Museum of the Manchester Regiment

 

Our Friends Abroad: 

The Story of the Manchester Regiments Allied Units

A new exhibition tracing the long and affectionate relationships of the Manchester Regiment with other units from across the world has started at the Museum of the Manchester Regiment.

Based in Ashton Town Hall, the museum’s exhibition traces, through photographs and objects, the relationships the Manchester Regiment has developed over many years with units from across the world. The aim of regimental alliances is to promote mutual understanding and friendship between all ranks of both Regiments that are linked.

On public display for the first time is a Lieutenant Colonel’s uniform of 1st Battalion (Scinde) The Frontier Force Regiment, Pakistan, as well as that of Lieutenant-General Devraj Singh, Honorary Colonel of the 5th Battalion, The Sikh Regiment, India. Both these uniforms were presented to the Museum of the Manchester Regiment specifically for the exhibition by these officers.

The exhibition also includes a ‘No.1 Uniform’, as worn by a sailor aboard HMS Manchester, the Regiment’s affiliated Ship. Among the other material on display for the first time are items from West Africa, Malaysia, Canada, Australia and New-Zealand.

Project head for Tourism and Heritage, Councillor Jackie Lane said: “Men from Ashton, Oldham, Manchester and across the North-West fought in the Manchester Regiment alongside men in units from India and Pakistan during both the First and Second World Wars. During the ‘Malayan Emergency’ (1948-60) thousands of national servicemen of the Regiment worked with international forces to defend the country from Terrorists. Today these friendships are still remembered and celebrated. The aim of our exhibition is to show our visitors that such international friendships are as important today as they have ever been”.

The Museum would be interested to hear from anyone that served with the Manchester Regiment and has memories of their service days, souvenirs they may wish to donate to the Museum or memories of the Regiment’s allied units. The exhibition runs until December 2010