Not Private Baldrick's attempt at trench verse, but an interesting item of Bedfordshire Yeomanry history that turned up at a Bedford auction. It is, of course, a bass drum and you can see from the photograph that it carries the regimental badge and is named 'Bedfordshire Imperial Yeomanry'. On inspection, it showed signs of much wear, was missing the heads (skins) and a couple of brass fixtures, and had a broken rim hoop.  Inside was the original maker's label showing that it had been made by Hawkes & Co of Picadilly, London in June 1904. Hawkes was a leading manufacturer and retailer of musical instruments for the military and later became Boosey & Hawkes, a company which will be familiar to many of you musicians. 

June 1904 is absolutely the correct date for this wonderful item. When formed, the BIY relied on bands from other local regiments such as the Beds volunteers and the Engineer volunteers whenever music was required. At the beginning of May 1904, a decision was made to start a BIY band and it made its first appearance at the annual camp at Old Warden, Beds later that month after only 2 weeks' practice. They must have borrowed drums for the camp pending the arrival of the freshly painted items from Hawkes. I have photographs showing that this drum was in use from 1904 to at least 1910. Since the 'Imperial' part of the title had been dropped in 1908 when the territorial force was formed, it is clear that the regiment decided against splashing out on a new drum and it may well be that this drum is a unique piece of regimental history.  If anybody knows the whereabouts of the matching side drum, do let me know !  

A plea, if I may.  

Our thoughts turn to the remembrance services which take place the length and breadth of the country.  Many of them take place at the war memorials which are found in most towns and villages and there's bound to be one within travelling distance, wherever you be. Those memorials recall the men and women who died in the service of their country and it is entirely proper that we bring their names to notice.  It is difficult to believe that the Great War is approaching its 100th anniversary and I'm sure that it will be a focal point for the efforts of those who seek to perpetuate the memory of the hundreds of thousands who died in the service of their country. 

Many, many more returned to their families suffering from varying degrees of wounds, both physical and mental. For me, they are the forgotten army. The Royal British Legion resulted in 1921 from the amalgamation of various charities that had been formed to look after these soldiers and their families and the RBL is still going strong today.  You don't have to buy a poppy, you don't have to attend a service but do try and support them in some way at some stage - the RBL is not just about 11th November. Me ?  I shall be at Flitwick war memorial this year, remembering in particular Joe Line, a private of the Bedfordshire Regiment who found the horror of war in 1914 so bad that he bayonetted himself within 3 weeks of getting to western front and died from his wounds about 2 weeks later. So sad.

One of the Bedfordshire Yeomanry who didn't return was Private Joseph Octavius Carter. He died of wounds in April 1918 and I'm pleased to be able to say that his memory is preserved by his family. I was contacted by Bob Kay, who has put in a lot of time and effort into finding out about Joseph's life and military service.  Well done and thanks, Bob. If only we could produce something similar for all of that lost generation - a sort of national memorial. Do look at Bob's effort, which appears here: 
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/99277984/BookJOC.doc.pdf