Woofers will be remembered in memorial bench - The Worcester Observer

Woofers will be remembered in memorial bench

Worcester Editorial 25th Apr, 2019   0

WORCESTER’S historic Gheluvelt Park will host an unveiling ceremory on Saturday (April 27) to reveal a memorial bench to remember all battalions of the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment, known as the Woofers.

The bench will be the first memorial of its kind to the regiment in Worcester and representatives from across the armed force will be in attendance at the memorial gates at the junction of Barbourne Road.

A regimental badge will be featured on each end of the ‘Hardy Padmore’ bench which was manufactured in Worcester.

The plaque on the bench reads: “This seat is dedicated to the memory of all who served in the Regiment and to honour those that were killed on Operational Active Service and those that died whilst serving.”




Retired Lt Col Mark Jackson OBE, former Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment, will be on hand for the ceremony which starts at 11.30am.

He is chair of the Trustees of the Mercian Regiment Museum (Worcestershire), as well as being a trustee of the Mercian Regiment. He is also the new president of Worcester Branch of the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regimental Association WFRA.


The WRFA have worked hard to get this memorial bench situated in Gheluvelt Park opposite the Worcestershire Regimental Stone which was installed in 2014 on the 100th anniversary of the First World War Battle of Gheluvelt, after which the park is named. The honour of unveiling the memorial bench will go to another former Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion WFR  Colonel John Lowles CBE and the service will be led by honorary padre, Canon Paul Tongue of Worcester.

The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment served with distinction from 1970 to 2007, in Northern Ireland, the Rhine in Germany, Belize and Hurricane Greta, Cyprus, Falkland Islands, Bosnia and Afghanistan plus numerous postings, training overseas and in the UK on essential duties, such as providing training for the British infantry, covering firemen’s strikes and royal duties in London.

Donations to pay for the bench have come from far and wide from former members of the regiment, to those with other connections such as family that served.

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