Our Regimental Museum at Connaught House contains many interesting artefacts, including the original Loos Football.
The Museum is open to visitors on the three days of the year when there are formal Association events in March, September and November – check the events page for the exact schedule.
Museum Curator, Alex Shooter, and his assistants are available at all Regimental Association events and will be able to provide further information on the history of the Regiment.
2023
The recent year has been another busy one as we have been contacted by many families, whose fathers and grandfathers served with the London Irish Rifles over the past 100 years. Although the Museum’s physical footfall has reduced markedly over the past few years, we do continue to see a commensurate increase in social media contact and the chance to field numerous research requests via the website.
During 2022, we have been also able to meet with a number of senior museum leaders– including Justin Maciejewski from the National Army Museum and Andrew Lloyd from the Army Museums Ogilby Trust (AMOT), both good friends of the London Irish Rifles Association. In addition, we have taken the chance to visit Regimental collections at museums in Salisbury, Dorchester and Winchester. All very impressive.
As always, a number of Loos’ themed events took place in 2022 including ones hosted by ‘The Football and War’ programme run by the University of Wolverhampton. In July, Tony Robinson and Billy Oakes also displayed the Loos Football at a day-long football history event at the National Army Museum.
Over the coming months and years, we shall also be marking the commemorations of the 80th anniversaries of the London Irish Rifles’ period of combat in the Middle East, North Africa and Italy. As a result of this, we are likely to see renewed family interest in the two battalions’ war-time journeys from Algiers and Kirkuk to Villach and Trieste. Hopefully, we shall be able to undercover some new stories during this period.
As we move forward into a new era for us all at Connaught House, we continue to monitor all aspects of Museum activities – including the upkeep of the War Memorial, undertaking regular inventory checks of our museum artefacts and archives as well as assuring the security of all other Regimental assets right around the Flodden Road site. This will continue to be a priority in the years ahead.
In the medium term future, we are certain to see evolving progress in all museum related affairs and we shall intend to remain on hand on to ensure that we continue to treasure our storied regimental history and rich legacy for coming generations.
Alex Shooter