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King's Own Royal Regiment Museum Lancaster |
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HOME Museum & Collections Sales Donations Events Contact Us REGIMENTAL HISTORY 17th Century 18th Century 19th Century 20th Century First World War Second World War Actions & Movements Battle Honours FAMILY HISTORY Resources Further Reading PHOTO GALLERY ENQUIRIES FURTHER READING LINKS 
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Annual Report April 1998 - March 1999
Personnel Curator: Dr Andrew White MA FMA FSA Assistant Curator: Peter Donnelly BA AMA Trustees:
Colonel J de Cordova OBE Introduction It has been another busy year, with barely time to catch our breath after the hectic work on the redisplay and the Royal Opening. When the news in November came through of the Regiments deployment to Macedonia as part of the NATO Extraction Force my thoughts turned back to 1915-1918 when both 2nd and 9th Battalions King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment served in Salonika and Macedonia against Bulgaria - as allies of the Serbs. In March I had the great privilege of visiting Burma Company in Macedonia, and also undertook the planning of a battlefield tour. I hope this tour can take place before the Company return to the UK - it all depends on operational commitments. An exhibition covering Burma company up to 25th March and the start of Operation Allied Force (the NATO airstrikes) was opened in the museum just before Easter. Collection Management Over the year the King’s Own collection has taken over all of ‘Room 6’ in the City Museum for storage. This for the first time means that the bulk of the collection is stored together. The extensive library is now very accessible with each book having its own space (we used to have to store books ‘double parked’ on the shelf - one at the front and one at the back!). The uniform collection is now stored together in excellent condition thanks to the efforts of Betty MacDonald and Cynthia Byrne. They have worked very hard over the past couple of years to replace all coat hangers with padded hangers, and manufacture covers for all the items. The computerisation of all accessioning records and indexes of the collections continues. The acquisition of a new computer in January 1999 has been of vital importance. The old machine - nearly six years old - was hardly able to cope with the strain of the work. The price of computers has certainly come down and we were able to buy a quality machine for under £500. Long term volunteer Norman Rowlinson is still working hard, and his main project is creating an index for The Lion and The Rose. This is not an easy job - and cannot be rushed - what we should have when he finishes is an excellent record of articles and events - which previously relied upon the mental abilities of the Curator! Acknowledgements Grateful thanks go to the volunteers mentioned above, Norman, Cynthia and Betty. But there are also many other people who assist in the running of the Regimental Museum and special mention must be made of those members of the 1st Battalion who gave every assistance possible during my Macedonia. Improved Access As part of our redisplay we made a commitment to improve access to the museum and this work is at present due to be completed in the late spring. A stair lift has now been installed to allow access to the Mezzanine Floor, and work will start shortly on the stair lift for the main stairs in the City Museum. The costs of the King’s Own part of the project have very generously been provided by Westfield Village Trust and the North West Museums Service, who have both been very supportive of our work. We are most grateful. Enquiries and Research Once again over one thousand enquiries have been answered, ranging from the simple to the very complex. Over one fifth of my time is taken answering enquiries - whether they be in person, on the telephone or by letter. From January 1998 the museum had an electronic mail address and whilst usage was slow at first we get an increase number of enquiries by this method. January 1999 saw the purchase of a new computer and the planned establishment of a ‘World Wide Web site’. This is likely to attract even more enquiries and therefore we are advancing with caution - whilst we want interest in the museum we don’t want to make too much work - work that we can’t cope with. For those interested the museums email address is kingsownmuseum@iname.com The 80th Anniversary of the ending of the First World War promoted many enquiries, and already the 100th Anniversary of the start of the Boer War is creating enquiries - many related to family history - but others relating to ‘travel and tourism’ details. During the year three books which the museum has helped with have been published, they cover the South African campaign, and the war memorials at Cartmel and Lindal in Furness. The museum has been very pleased to welcome the newly created North Lancashire Branch of the Western Front Association. They group meet on the first Monday of each month (if it is a bank holiday they meet on the first Tuesday), in the museum’s meeting room. Various talks have been given to groups including: St. Chad’s Mens’ Fellowship; Lancaster and District Probus Club; Sefton Road Methodist church; Western Front Association; and Gallery Talks on the Jacobite Rebellion and Culloden Trustees Meeting The Trustees met during Remembrance Weekend. The meeting covered the following: · It was agreed to sell the Halifax plc shares which we had received as part of the Building Society’s privatisation. · Work on disabled access to the museum would start in the Spring, in conjunction with work in the City Museum, funding permitting. (Funding has now successfully been raised from the Westfield Village Trust and the North West Museums Service.) · A new trust document for the museum would be drawn up as the 1976 version was in need of updating. · The trustees welcomed the news that new soldiers joining the 1st Battalion made a visit to the King’s Own Museum as part of their induction. · The trustees expressed the wish that in future the Regimental Secretary would be able to attend the meetings and act as secretary. The next meeting will be in November 1999. Acquisitions It has again been another busy year with many additions to the collection. We have received many photographs, and it is pleasing to see additions to our collections of photos relating to Korea and Hong Kong. Anything post 1945 is especially welcome - there is certainly a growing interest in the times of National Service and amalgamation. We are also keen to collect any material relating to the Territorial Army - up to 1975, so that includes 4/5 King’s Own and the Lancastrian Volunteers. If you have anything - please don’t throw it out - pass it to us.
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