Letters
Mrs May Dalloway Dear Editor,
Mrs May Dalloway, whose death at the age of 94 is reported in this issue, had been associated closely with Norton Barracks for over 70 years and was well known and widely respected by several generations of those who served in The Worcestershire Regiment.
As a pre-war ATS volunteer, she was posted to Norton in January 1939 and presided over the soldiers’ Cookhouse in the rank of Sergeant. In 1943, she married “Curly”, the civilian Sergeants’ Mess Caterer who had previously served in the Regiment for 18 years. His first wife had died in 1940 and he was bringing up two small daughters. Together, they settled in a black and white cottage adjacent to the Barracks where they lived for the rest of their lives and took a full part in local Regimental and Association activities. Their daughter later married Tom Maher who had served in the Regiment. After Curly’s death in 1986, May remained a stalwart member of the Worcester Branch of the Association, organising their raffles for many years, and even into her nineties was a regular visitor to RHQ.
John Lowles
From the Leader of Erewash Borough Council Dear Sir,
I receive The Mercian Eagle in my capacity as Leader of Erewash Borough Council. Erewash, which lies on the border of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, has always had close links with the 2nd Battalion and its predecessors and we were proud to grant to the Regiment the Freedom of the Borough last year. The regiment marched through Ilkeston in front of a large and supportive crowd and we are looking forward to them coming to Long Eaton in the Spring.
Although I have no direct connection with The Mercian Regiment or its predecessors and have never served in her Majesty’s Forces, I still have pride in their achievements and reading the Mercian Eagle makes me feel part of the family.
Thank you for that, and for producing such a fine magazine.
Councillor Chris Corbett Leader Erewash Borough Council
Woofer Sir,
Further to the question posed in the last issue of The Mercian Eagle about the name “Woofers”, I recall that Major Sherry Sherbrooke [2ic 1 FORESTERS] briefed the Sergeants’ Mess on his return to Münster from an Amalgamation planning meeting in 1967; he said that the title of the new Regiment would be The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment or WFR for short and that straightaway one or two of the Mess Members said “Woofer”.
One issue per year or two? Dear Editor,
Firstly, may I say what a cracking job you made of issue 2 of The Mercian Eagle: there is something for everybody in its pages. The letter from Keith Jeavons, saying that we could do with two issues per year does have some merit but the journal is meant to record regimental events and it is not a newspaper after all.
Yours, Peter Gresty P J Gresty Chairman MRA & CRA The Editor replies:
Many thanks for your comments on The Mercian Eagle. I appreciate that one of the main purposes of a regimental journal is to be a historical record but another - very important - purpose is to link “the old with the new” ie to show to the soldiers of yesteryear what their worthy successors are doing today. A further purpose is to link the various constituent parts of this large regiment with the others: this means showing to each Battalion, Association Branch and ACF and CCF Detachment and to those most important of people, the regimental wives and families, what is going on. With all this in mind, the editor has to try to make the journal interesting to all of the readers (the majority of the subscribing readership is made up of serving soldiers) and to try to make the balance between historical record and newspaper/ magazine: the bright and breezy format helps me to do the latter but the content of the journal is often so out of date that, I am told, many readers are put off. I am delighted with the support which I have received from all parts of the Regiment and all of the articles and notes are very well written and informative but I can’t help feeling that two issues a year would make the content more current whilst the journal would still act as a historical record. Surprisingly, producing two issues per year is probably easier than producing only one; Firm and Forester has appeared twice a year since Amalgamation in 1970 and I continued that when I became its editor in 2002. The original costings for The Mercian Eagle were made on the basis of two issues per year in full colour. My aim is to persuade more to subscribe to The Mercian Eagle!
Yours, Roy Crump (by e-mail)
The Droppin Well Dear Editor,
I noticed on page 8 of the October 2009 issue that the first date published for the Droppin Well bomb was incorrect. The article says that the bomb went off in 1983 although later in the article the correct date of 1982 is used. I travel to Ballykelly tomorrow morning for this year’s memorial service which will be held on Sunday and I will be sure to get some photographs etc for the next edition.
Regards Peter Gresty P J Gresty Chairman MRA & CRA
The Editor replies:
I apologise for the incorrect date of The Droppin’ Well bomb on page 8. Although I edit every piece in the journal, I don’t change dates unless I notice a glaring error and I should have noticed this discrepancy. Even more to the point, I was OC Musgrave Park Base in Belfast into which the casualties were flown in 1982 and I should have noticed the incorrect date. My sincere apologies to all for failing to spot the error. I hope that your recent visit the Droppin’ Well Memorial went well and I look forward to your notes and photographs for the next issue.
154 October 2010
The Mercian Eagle
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