Firing in the museum yard Marching down Castle Street
future by including the bugle which sounded the last cavalry charge by the Cheshire Yeomanry at Litani.
Residents of Chester were invited to have their military antiques identified and valued by local experts and a number of interesting items were brought in. The museum hosted His Majesty’s 22nd Regiment of Foot in September: a local re-enactment group focuses on the lives of ordinary soldiers during the American Revolutionary War 1775 - 1783. This often overlooked period of British History was the beginning of what would later become known as the British Empire and the creation of a new nation, the United States of America. The group conducted drill in the museum yard and fired their Brown Bess muskets. As part of the day, they marched through the town and read the declaration of rebellion at the Cross. This, as you can imagine, created quite a stir among the crowds of racegoers and shoppers thronging the streets.
The museum has acquired a number of important pieces in the last few months. The first of these was a pocket chess set used by CSM James Duffy throughout his time as a prisoner of war from 1940 to 1945. CSM Duffy of C Company 4th Battalion The Cheshire Regiment was captured at Cassel during the retreat to Dunkirk. The chess set must have been very useful in fighting boredom during those long years; it has been placed on display in the World War Two gallery. Another fascinating set of objects arrived from the Staffordshire Regiment museum - a set of Ghanaian weapons which had been presented to Maj Johnson following his attachment to the Ghana Regiment. We are hoping to find room to display part of the collection soon. Perhaps
130 October 2010
the most important recent acquisition is a silver rose bowl associated with the story of the Miniature Colour, a one-quarter sized copy of the Regimental Colour produced by the ladies of the Regiment. The Colour was first presented to the best shooting Company in 1912. At the outbreak of war, B Company held the prize and took it to France. During the retreat from Mons, Drummer Baker, the soldier charged with the Colour’s protection, hid it in the village of Audregnies in order to prevent its capture. A number of local people then helped prevent it falling into German hands and the Miniature Colour was retrieved after the war. In order to show their appreciation to the Belgian civilians who made this possible, they presented three of them with inscribed silver rose bowls and a scroll. Visitors to the museum can now see the bowl alongside the Miniature Colour and other items associated with the retreat from Mons.
At the museum we continue to develop our education and outreach. This year we have developed a new taught session, improved the handling collection and designed activities for scouting organisations. These efforts have certainly led to an increased use of the collection by local groups including local libraries, the Royal British Legion and community festivals.
The new website is also up and running: combining information about the museum, the Regiment and the Cheshire Regiment Association, it is a great place for those who cannot come to the museum in person to see what is going on here. The address is: www.
cheshiremilitarymuseum.co.uk. We hope that these activities will increase in the future the profile of the museum and the Regiments it represents.
The Rose bowl The Mercian Eagle
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