Home of the Infantry Regiments of Berkshire and Wiltshire
Radio Broadcast with BBC Radio Berkshire
On Thursday 27th October the Museum received a visit from Graham Mckechnie of BBC Radio Berkshire together with the Mother of Rifleman Cyrus Thatcher from Reading who was killed in Afghanistan whilst serving with 2 RIFLES in 2009. The visit came about because Helena who has lived in Reading for many years had no idea of the Counties connection to Afghanistan via the actions of the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment at Maiwand in 1880.She was aware of the Maiwand Lion located in the Forbury Gardens , Reading but was not aware of the significance. The death of her son Cyrus brought this all into focus realising that the area where he was killed was not far from Maiwand so she came to the Regimental museum with the BBC team to find out more about those events so long ago. The BBC reporter Graham is a sports reporter with Radio Berkshire with a very strong interest in Military history and had recently produced a radio article on another Royal Berkshire Regiment Soldier Lieutenant Ronald Palmer who was killed in 1915. On their arrival they were met by the Curator Simon COOK and given a brief run down on the history of the museum. Helena was then given a guided tour around the museum, followed by a more comprehensive examination of the Regimental archives and photographs as far as it relates to the Afghanistan Campaign in 1880. All of this was recorded by the BBC team and it is the intention of the BBC to play the visit and surrounding events on BBC Radio Berkshire on remembrance Sunday 2011. At the conclusion of the visit the curator presented Helena with a museum produced publication about the 66th Regiment at the battle of Maiwand by Richard Stacpoole-Ryding.
Photos by Jackie dryden. Click on image to enlarge