This is just a quick note to flag up what looks to be an interesting, engaging and relevant talk by an excellent speaker coming up at Walsall Local History Centre next Monday evening, when Major Ted Green (Retired) will present an illustrated talk entitled ‘The South Staffords in World War 1’.

The talk costs just two quid, and runs from 7-9pm – I implore any reader who can go to do so. I’ve attended events at Walsall Local History Centre before, and they’re brilliant. It would also be nice to show your support for the service in these difficult times.

The staff of the history centre have made some remarkable contributions to the Brownhills Blog, and I’d like to draw readers attention to some of them, like  the Yates Map of Staffordshire and The great Walsall Wood subsidence mystery or even The lost mortuary in Bullings Heath.

Walsall Local History Centre researcher Paul Ford is currently doing an excellent job too with his Wyrleyblog.

There is an excellent team at Walsall Local History Centre who provide a largely free service to everyone from serious family historians to muppets like me involved in the most bizarre bits of local history. This service is the jewel in Walsall’s cultural crown and we need to cherish and protect it.

Band of the 5th Battalion of South Staffordshire Regiment at Ypres during the great war. Image from the Walsall Local History Centre Collection, reference WLHC6060.

Military speaker to tell story of the South Staffords in the Great War

A former British Army officer is getting mobilised to tell the story of Walsall’s local regiment, the South Staffords, during the Great War of 1914-18.

Major Ted Green (Retired) will present an illustrated talk entitled ‘The South Staffords in World War 1’ at Walsall Local History Centre in Essex Street, Walsall, in June.

Major Green spent most of his adult life in the Staffordshire Regiment, finishing his career as Regimental Secretary and Museum Curator at Whittington Barracks, Lichfield. Since retiring in 2002 he has become a Museum Volunteer. He first visited the Somme Battlefields as an officer cadet at RMA Sandhurst for the 50th anniversary in 1966 and started lecturing on the subject for the 90th anniversary in 2006. Since then he has toured all the major battlefields on the Western Front and given talks about many of them.

His talk will look at the expansion of the Regiment in 1914 with the recruitment of the Kitchener Battalions, the early battles on the Western Front, the 7th Battalion at Gallipoli and the two North Midland Territorial Divisions (46th and 59th) from 1915 to 1918, illustrated by the two great murals in Walsall Town Hall. He will also tell the stories of the three Victoria Crosses won by the South Staffords in the war.

‘The South Staffords in World War 1’ will take place on Monday 2 June 2014, and doors open for the talk at 7pm for 7.30pm – 9pm.

Admission costs just £2 and advance booking is essential by telephoning 01922 721305.

On-site parking and disabled facilities are available.

Walsall Local History Centre is the archives service and local studies library for Walsall Metropolitan Borough and is part of Walsall Council.

Further information about Walsall Local History Centre may be found on the Centre’s website.

Information about The Staffordshire Regiment Museum may be found on their website, too.

ENDS