Armed Forces Day 2024
The Regimental Museum Combined with a team from the Serving Regiment provided a joint stand at the Armed Forces Day event at St Nicholas Park in Warwick on Saturday 29th June. The serving Regiment headed by WO2 Mark Wilkes came with two large gazebos emblazoned with Regimental colours and logos, some excellent display boards and equipment which truly advertised the regiment.
The Museum contributed with a fine arsenal of weapons as we managed to track down Reggie Campbell Ex QRIH/QRH who had access to any vintage vehicle or weapon post World War Two. He had originally wanted to bring a Chieftain Tank, but we had to explain there was a weight restriction in the park. Our stand was further enhanced by a SA80 rifle simulator supplied by Infoactiv placed in a 12×12 tent which became the main event attraction. There were queues all day long to use the simulator and running it in one of the hottest days of the year became quite an arduous task. Rumour has it Chris Gould one of our volunteers lost nearly a stone in weight.
The display was a huge success and demonstrated how well the serving regiment and museum staff can work together in advertising both the past and the new. The display was by far the biggest and most appealing attraction to the public and we can be assured both the museum and serving regiment were publicised and promoted extensively. Many members of the public mentioned they were not aware of the location of the museum and were now going to visit, so the overall mission was achieved.
Our thanks must go to the volunteers who worked nonstop with little time for a break and to the regiment for supporting us. The challenge for next year is Reggie bringing a Chieftain and the Regiment a Challenger II.
