one member of staff, Tracey Parsonage, spends a great deal of her time in meaningful conversations with DIO and contractors over such things. She also gets involved with other aspects of RHQ life alongside Sue
Weston who works hard
keeping the nuts and
bolts of administration
together and both of
them spend a great deal
of time sorting out the
chaos caused by your
correspondent...
Mons. Two years of planning with the local authority at Quievrain in Belgium culminated in a day of Remembrance and Dedication in Audregnies exactly 100 years after that momentous 24th August 1914 when the Regiment suffered huge losses. The 1st Battalion paraded with over 120 soldiers and there were nearly 100 members of the
700 of the workforce from Lever Brothers’ Port Sunlight factory on 7th September 1914, to Chester to enlist in the Cheshire Regiment, making over 1000 people, marched in warm sunshine back to Chester Castle. Our thanks must go to Cheshire Military Museum, Port Sunlight Museum and everyone who made the event so memorable.
Our staff of three is augmented by volunteers, Dave Clark and Dave Mapley who appear every Monday and Friday to help out in any area they can whether it is in the Museum, the Regimental Association or the Regiment, and earlier this year, we welcomed a new volunteer, Rob Prentice, who is working hard on updating the Cheshire Regiment’s historical records,
a job that has been neglected because other things took priority. Rob has special interest in this subject as his son, also Rob, is currently Second in Command of The 1st Battalion, and he is learning what young Rob has been doing since he joined the Army! We are always pleased to welcome volunteers and can find ways of using
their expertise – we even provide unlimited supplies of tea and coffee, and if you’re lucky, biscuits.
New Year’s Eve saw the departure of Major Eddie Pickering who has decided to retire from the post of Assistant Regimental Secretary. He will be back in the New Year with his new voluntary job of giving outreach talks on behalf of the Museum and the Regiment. He reckons that the pay is not as good as in the Civil Service but the holidays will be better.
As expected, 2014
brought the challenge of
preparing for the major
anniversaries of the two great conflicts of the 20th Century and as the Centenary
of The Great War approached, we were fielding dozens of requests every week about family members who had served in the Cheshire Regiment during the conflict. Happily, most of them were passed to
the Museum’s research team to answer. Our local authorities also beat several paths to the door, looking for help and advice on planning their own Centenary commemorations and also, knowing that, in theory, we had a Battalion in the County, asking for members of the Regiment to attend them.
Our busiest time came in the preparations to commemorate the Cheshire Regiment’s action in Audregnies at the Battle of
The building’s Heritage
status makes life quite difficult at times because we cannot drill holes into walls and erect signs
Cheshire Regiment Association and descendants of the men who had fought there. The Lord Mayor of Chester, Cllr Bob Rudd also made the pilgrimage to honour the men of Cheshire. Returning to Chester, RHQ was heavily involved in the
planning and execution of the County’s own commemorations which were held at the same time as the Cheshire Regiment Mons Day Reunion, this involved many meetings with the Bishop of Chester and the Lord Lieutenant to make sure that everything was just so.
The day came and started from Chester Castle with a good contingent from the
2nd Battalion and the Cheshire Regiment Association, led by the Band of the Mercian Regiment marching to the Cathedral to
join a large congregation for a service of remembrance and reflection. After the service, the parade, enlarged by other Regimental Associations, the Sea Cadets, Army Cadets and Air Training Corps and joined by people re-creating the journey of
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