Monthly Podcast

Join us this month as Col Andy Taylor and Rev Paul Roberts explore an exciting new resource for the military and family historian: the Second World War Campaign Medal Cards.  Containing valuable information including names, addresses, regimental numbers and details of units, these cards also confirm what WW2 medals the serviceman was issued with in recognition of service across the world during the conflict.  They were available after the war and up until the 1990s at post offices for ex-servicemen to use.

Paul and Andy, using a number of Herefordshire men as examples, explore the information, provide research tips and highlight particularly useful areas of research.  This includes many Home Guard medal recipients, where other records for the Home Guard are often very scarce.  Some mysteries are solved and top tips shared.

These records, released by the National Archives, can be found on the family history site Ancestry.

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Join us this month at a recent meeting of the newly inaugurated Hereford Militaria Club - an opportunity for military researchers, collectors, military vehicle owners and family historians to meet over a meal and share no end of fascinating stories.  This lively bunch met at the Godwins Pub in the Herefordshire village of Bartestree - once the headquarters of the famous Godwins encaustic tile manufacturers.

We hear a tantalising snippet of Mick Atkinson's talk, showing Napoleon's personal Legion d'Honneur, worn in many famous battles and later in captivity.

We also hear from Reg Gibson about his interest in military vehicles and the discovery of a poem written by his late mother Jean dedicated to a crew of an RAF bomber that was lost over Germany.  It was to be read to them at an 18th birthday party.  After finding the poem, Reg said he wanted to "bring the names of these young men back from the dead, to celebrate their lives and acknowledge their sacrifice".  Thanks to Reg's research and dedication, the poem was shared with the crew's family, nearly 80 years on and a recording played at their graveside. For more information click here.

If you would like to join us at our next meeting of the Hereford Militaria Club, contact us.

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This month Rev Paul Roberts chats with Ledbury-born military researcher, Alyn Tanner.

Alyn, who runs the Herefordshire Regiment Research Group, talks about how he became interested in the Herefordshire Regiment and shares several individuals he has researched, including 975 Pte Tommy Fletcher, one of the "'intrepid three" who returned to Gallipoli in 1965 for the 50th Anniversary. More information on these three veterans can be found in a short talk on our Youtube Channel.

As someone who emigrated to the United States, Alyn also shows the medals of Pte Andrew Harton who made the same journey in 1921, settling in Chicago, where his medals turned up a lifetime later.

We also hear a little about Alyn's own military career as in the British Royal Corps of Signals, and latterly his 19 years in the Minnesota National Guard. As well as the value of social media in connecting people with similar research interests together.

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This month on the 80th Anniversary of D-Day, the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted, Col Andy Taylor and Rev Paul Roberts reflect on the role the Herefordshire Light Infantry played in the days after 6th June 1944, including the Regiment's first casualties, among the Carrier Platoon, over the river Odon bridgehead. They examine the role of the Regiment as part of the 11th Armoured Division, an example of an all-arms force, the extensive training undertaken ahead of the battle and the part the Regiment played in the approach to Hill 112, so important in the battle for Caen.

Our pair also discuss the changing nature of remembrance as the number of veterans from the Normandy Campaign dwindle and the British Normandy Memorial, first opened in 2021. Andy relates a recent hair-raising flypast by the Belgian Air Force at the memorial.

There is also some advice shared, given to British servicemen in 1944 who would soon be liberating a ravaged, war-torn and weary France... including some sound advice on strong wines and liquors!

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In this, our special Christmas episode, Colonel Andy Taylor and Rev Paul Roberts are joined by trustee Major James Hereford and assistant curator Danny Rees .  Each of our museum boffins talk about their favourite exhibit in the Museum - we hear about the Drum Major's sash, Doenitz's car pennant, a captured Boer rifle and a medal with the regimental number "1".

The episode then takes a competitive turn, when our four experts take it in turn to pose questions and compete for a coveted glittery Santa hat, replete with regimental cap badge.  Listen to which stinkers fox our museum brains trust.

If you like what you hear, don't forget to like and subscribe to help us reach a wider audience.  Wishing you a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year!

This month we welcome old friend of the museum, Mr Bill Jackson to the podcast.  Born in Hereford, and founder and chairman of Jackson Property, Bill cut his military teeth with the Lucton School Combined Cadet Force and shares he reminiscences of troop trains to summer camps, bulling boots and progress to the dizzying height of Colour Sergeant. 

Poached by Colonel Tom Hill, Bill then became an officer cadet with the Herefordshire Light Infantry, responsible for a platoon across Leominster, Kington and Tenbury Wells.  We hear of of his experiences in getting to know his men - many of whom had seen national service in Kenya - mess dinners, regimental balls and being allocated his own transport in the form of an Austin Champ jeep.

Bill was given the honour to carry one of the Regimental Colours in the disbandment parade at Hereford Cathedral in 1967 and he relates his experiences of that momentous and poignant day. 

However this was not Bill's end of his connection with volunteer units in the county - being a driving force in the Army Cadet league, Chair of the Trustees of the Museum and being "on parade" again as High Sherriff  with his old platoon sergeant, Mick Meredith who was Sergeant-at-Arms  for Leominster Town Council.

We really enjoyed chatting to Bill and hope you enjoy listening to our conversation.  The chat continued after we'd officially finished, and we hope to bring you this extra material as a bonus episode soon. And remember, if you like what you hear, don't forget to like and subscribe with your podcast provider.

Often the best stories come out once we stop recording! 

In this short bonus episode we hear a little bit more about Bill Jackson's time with the Herefordshire Light Infantry in the mid 1960s, including escape and evade exercises with the SAS in the Cotswolds and over the Long Mynd, other regimental personalities, the infamous "bunny girl tail" incident in Newcastle and the importance of collecting oral history before its too late!

Join the podcast team on Castle Green in Hereford for an episode recorded at the Cadet Coronation Review for Herefordshire on 17th June 2023.  Hear the sounds of a Hawker Hurricane from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and over two hundred sea, army and air cadets from across the county on parade, reviewed by the Lord Lieutenant for Herefordshire, Mr Edward Harley.

Colonel Andy Taylor our Curator and Trustee Revd Paul Roberts explore the museum display put on for the event - a collection of medal groups containing Coronation and Jubilee Medals from 1887 to the present day.  They explore the evolution of the early medals, controversies over the methods for allocation over the years and the lives and service of some of the recipients. 

Notable groups are those of Ken Steen, the Medical Officer of 5th Battalion, Light Infantry (V) and later Herefordshire Army Cadet Force who received the 1977 Jubilee Medal and Company Sergeant Major Jack Greenhouse who served through North West Europe 1944-45 with the 1st Herefords and was later RSMI of the Herefordshire Army Cadet Force.  Jack received the 1953 Coronation Medal.

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The podcast goes international in this delayed episode of Just A Walk In the Sun.  Trustee Rev Paul Roberts and special guest, David Chambers travel to Belgium to explore the role played by the 1st Herefordshire Regiment in France in August and September 1918. 

Donning their walking shoes they walk up to the lofty heights of Mount Kemmel (or Kemmelberg as it is known today), the scene of bloody and bitter fighting in April 1918 and recapture by the 34th Division, including the Herefords, at the beginning of the Hundred Days Offensive which eventually ended the war.

Our battlefield tourers mull over remembrance and visiting battlefields accompanied by one or two (rather strong) Belgian beers in the famous city of Ypres (or Ieper).

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This month's episode finds Col Andy Taylor and Rev Paul Roberts taking a walk around the highways and byways of Herefordshire market town, Leominster.  They start at the railway station exploring the story of the breakfast stop over for the a party of the 1st Herefordshire Regiment returning the Regimental Colours to Hereford at the end of the First World War.  Enjoy Andy trying (and eventually succeeding) to remember Sir Edmund Hamley's famous poem about Regimental Colours "A Moth-Eaten Rag"; the role colours continue to play in our army and the consecration of unique colours for the Hereford & Worcester Army Cadet Force in 2015. 

They then explore Etnam Street and Grange Court - built by the King's Carpenter, John Abel and on the way try to solve the mystery of George Greenhouse's medals.  A little bit more walking takes our intrepid pair to New Street, site of the former Borough Gaol, turned Drill Hall and the replacement Drill Hall built in 1962, shortly before the end of the Herefordshire Light Intantry (TA). 

Finally, in the surroundings of Leominster Priory, they discuss the wartime service of former Leominster Vicar, Revd Robert Gillenders MC - army chaplain to Wilfred Owen of the 2nd Manchesters and Military Cross winner.

To slake their thirst our duo retire to the Chequers on Etnam Street for a well-deserved pint and a look forward to some of other fascinating stories that Leominster has to tell when they take Just another Walk in the Sun.

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