Trip to the Royal Engineers Museum

I am sure all Kitchener Scholars will know (or certainly you should know!) that the first Lord Kitchener of Khartoum (KoK) was himself a Royal Engineer. I am therefore delighted to announce that the KSA Trip this May will be to the Royal Engineers Museum near Gillingham, Kent. It will take place on Sunday 11th May.

Our Hon. Historian, Charles Bryant, Lt Col Mervyn Bassett, whom I am sure many of you know as Secretary of the Lord Kitchener National Memorial Fund and himself a former Royal Engineer, and I had a recce tour of the Museum last week. Neither Charles nor I had ever visited before and what a collection the Museum holds! All extremely well curated. There are a significant number of exhibits relating to KoK but much, much more besides.

The plan for the day would be:

10.00am: Museum Doors Open

From 11.30am: KSA party invited to arrive for complimentary tea, coffee, biscuits and meet in the Field Marshal Room, where a number of Kitchener’s medals and artefacts, such as his Field Marshall baton, are on display. Our museum tour guide, Chris Seymour, as well as Charles Bryant, Lt Col Bassett and Simon Piggott will be on hand to welcome Kitchener Scholars and their guests.

12.30pm: Start of tour. Chris will then lead us through the Museum’s exhibition rooms to give our group a fairly swift overview. Chris will dwell and provide information on anything Kitchener related (eg Egypt, Sudan, Boer War, WW1 recruitment, Surveying).

1.30pm: Complimentary light lunch in the canteen for KSs and their Guests. Sandwich/wrap, crisps, cake, tea, coffee, cold drinks.

2pm onwards: Free time for party to explore rooms (or indeed outside exhibits) at leisure. Mervyn and Charles will be on hand to chat and answer questions (Charles notably on historical background, on which he has an encyclopaedic knowledge, Mervyn on the wide-ranging activities of the Royal Engineers).

There are some fascinating exhibits, for example about the unsuccessful siege of Gibraltar by the Spanish (with some help from the French) between 1779 and 1783, to which the Royal Engineers can trace back their roots, through to fine items which General Gordon (sometime called Chinese Gordon) brought back from the summer palace in China, to details about the role of the Royal Engineers in the Dunkirk landings and the Mulberry Harbours, right through to a cut away of a V2 Vergeltungswaffe. Finally, there is more modern specialist equipment displayed both inside and outside the museum of which the Tracey brothers of Thunderbirds fame would be proud.

How do you get there? Well, there is ample car parking for those travelling by car. Those travelling by train can take the services from St Pancras or Victoria. The nearest station is Gillingham from where it is 20 minute walk up the High Street.

All this, with entry to the Museum (normal adult price £17.50) and complimentary refreshments and light lunch for the bargain price of £5 for you and £5 for your first guest. £10 for supplementary guests.

To register or even simply to express interest at this stage, click here.