Just A Walk In The Sun with the Hereford Regiment Museum

Send us Fan Mail Col Andy Taylor and Rev Paul Roberts take a wander around Kington, a small market town in the west of Herefordshire, two miles from the Welsh border.  They explore St Mary's Church and muse on the importance of memorials in churches and the nature of Kington as a settlement.   Wandering down the hill they pause at the War Memorial, comemmorating men from the town and surround...

Send us Fan Mail Put off by the excessive heat, Col Andy and Rev Paul decide to stay indoors for this episode and explore the interesting and little known history and evolution of the Allied Victory Medal for the First World War.  There are many in the collection of the Herefordshire Regimental Museum and due to the sad incidence of melting down the silver British War Medal in the past and present...

Send us Fan Mail This special podcast episode is a recording of a talk given by Dr Bruce Tocher at Hereford Welsh Club on 5th March 2026.  The subject was Operation Freshman, the first glider borne raid of the Second World War, which  the Vemork Norsk Hydro hydrogen electrolysis plant in Telemark , Norway.   Bruce, who has studied the operation in great detail, explained the reasoning behind the r...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Col Andy Taylor and Rev Paul Roberts take a springtime visit to Peterchurch in the Golden Valley on Herefordshire's western border with Wales.  Standing in the corner of the churchyard, they spot the grave of a Victoria Cross winner and explore the story of Robert Jones VC of the 24th Regiment of Foot (which later became the South Wales Borderers).  They unco...

Send us Fan Mail Join us for this New Year special episode where Colonel Andy Taylor and Rev Paul Roberts are joined by the family to try out a wartime Christmas pudding recipe prepared - complete with grated potato and carrot - by Andy's wife Penny.   Listen in as Paul and Andy discuss the provision of comforts to the troops, including the amazing amount raised by the county of Herefordshire...

Send us Fan Mail If you're missing those nostalgic days of nothing more than a small picture behind each door on your Advent calendar, Col Andy Taylor and Rev Paul Roberts take a stroll around the museum's collection of photographs and images: each with a fascinating story to tell. Delving into the archives of our monthly feature The Camera Returns , our picturesque duo, explore some of...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to Series 3.  Reverend Paul Roberts and Colonel Andy Taylor take a misty November wander and discuss events of the summer and the significance of November for the Herefordshire Regiment.  As well as Remembrance, the 1st November 1917 marks the anniversary of the battalion's bloodiest battle of the First World War - Khuweilfe.   After evacuation from Suvla Bay, th...

Send us Fan Mail In this month's episode, in the run up to the Three Choirs Festival, Col Andy Taylor and Revd Paul Roberts explore the fascinating and poignant story of brothers Claude and Percy Hull of Hereford.  Claude a member of the Herefordshire Rifle Volunteers served in the Boer War, emigrated to Canada and served during the First World War with Canadian Forces. His brother Percy, san...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we listen in to the Museum's presentation of Op Blackout, 80 years after the last operation of WW2 and the first of the rebuilding of post-war Germany in which the Herefordshire Regiment took a pivotal role.   On 18th May 1945 The Herefordshire Regiment helped to liquidate the puppet Government headed by Hitler's nominated successor, Grand Admiral Doenitz...

Send us Fan Mail In this month's episode, Col Andy Taylor and Rev Paul Roberts take a "deep dive" into a scarce and unusual award for the First World War made only to Territorial soldiers 1914-1919.  They investigate the origins and exacting criteria for this WW1 campaign service medal, common misconceptions and the many anomalies caused by it, along with the character of the men an...

Send us Fan Mail In this month's delayed episode, Col Andy Taylor and Rev Paul Roberts take a walk out to Hoarwithy, between Hereford and Ross-on-Wye on the banks of the river Wye.  The impressive Byzantine / Romanesque / Tuscan beauty of St Catherine's Church catches their eye and they explore then local men commemorated on the War Memorial there. The great great uncle of regular listen...

Send us Fan Mail Join us this month as we chat with Preb Jane Davies, a Fownhope-born retired vicar who has unearthed the First World War stories of two great-uncles.  Harry and Leonard Whittaker were sons of a Woolhope gamekeeper.  Leonard emigrated to Australia just before the war and Harry joined the Herefordshire Regiment in September 1914.  Both served overseas, Harry tragically dying of woun...

Send us Fan Mail 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 th...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Col Andy Taylor and Rev Paul Roberts look back over the events of Remembrance 2024, including wreaths being taken down on the GWR's Poppy Train service to London Paddington on 11th November.  Andy was accompanied by museum assistant curator, Danny Rees and cadets of 124 (City of Hereford) Squadron, RAF Cadets.   On the same day, Paul helped lead the remembranc...

Send us Fan Mail 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 en...

Send us Fan Mail This month, Rev Paul Roberts joins the crew of the Sutton Voices HR1 Podcast , a community podcast from the Herefordshire village of Sutton St Nicholas.  Keith Lawton and Mike Winnell have recorded 33 episodes, winkling out the fascinating stories of local residents and cheering up the community in the face of relentless bad national and international news.  Paul, Mike and Keith c...

Send us Fan Mail 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 Pte Tommy Fletcher, one of the "'intrepid three" who returned to Gallipoli in 1965 for the 50th...

Send us Fan Mail A brief look forward to what will be coming in the second series of podcast episodes from the Herefordshire Light Infantry Museum, including chats with Aly Tanner, regimental researcher and founder of the Herefordshire Regiment Research Group on Facebook, Prebendary Jane Davies, and walks to explore the Cawley brothers of Berrington Hall and elite pathfinder, Wing Commander Tony D...

Send us Fan Mail 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 1...

Send us Fan Mail This second part of Douglas Pike’s Gallipoli Diary picks up on the morning of 10th August 1915.  Douglas meets up with ‘A’ Company and they spend the day fighting alongside the South Wales Borderers; he is sent back to the beach for rations, and on his return finds his unit has moved.  After searching his is finally reunited with the Herefords and he is asked to accompany a wounde...

Send us Fan Mail This third extract of Douglas Pike’s Gallipoli Diary finds him caring for Pte Yates, a wounded comrade through the night of 13th/14th August 1915, awaiting promised stretcher bearers, which never came.  On reaching Lala Baba the next morning RSM Chipp tells him he has missed the battalion and in the evening he sets out for Chocolate Hill to find them.  We then hear of conditions i...

Send us Fan Mail The final part of Douglas Pike’s diary, runs through September 1915 until his evacuation from the Gallipoli Peninsula, suffering from dysentery.  He includes fascinating details of everyday life in front line trenches, attacks by Turkish forces and ways in which he acted as a guide to relieving battalions, including the Buffs.  Finally, he reflects on the campaign from a hospital...

Send us Fan Mail We featured excerpts of Pte Douglas Pike’s diary in a podcast episode a little while back, looking at the first 24 hours at Suvla Bay. After a number of requests, here is the diary in full, detailing conditions faced by men of the 1st Herefordshire Regiment at Gallipoli.  We’ll publish it in four parts. This first episode deals with the first 24 hours, the first and day and night....

Send us Fan Mail In this month’s episode, Col Andy Taylor is joined by Rev Paul Roberts from northern France, to explore the story of the men of the Herefordshire Regiment who were transferred to the 11th Border Regiment (the “Lonsdale Battalion”).  Paul Roberts visits Ten Tree Alley Cemetery of the Somme as part of his pilgrimage walk along the Via Francigena, from Canterbury to Rome.  The pair e...

Send us Fan Mail Intrigued by a German sounding name on a war memorial at Walford, just outside Ross-on-Wye, Col Andy Taylor and Rev Paul Roberts do some detective work in this episode.  They uncover the story Colin Baumgarte, killed with the Worcestershire Regiment on 27th August 1917 and his brother Conrad Baumgarte who served with the Herefordshire Regiment; the brother's Hannover-born fat...