Page 167 - The Bugle 2018

Herefordshire Light Infantry
Suvla Barracks, Hereford takes its name from a Gallipoli Battle Honour of The Herefordshire Light Infantry. The Barracks can be found a few minutes walk from the centre of the city. Today it provides a home to 3 Pl A Coy 6 RIFLES, C Coy Herefordshire and Worcester ACF and the ACF HQ. By prior appointment, one can also find and visit the Regimental Museum of The Herefordshire Light Infantry within Suvla Barraks. The museum relies on the support of a few volunteers who continue to provide excellence and keep the story of the ‘Herefords’ alive. Visitors to the Museum are rewarded by a fascinating tour of the main museum room plus a tour of the barracks where many of the objects are displayed. Maintaining the links with A Coy 6 RIFLES and the ACF remains vital and of great mutual benefit.
The Museum hosts visiting groups, individuals and has also delivered 8 outreach presentations to local interest groups within the past year. The nearby Hereford Cathedral particularly benefitted from its links with the Museum by hosting the 14-18 Poppies display, ‘The Weeping Window’, that saw nearly 200,000 visitors to the city. In support the Museum organised an exhibition of ‘military in Herefordshire’. It was seen by almost 2,000 people, was very well received and generated considerable interest. Meanwhile descendants of those that served in The Herefords continue to contact the Museum and donate objects, artefacts as well as information for the archives. Accessions are diverse aided by the public profile of the Museum.
A case in point led to the Courtyard Theatre contacting the Curator with an invitation to view some old uniforms. Two were absolute gems being Herefordshire Rifle Volunteer Tunics from the
1900/08 period. They were known to have existed but in recent years examples had never been seen. One had the ribbon of the Queen’s South Africa medal meaning its wearer may well have been one of the volunteers from the HRVC that served in South Africa with the Volunteer Service Company of 2KSLI; such connections bring local history alive and the Courtyard Theatre were persuaded to donate them to the Museum. Within a week of this success the wardrobe manager of the Hereford Scouts Gang Show contacted the curator to say
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