The Staffordshire Regiment Museum

Late Christmas Delivery by Santa

Cllr Robert Pritchard, Deputy Leader of Tamworth Borough Council, has presented a cheque for £150 to the Staffordshire Regiment Museum, after raising the money by doing Tamworth’s Annual Santa Stroll.

Cllr Robert Pritchard said “I dressed up with my 15th month old son, Alfie, as Santa and we had great time, I chose the Staffordshire Regiment Museum because they are a great museum on our door step. They hold great events and run a fantastic education programme helping local children learn more about our local military past.”

On the 5th and 6th of May the museum is holding a living history event staring at 10am, this is where people can see what WW1 was like 1st hand, meet actors dressed in period uniform and explore the authentic WW1 trench at the museum.

Assistant Curator Willie Turner said, “Staffordshire Regiment Museum tells the story of the Staffordshire Regiment and all its antecedents from its formation in 1705. The Museum is situated alongside Whittington Barracks near Tamworth and houses a collection of around 11,000 items. The collection now includes items from the new Mercian Regiment.”

The museum is looking for more volunteers and donors to support the museums various projects. If you would like to consider becoming a Museum Volunteer and arrange an initial visit, please telephone Willie Turner the Volunteer Co-ordinator on 01543 434394.

Poignant Mementos of Wartime Presented to Staffordshire Regimental Museum

In 1940 Leonard Bennett was a 21 year old private in the Staffordshire Regiment. He was also one of those who trained to become part of the famous ‘Airborne’ detachment, fighting men who were deployed in gliders in to some of the fiercest battles of the 2nd WW.

In this way Len took part in the Sicily landings, the start of the Invasion of Italy in July 1943 and a dark period in the Airborne’s history. Inexperienced tow pilots dropped some of the gliders too far out to sea and many men drowned, weighed down by their heavy kit and battle dress.

Len however survived and was involved in the capturing of the Ponte Grande Bridge (Syracuse). Shortly after this victory he was captured and spent the next few years in the POW camps of the Italians and Germans.

Recently Debra Harris, Len’s niece discovered a wonderful collection of artifacts collected by Len during the 1940’s in the attic of the family home. These include many medals, Len’s battle dress and a collection of writings made during his time as a POW.

Most poignant perhaps are the postcards written to Ellen, Len’s fiancée back in Billesley, Birmingham. These cards could say very little but must have been treasured by Ellen as every one was safe and carefully stored away.

In 1945 Len and Ellen married in Billesley. The wedding photograph found amongst the items shows a wedding dress that must have cost every clothing coupon in the family. Amazingly the dress was also found and is soon to be displayed.

As Debra Harris commented: ‘We are so happy to have found a home for these precious family pieces. Uncle Len never spoke about his experiences so after his death in 2000 we were amazed to find out all that he had done during the war.’

Many of the items collected by Len and Ellen Bennett will be on display during the Wartime Whittington Weekend taking place at the museum on the 17th and 18th September 2011. This evocative and immersive weekend focuses on life on the home front and puts these new donations brilliantly into context.

Ellen Bennett died in 1999 and Len followed her a few months later. In his will was a request that their ashes should be buried together, each on the same side that they usually slept.

A decade later these thought provoking and unique items were discovered. They will be on display to the public for the first time in September.

Art Exhibition in honour of Help for Heroes

From September 10th the museum will be playing host to a fantastic art exhibition from the wonderfully gifted artist John Hayward.

Now retired John has finally found the time to follow his passion of creating pieces of artwork in either watercolour or oil. John’s recent creations are a series of pieces dedicated to all British soldiers and their families, in particular those who have returned home from deployment with some form of disability. As a thank you to the museum for allowing him to display his artwork, John has commissioned a special painting depicting The Staffordshire Regiment in action in Basra, Iraq.

Art Exhibition in honour of Help for Heroes

All proceeds from the sale of any of the paintings will go towards Help for Heroes, the Birmingham Hospital and the Staffordshire Regiment Association. Please come and view the wonderful collection for yourselves.

“We are really looking forward to displaying some of John’s works. It will be particularly exciting to see John’s painting of the Staffordshire Regiment in action unveiled for the very first time.”

New Book traces The Staffords in World War II

One of the most frequently asked questions at the popular Staffordshire Regiment Museum , on the A51 between Lichfield and Tamworth, is ‘what happened in World War II’? Many visitors have at least one relative who fought in that war and they are always keen to find out where he went and what his unit did. Until now there had been no single reference publication that provided all the answers.

Roll Call Book

At long last that gap has been filled by a 40 page booklet written by the Chairman of the Staffordshire Regiment Museum, Lieutenant Colonel Tony Scott MBE. His book traces the history of all the twenty one units from the South and North Staffords that, in one capacity or another, defended Great Britain between 1939 and 1945. It contains many photographs of the era, as well as quotes from eye-witnesses plus tables to give exact detail of who was where.

It draws almost entirely on the archive held in the Museum. Highlights include Dunkirk, the airborne invasion of Sicily, Anzio, the second Chindit campaign and Arnhem and a host of less well-known incidents.

Roll Call Book

The booklet joins two other very successful publications, one dealing with ‘The Staffords in World War I’ and the other giving a history of Whittington Barracks, built 126 years ago to be the depot of both South and North Staffords and today the home of the Army Training Regiment, Lichfield. Like the other booklets, the new arrival will retail for £2.50.

Tony Scott, who also wrote the Barracks Booklet, served for nearly thirty years in the Staffordshire Regiment and commanded 1st Battalion, the Mercian Volunteers between 1980 and 1983. He has served in Ghana, Kenya, Belize and Germany, as well as being an attaché in Canada and both a military and civilian executive in NATO HQ in Brussels, where he spent thirteen years in all. He is now retired and lives near Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, where he is a part-time guide.