Volunteers Needed To Swell Ranks of Queen’s Regiment Re-enactment Society

Published on: 18 Feb, 2015
Updated on: 18 Feb, 2015

Would you like to step back in time and ‘sign up’ for a spot of soldiering with a re-enactment society based on the once local Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment?

The Guildford-based society was founded in 2003, and is unique in portraying both the regular and volunteer battalions of one of the British Army’s oldest regiments.

Two members of The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment Re-enactment Society in action at the Stoughton in the Great War event in September.

Its commanding officer James Dix says: Things are starting to get rolling for the 2015 re-enactment season now, and our calendar is starting to fill up – including, hopefully, something at the Armed Forces Day in Guildford in June.

“One thing we are short of this year is local members. We could do with a few more chaps in the line in order to put on a really good display.”

The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment was founded in 1661 as the Tangier Regiment, and still exists today as part of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment.

James adds: “We portray the regiment as it would have been in the Victorian era, in 1879 and 1883. We usually represent one or both of the following battalions: The 2nd Battalion, based in India in 1879, and The 2nd Volunteer Battalion, based in Guildford in 1883.

“This allows us to show the regiment both at home, as seen by the local townsfolk of the era, and the more widely recognised regiment on campaign, iconic in their scarlet tunics and instantly recognisable all across the world. We also portray other aspects of the regiment, such as the soldiers’ wives and sweethearts, and the camp followers.”

Hundreds of people saw the society put on a dazzling display at the Stoughton In The Great War event in September at Cardwells Keep.

For more details email James Dix at queens2vb@hotmail.co.uk

Click here for The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Re-enactment Society’s website.