Page 43 - QARANC Vol 15 No 2 2017

Corps Heritage Matters
The QARANC Heritage Committee continues to meet every three months at QA RHQ in Robertson House under the leadership of Lt Col (Retd) Keiron Spires. Under his guidance the committee has now taken on the management of the chattels owned by the Corps, which are now the property of the QARANC Association.
The committee therefore changed its name to the QARANC Association Heritage and Chattels Committee. One of the urgent tasks facing the committee this year was an audit of the chattels, which had not been done for about five years. This took place at the beginning of July over two days, and we are grateful to those members of the committee and others who volunteered to identify the many objects on display and in storage in Robertson House, and for cleaning the strong room! The next task is to clean and repair some items, and then to identify those where more expert intervention is required.
The first of our oral history workshops took place in March at Robertson House, with good attendance. Two further workshops are planned for the autumn: 4 October at Robertson House
and 12 October in Catterick (venue to be confirmed). There will be further dates in 2018. These workshops are open to anyone, serving or retired, who is willing to undertake the recording of oral histories. Please contact RHQ with your expression of interest.
As many know, I have been working in the Regimental Office for the last year to assist Col Sue Bush RRC, (previously Colonel Commandant and Chair of the QARANC Association Trustees), with some of the Association General Secretary duties, and more recently, to manage the membership applications and queries. One of my responsibilities is to reply to the many emails from individuals researching their family history. The anniversary of the First World War particularly has generated a surge in enquiries about ancestors who were Army nurses. All records on these nurses (QAIMNS, QAIMNS(R) and TFNS (Territorial Force Nursing Service) are held at The National Archives at Kew, and can be viewed on request. Unfortunately, many of the records were ‘weeded’ in the 1930s, and sadly we do not know what information has been lost to history. Records of Army
Cape medal of the TFNS
nurses who served after 1920 and in the Second World War are not yet in the public domain, and are archived in Kentigern House, Glasgow. The next of kin can apply for a copy of a nurse’s record, and of course individuals may apply for their own. Details of how to apply are given at the end of this article. I get a fair number of enquires seeking contact details of QAs who served more recently, including some from ex-patients, and dare I say, ex- boyfriends! Data protection legislation means I cannot supply any details from our database, as this information can only be used in connection with an individual’s membership of the Association.
THE GAZETTE QARANC 41
Margaret Keillor Brodie, Territorial Force Nursing Service, at a family wedding in Coupar Angus, Scotland in 1918.