Take a look at our Christmas Stocking best sellers…there’s something for every Tiger in your life.
And don’t forget your Regimental HQ Christmas cards too.
Rose Appeal- Memorial Garden at Serle’s HouseSponsor a Rose for our Memorial Garden.
At the front of the museum in Serle’s House is the Memorial Garden, laid out in 1952 to commemorate those men of the Regiment who lost their lives in World Wars One and Two. More recently, anybody who served in the Regiment may have their ashes scattered amongst the roses if they wish.
As recent visitors to the Museum and Memorial Garden will have noticed, garden works are underway. Those more eagle-eyed visitors will have noticed that for the past few summers, there have been less and less roses blooming in the garden, and this summer one of the beds only had 3 flowering plants left. This was due to a severe case of black-spot on the plants.
The museum has therefore begun work on the Memorial Garden – as you can see from the photo below, but we need your help.
We are replacing all of the old roses with new ones, and also have had the lawns replaced; although they looked lovely and lush and green, a closer look would have shown they were infact mostly moss and weeds rather than grass. In order to keep the Memorial Garden looking as fantastic as it should to honour the men of the Royal Hampshire Regiment, we needed to do the work sooner rather than later.
We have been extremely lucky to receive some funding to cover this project, but would like to invite anyone who may wish to do so, to sponsor a rose for £10. This can be in your name, or in the name of a loved one. All donor’s names will be displayed in the museum on completion of the project.
If you would like to sponsor a rose, the link is here: Sponsor a Rose for the Memorial Garden
Commemoration and Remembrance 100 years onWe are celebrating the lives and sacrifices made by the men who served in the Hampshire Regiment during World War one, and their families and friends, who were equally as touched by the war as those serving. The ones left behind came to wave them off, tried to keep up morale with cheery news from home and by sending parcels of treats, and campaigned ceaslessly for better conditions, medical care, support for injured soldiers, and then for memorials once peace had been declared.
We remember, and give grateful thanks for all of these thousands and thousands of men, women and children affected by the war. Over 1 million memorial plaques were issued by the Goverment for those British, Empire and Commonwealth soldiers who lost their lives. Over 1 million lives cut short, and many many more than 1 million affected by the loss of fathers, sons, uncles and friends in some of the most inhospitable fighting conditions ever seen. Men and horses simply drowned; in mud on the Western front, during beach landings and river crossings in the Dardanelles, and on transport and hospital ships all around the seas. Others were shot, gassed, shelled and mined, while thousands more died from diseases such as malaria, dysentry, and small pox.
In this year, 100 years since the Armistice of 11th November 1918 when the guns fell silent, it is more important than ever to remember their lives, and all those who lost their lives in later years, and other wars. They were mostly men, mostly young, and mostly not professional soldiers. They either answered the call and volunteered or were forced into it through conscription. They felt they had no choice but to fight for freedom and what they thought was fair and just. These men were just ordinary men, with hopes, dreams, lives and loves. They lived through unimaginable horrors and deprivations, and many thousands more were scarred survivors.
As Britain becomes covered in a wave of poppies, we remember them. As the names on memorials throughout the land are read, and we fall silent to the bugle’s notes, we remember them. And with each new year, and generation of children, we teach them the same message, of thanks and praise. They died for our freedoms. We shall never forget.
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.
For the Fallen, by Robert Laurence Binyon. 1914.
12th November 1918
Tuesday 12th November 1918. ZINJAN.
Germany surrendered at 11am yesterday!
How they must be ringing the bells at home and Poidebart says – in Paris champagne will be as water!
Took my pony out for a ride – he is in fine fettle.
Have at last got the policing running fairly smoothly & there is not nearly so much work.
Monday 11th November 1918. ZINJAN.
Kaiser & Crown Prince have abdicated. It snowed.
Enlisted 9 Persian police as agents.
Poidebart probably going soon, so I shall be left by myself.
Perhaps now one will be able to get letters through via Baku & Batoum, saving several weeks.
Baku is in current-day Azerbajan, and Batoum is on the Black Sea in present-day Georgia. British and Indian troops were stationed there throughout 1918 and 1919 to aid with civil disturbances at the request of the Foreign Office.
Sunday 10th November 1918. ZINJAN.
Foch has given German delegates who came demanding peace, 3 days to decide whether to accept his terms, elapsing on Monday.
Revolutions rife in Germany.
Rode my pony to see the regt.
Small pox is v. bad in the town. Three of our men have got it.
Dinner with the flying corps.
From Lt Vawdry’s diary of the war.
The diary is on display in our temporary exhibition case.
9th November 1918 – From a diary9 November 1918. Saturday. ZINJAN.
German retreat reported to be becoming a route.
Am v. busy and when one thing is settled another seems to erupt up.
Thank goodness the blockade is over. Merchants here are much pleased at this.
From Lieutenant R. H Vaudry’s Diary. Vaudry was the liaison officer for the 1/4th Battalion, who were based in Persia for the end of the war, having fought in the Dardanelles in 1916.
The museum is extremely pleased with its latest conservation project, run in conjunction with a local voluntary group.
Members of The Arts Society Test Valley have been busy working on a heritage project with the museum over the summer. The Museum has in its collection many uniforms, some going back to the eighteenth century. Not all of these are on display, so protective covers were needed for those kept in storage. A team of eight volunteers made 85 covers for the uniforms, and have just handed them over. The material used was Tyvek, which will keep the uniforms dry and free from rot, mildew and moth. It also prevents them from fading in light. With this phase of the project complete, the next stage is to make covers for the larger great-coats.
Some of the team came to deliver the covers to the museum, and start fitting the uniforms into them. They enjoyed looking at, and trying on some of the different styles and types of our more robust jackets. We are very grateful to the society for all their hard work on this, and look forward to working with them again in the future on other conservation projects.
Heritage Volunteering is an important part of the work of The Arts Society. From the conservation of books and textiles to projects in historic parks and gardens, volunteers work all over the UK at many different sites. If you have a project that the volunteers might be able to help with, please contact them via our website: www.TheArtsSocietyTestValley.org.uk
If anyone would like to volunteer at the museum, we have a wide range of opportunities available, either weekly, fortnightly or monthly; please email the Deputy Curator for more details.
Meet our new School Community Partner…
We were pleased to welcome our new school community partner to the Museum today. South Wonston Primary School brought along 39 Year 6 pupils to learn about the Gallipoli Campaign, in conjunction with the Gallipoli Association. We managed to cover 7 curriculum subjects in the space of four and a half hours, a mighty feat!
Thank you South Wonston Primary, we look forward to working with you again soon.
Reconstructing the painting The River Clyde. A team work exercise in gathering information.
Working together to formulate the most important questions to ask the Curator.
Colin the Curator sharing some artefacts with Year 6.
Sketching each other’s emotions after re-enacting the HMT River Clyde V Beach landing on 25th April 1915.
We are always pleased to welcome schools and youth organisations to the Museum, so if you would like to know more about what we can offer, please contact our Education & Outreach Officer.
When the Guns Fell Silent Exhibition – Free Exhibition
This fantastic new exhibition is currently running in City Space in the Discovery Centre, Winchester, and has been curated by a Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum volunteer on behalf of all six of Winchester’s Military Museums.
The exhibition marks the 100th anniversary of Armistice through the stories of local people, and is an opportunity to see artefacts that have been hidden away in our archives for many years.
There is an opportunity to play your part in the exhibition with our community curated memory wall. If you would like to add a photo of a relative who served in the First World War, pop into City Space; the resources are all there to be used. Alternatively, we can do it for your if you email a photo and some details to us here at: museum@royalhampshireregiment.0rg. We will send you a return photo of the memory wall with confirmation of your request being completed.
We look forward to you attending the exhibition and supporting us.
Open 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, 10am to 3pm weekends.
