Old soldiers mobilised from near and far yesterday to march in protest at the name of their old regimental museum being changed.
The former members of the Queen’s Own Highlanders have gathered more than 1,500 names on a petition calling for The Highlanders’ Museum at Fort George to revert to its former title which reflects the name of their now-defunct battalion.
In 1961, the Seaforth and Cameron regiments amalgamated to form the Queen’s Own Highlanders, then in 1994 the QOH was amalgamated with the Gordon Highlanders to form The Highlanders.
At a cost of £2.9million, the QOH museum was revamped and opened in 2013 under the new title.
Museum chiefs maintain that a name change would jeopardise the museum’s existence by cutting off funding from the MoD, as part of an agreement made 13 years ago linking military museums with serving regiments.
Former colour sergeant Kelvin Hunter, who organised the protest, said that the QOH would have been 53 years old yesterday.
He said: “On top of the name change, the inside of the museum now looks too much like an officers’ mess. Two of the rooms in there – instead of being exhibition rooms – have been turned into function rooms, and we don’t like it.
“There are not enough items on display. For a start they have taken all of the medals away, and most of the stuff that is now on display is officer-orientated. Most of these guys here today are not officers, they are the troops, hence why they don’t like it. If the name does not get changed then we will carry on, the common feeling really is that strong – 1,500 signatures to date is not bad going.”
Museum director Mick Low said: “Unfortunately the protesters are not listening to the fact relating to the future sustainability of this museum. That is, if the name changes we will lose significant MoD funding. The museum cannot afford to go without that funding and it will close.” He thought that 75% of the protesters had most likely never been in to see what is currently in the museum.
Former battalion member Terry Pearson, who now works in Syria helping refugees, travelled from Jordan yesterday to be at the protest, and said that it was a “disgrace” that, essentially, their name has now disappeared from history. He added: “I had to travel back for this today because it means a lot to so many people. It should be the Queen’s Own Highlanders Museum. We were never asked about the name of the new battalion and all we are asking now is for the museum to have our name back on it.”