ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTERS 1.
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The telephone extension numbers for RHQ MERCIAN Nottingham (0115 9465415) are as follows;
Asst Regt Sec; Ext 5220
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Assistant Curator/Archivist; Ext 5219
THE WORCESTERSHIRE AND SHERWOOD FORESTERS REGIMENTAL ASSOCIATION
Patron: HRH The Princess Royal
President: Brig P Dennis
You can also view the Newsletter in pdf format here (http://www.stand-firm-strike-hard.org.uk/index.php/newsletter)
Patron: HRH The Princess Royal
President: Brig P Dennis CBE
26 April 2024 WFRA NEWSLETTER Volume 15 Issue 17
001 RE-DEDICATION OF ROLL OF HONOUR – 27 APRIL 2024
A re-dedication service will be held by St Augustine Church, Chesterfield, for the Roll of Honour for the 72 men, from the parish of Birdholme, Chesterfield who died in WWI; 42 were Sherwood Foresters and 2 were Royal Engineers, with the remainder including RN and other cap badges.
All are invited to attend. The service commences at 1100 hours on Saturday 27 April 2024 at St Augustine Church, 220 Derby Road Chesterfield Derbyshire S40 2EP . Parking at the church is limited but there is plenty of parking at Tesco, next door
002 THE CRICH MEMORIAL TOWER JIGSAW PUZZLE
For all jigsaw enthusiasts, there is now a Crich Memorial Tower puzzle to purchase.
They are priced at £25 and 10% of sales are donated to the site.
If you would like to purchase one please click HERE
Crich Memorial Stand, 1000 piece jigsaw
Capture the beauty of a sunrise with the Crich Memoria Stand Jigsaw Puzzle honoring the Mercian Regiment. Piece together a memorable tribute.
craigwaumsley.co.uk
003 MERCIAN REGIMENT NEWSLETTER
The next edition of the Mercian Regiment Quarterly Newsletter is now available for reading.
Our newsletter covers recent events over a three month period within the regiment; including the battalions, the museums, Mercian cap-badged cadets, and our associations.
Click here to view our Newsletter
The newsletter is hosted online, which means that you can view it on your smartphone or tablet while on-the-go. A print-friendly version is also available here.
We would like to extend a thank you to all who are involved with the MERCIAN regiment for your continued support.
Stand Firm, Strike Hard.
The Mercian Regiment
004 MUSEUM OF THE MERCIAN REGIMENT WFR COLLECTION
In 2030, the museum faces a challenge as it will loose its main grant from the MOD. As a Registed charity (no.1001226) Museum of the Mercian Regiment relies on generous donations from the public to ensure we are around in the future.
We inform and educate about the Regiment's history, particuly the Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby) Regiment and have a large collection dating from 1741-present day.
If you would like to help then please click on the link and make a donation to our museum fund. Or you think to you can help us by fundraising then get in touch either on this post or by emailing curator@stand-firm-strike-hard.org.uk.
MAKE A DONATION
STAND-FIRM-STRIKE-HARD.ORG.UK
Support us | Museum of the Mercian Regiment
Museum of the Mercian Regiment (WFR Collection) is a registered charity (Number 1001226). We would not be able to maintain the museum without the generous support of public donations.
005 1 FORESTERS IN CYPRUS FEBRUARY 1963-64 (Continued)
6. Nicosia - Lighter Moments, the Coming of the Blue Beret and the Finns
The role for UN Forces was discussed by the Security Council in New York in late February 1964. UN forces Cyprus (UNFICYP) came into being on 6 March 1964. Light blue berets became the new headgear with the large UN badge and the Lincoln Green patch.
The first troops to arrive under this mandate to join British forces were Canadians, who arrived in early April, quickly followed by a Finnish contingent.
Despite sporadic incidents Nicosia was quietening down and it was necessary to keep up morale.
THE SWIMMING POOL
One adventurous platoon decided to construct a swimming pool in their spare moments. No digging was required as it was sited on the top of a four storey flat roofed apartment block!
By blocking drainage holes on the roof and bricking up the doorway it was possible to fill the space with water to the level of a three foot high parapet. The pool was made use of as by now the daily temperatures in Nicosia were rising. It was probably the only swimming pool in the world with a chimney stack in the middle!
PIGEON RACING
Another section had collected pigeons which used to hang about their accommodation after being fed on compo biscuits (well someone had to eat them). After a week or so the pigeons were very tame, quartered in a properly constructed pigeon loft and were let out to fly each day then returning for more biscuits. This led to a decision to hold a pigeon race. Birds were marked and taken outside of Nicosia by a patrol to be released from their crate and race back to their loft. Whether wagers were laid was not clear. The flaw was that after release the birds were never seen again - perhaps taking exception to their diet of compo biscuits!
HANDOVER TO THE FINNS
Eventually it was the battalion's turn to be relieved by new UN troops arriving in Cyprus. 1 FORESTERS were to handover to a Finnish Battalion - or to be more precise a Finnish Bicycle Battalion. This group cycled into Nicosia from Larnaca accompanied by a miscellany of cars, vans and motorbikes. On arrival near to Bn HQ they cycled onto an area of cleared ground, the local football pitch, lined up by company, dressed to the right with their bicycles then on being given a command to fall out in Finnish turned to the right and let go of the bicycles which all collapsed in a tangled heap on the ground………………………………….. even stranger things were to follow!
A Pl Comd discusses handover/takeover of location with a Finnish officer. Quite why the local boy on the left is holding a large tin of Army marmalade is a mystery!
006 CRICH QUARRY WATERPARK DEVELOPMENT
Plans to turn a Derbyshire quarry into a water park resort could be inching towards a decision after more than two years in limbo. BMET Limited submitted its plans to turn Crich Quarry into a water park resort more than two years ago, with several years before that involving further development and negotiations.
Now the firm has submitted a flurry of new documents responding to Derbyshire County Council’s formal notice requesting more information or face the application being rejected which the authority issued in June 2022. The developers, who unveiled their plans in 2019, make clear in their response that the regeneration of the quarry into a water park resort is preferred but that, if this fails, the door remains open for its continued use for quarrying, along with scope for a significant extension of that work.
That could include either 300,000 tonnes or up to 1.3 million tonnes of further quarrying, it claims. It details that the impact of the scheme on the surrounding Derbyshire landscape, including the Crich Stand war memorial overlooking the quarry, would not be significant due to it largely being contained within the quarry itself.
The firm goes further in saying the water park resort plans would provide reinforcing engineering for the war memorial itself by securing the ground beneath it. Impact on the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site and its buffer zone, five miles away is also negligible, it claims, due to the confines of the quarry walls.
If approved by Derbyshire County Council, the plans would see the creation of the Amber Rock containing an indoor water park, 152-bed hotel, 128 straw-bale lodges, 210 holiday apartments, an indoor/outdoor climbing centre, a heritage centre, a cliff-top restaurant, sports complex, underground parking for 769 vehicles, water-powered lifts and solar panels. Meanwhile, a total of 561 jobs would be created by the scheme, with 200 people to be employed during the construction phase.
Read more HERE
007 ROBIN HOOD RIFLES CLUB
Nottingham's historic Robin Hood Rifles Club is facing eviction after more than 100 years.
The club's Upper Parliament Street home was sold last year by the Royal British Legion (RBL) and new owners have given them notice to quit.
Members said its unique network of veterans and friends - and collection of memorabilia - was in danger of being broken up.
The RBL said it sold the building as it was not an effective use of funds.
The building was bought for the Robin Hood Rifles in 1910 by Sir Albert Ball, father of the air ace of the same name, and the Royal British Legion took it over in the 1940s.
Club member John Essex said: "We've been in this building since 1910, when it was bought for us.
"It's a unique collection of things that belong to the club, have been given to the club. And we've got records and photographs and it's like a social history of the times.
"We have lots of people who like me have never been a soldier or anything like it, who've joined the club because it was a good place to go because they had friends already here.
"And it'd mean that they'd have a curtailment of social interaction."
Plans were submitted to turn the venue into flats and club officials say they have been told to move by 22 June.
As well as providing a social setting, the club boasts a large amount of memorabilia, including military equipment, medals and a full-sized snooker table dating from 1907.
Barrie Atkins, honorary secretary, said: "The guys who served come mainly because they come here and it's like a safety blanket to them and you can chat and things like that, let off a bit of steam, with people who understand them.
"We have an extraordinary general meeting on (27 April) because we have to ask the members' permission to move.
"I had a guy in to price up some of the artefacts and we hope and we have got something worth a bob or two to help us move along."
An RBL spokesperson said: "In June 2023, the Royal British Legion sold the property on Upper Parliament St and gave the tenants residing in the building significant notice of the property going to market.
"The upkeep costs of the building were deemed not an appropriate use of the charity's funds and with no RBL branch residing in the property, the sale was agreed in accordance with the Charities Act legislation.
"The eviction notice has been issued from the new landlord to the current tenants and the RBL is not involved."
008 OPERATION ASHBOURNE 1940'S WEEKEND
Due to water logged ground the Operation Ashbourne 1940's weekend event which was scheduled to take place on 4th and 5th May has unfortunately been cancelled.
009 MERCIAN REGIMENT MUSEUM (WORCESTER)
The Worcestershire Regiments Museum Instagram page is now live. The page can be accessed by following the link below.
The Worcestershire Regiments Museum
010 WORCESTER BRANCH SOCIAL EVENT
Worcester branch are holding a social evening on Saturday 18 May at The Maple Leaf, Canada Way, Lower Wick, Worcester. WR2 4XA. 18:00 for 18:30hrs.
There will be a chance for a game of skittles or just meet up for a friendly informal social meeting.
The landlord wants to provide some food but must have an idea of numbers. please reply by email by 14 May, Contact nigelfish@ymail.com
All are Welcome to attend.
011 FRIENDS OF THE MERCIAN REGIMENT MUSEUM (WORCESTER)
Programme of Talks 2024
All talks take place at Lyppard Grange Community Centre, Ankerage Green, Worcester WR4 0DZ. Parking is free and unrestricted outside the venue.
Saturday 11th May 2024 Napoleon’s Last Posting by Mike Atkinson
Having surrendered to the British after his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena. Guarded by several
thousand troops, it was one British officer that had the responsibility of keeping a close eye on him from his home at Longwood. This Captain would fall under the spell of the Emperor who, when the officer left the island, was given an extraordinary and unique present by Napoleon, which Mike now owns and will bring to the talk.
012 VETERANS SUPPORT
The following are available to support veterans and their families who may be experiencing mental health difficulties;
Forcesline Tel: 0800 731 4880 (between 9am and 5pm Monday-Friday)
Combat Stress (24 hours)
Veterans and their families; Tel: 0800 138 1619
Serving personnel and their families; Tel: 0800 323 4444
Samaritans (24 hours); Tel: 116 12
M A DACK
for Executive Committee
Social media :-
Mercian Museum (WFR Collection)
Mercian Museum (WFR Collection)
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