Brecon Regimental Museum and Cathedral

Good afternoon folks,

I've just had a cracking weekend visiting the Brecon Regimental Museum of the Royal Welsh. Formerly the South Wales Borderers (formerly formerly 24th Regiment of Foot/ 2nd Warwickshire!). The museum, whilst small, is superb, packed to the brim with history. It has sections ranging from the Zulu War, all the way to WW1 & WW2, then ending with the Troubles in Ireland and the recent war in Afghanistan.

My favourite section by far was the large room for the Zulu War, it had Lieutenant Melville's dress tunic and other personal possessions, including a sketch book of his. The central diorama was incredible, showing Rorke's Drift at the height of the ferocious fighting. These were 28mm Redoubt figures as far as I could tell. Even though I have plenty of Empress miniatures British I was tempted to buy a few interesting poses from Redoubt afterwards, such as those characters carrying ammo and British wounded.

Brecon town itself is a nice spot, after the museum we popped over to the Cathedral where the 1st Battalion Regimental and  Queen's colours are still held to this day. I'd urge anyone visiting the museum to go and see the colours, they are a real relic of the Zulu War. The flags themselves are thread-bare, encased in glass cases. A silver wreath was awarded to the Regiment for their actions at iSandlwana and Rorke's Drift, which can be see there in the Cathedral. All successive colours bear the silver wreath too, I could be wrong but I believe it is attached to the Queen's colours only.

The experience was highly informative and I'd eagerly recommend it to anyone interested in military history.

Thanks for reading and keep painting!
All the best,
Rhys