Contents DVD One

DVD One

A Detailed List of contents and run times.

Menu Title: Colours Presentation [Black and White]

[Total run time – 16:32 minutes]

Note: the beginning of this sequence is the opening of the Chavasse Barracks (previously Wellington Barracks) for the RAMC (TA) in the 1950s and not the Colours Presentation of 1938

Section A: Chavasse Territorial Army Centre – Start to 1:30 minutes

  • Title: ‘Ceremony at Liverpool’
  • Entrance of clergy including the Right Reverend Dr Christopher Chavasse MC, Bishop of Rochester (as second of three clergymen and the twin brother of Noel Chavasse).
  • View of congregation in Drill Hall including guard of about fifty Liverpool Scottish soldiers, with similar guards from RAMC (TA) and, probably, cadets.
  • View of front row of congregation including Lieutenant General Sir Colin (‘Tiny’) Barber, Honorary Colonel of the Liverpool Scottish, reputedly six feet eight inches in height.
  • Unveiling of tablet, now thought to be lost.
  • Dedication (Bishop of Liverpool) and view of ‘Double VC’ medal group.
  • Scenes of Liverpool Scottish Pipes and Drums, and marching contingents of Liverpool Scottish (Major DCL Rogerson) and RAMC outside Wellington Barracks (renamed Chavasse Territorial Army Centre) at the junction of Wellington Road and Lawrence Road. The building still exists in 2012.

This may be viewed in conjunction with the soundtrack ‘Chavasse Memorial’ also on DVD1

The second and major part of this sequence is a black and white version of the 1938 Presentation of Colours with rather less material than the colour version (see ‘Proud Banners’ on DVD2). It has become accidentally attached to the Chavasse Barracks footage. 

Section B: Presentation of Colours (Black and White)  – 1:30 minutes to end

Presentation of Colours 1938, black and white version – see DVD2 ‘Proud Banners’

Menu Title: Chavasse Memorial (Sound only) 

[Total Run time 21:30 minutes]

This is actually the soundtrack to the dedication of the Chavasse Territorial Army Centre in the 1950s and is associated with the ‘Ceremony at Liverpool’ footage above.  With the Bishop of Liverpool, we hear the Right Rev Dr. Christopher Chavasse MC (twin brother of Noel) and Sir Arthur Gemmell, a Liverpool Scottish WW1 infantry officer who later became commanding officer and, in civilian life, a doctor and President of the Royal College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians (1952-54). Sir Arthur recalls the special bravery of Noel Chavasse at first hand. This recording was given to the Museum Trust by Brigadier Sir Douglas Crawford CB DSO TD who recalled in 1979 that “Arthur Gemmell was not a naturally gifted speaker but he excelled himself that day”. 1

  • Bishop of Liverpool - Start to 2:30 minutes
  • Bishop of Rochester (Dr Christopher Chavasse) Reading - 8:48 to 9:35 minutes
  • Sir Arthur Gemmell - Address on the bravery and character of Noel Chavasse - 9:45 to 14:20 minutes

Section C: Camp 1968 (Sharjah and Wadi Shawkra) Total run time – 13:11 minutes

[Additional footage at 11:54 minutes - Remembrance Sunday 1968 (?) – Company Marches out of Fraser Street Barracks]

This is 8 mm colour footage of the October 1968 Annual Camp of V (The Liverpool Scottish) Company of the 51st Highland Volunteers T&AVR. The battalion had formed in April 1967 following the disbandment of the Territorial Army and the 1st Battalion, The Liverpool Scottish, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders (TA). V Company flew to Sharjah, then part of the Trucial States and now part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Many of the Liverpool Scottish volunteers seen in the film were either part of the backbone of the old Fraser Street battalion of the Liverpool Scottish or the nucleus of the highly successful cadre of NCOs and Warrant Officers that served over the following twenty years or so. The film was shot in the main by CSM (WO2) Alan Walker, later to serve as a captain in command the Liverpool Scottish ACF unit.

Scenes include

  • Officers (Davidson, Dickie, Gow Smith) in plain clothes on Land Rover
  • Soldiers in the sea and on the beach
  • Soldiers in plain clothes boarding lorries
  • Soldiers in uniform and equipment boarding lorries and landrovers and driving in convoy across the desert
  • Convoy arriving in village and soldiers conversing with the local population
  • Soldiers in tented camp, queuing at cookhouse and in mess tent, general view of camp (includes Major Jim Bateman, OC V Company, at 3:46 minutes)
  • Helicopter landing and taking aboard soldiers with stretchers
  • Soldiers boarding lorries fully equipped and then deploying into desert on foot
  • Priming and live throwing of grenades under field conditions and signals work
  • Soldiers paddling, swimming and diving in wadi
  • Camp scenes with visit from local family (armed) and improvised shower arrangements (jerry can being emptied from top of rock face onto soldiers below)
  • 120 mm Anti-Tank ‘gun’ cleaning and preparation. Appears to be a CONBAT or MoBAT (wider wheelbase, larger wheels, dropping breech, towing eye on muzzle) rather than a WOMBAT
  • Soldiers shelter from sun in basha
  • Soldiers prepare for firing of SLRs on improvised field range, firing detail, images of strike of shots and soldiers going forward to inspect targets
  • Group of soldiers appear to be involved to organised drinking of water from personal bottles
  • Distance shots of firing details showing the empty landscape
  • Shots taken from helicopter of fortified enclosures, local residences in walled compounds, tented camp and watercourse
  • Helicopter lands in camp area, shot of servicemen in blue (Royal Navy?), soldiers in a variety of uniform including Arab headdress
  • Senior NCOs shopping in a town in plain clothes.

Additional footage (at 11:54 minutes) of Remembrance Sunday 1968 (?)

  • Pipe band marches out of Fraser Street Barracks
  • Company marches down Fraser Street with façade of barracks in background (OC - Major Jim Bateman, OC No 1 Guard - Captain Ian Paterson, Colour Ensigns - Morris Dickie and Tim Gow-Smith, OC No 2 Guard – Captain Graeme Davidson, OC Cadets Captain Chris Todd)

The quality of this footage is good for 8mm film and there are many recognisable faces.

Menu Title: Camp Hertzog (actually filmed by Captain Hertzog across 1957/58) [Total Runtime 17:18 minutes]

This is 8 mm colour footage of the events in the life of the 1st Battalion, The Liverpool Scottish, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders (TA) shot by Captain Hertzog, an officer of the battalion.

  • Remembrance Sunday 1957 (at 00:24 minutes). Battalion marches out of barracks onto Fraser Street, turns off London Road marching towards St Andrew’s.
  • Arrival at St Andrew’s [on Remembrance Sunday] (at 02:10 minutes). P&Ds and battalion approach down Rodney Street, officers fall out, soldiers file into church and after the service fall back in on Rodney Street. Lieutenant General Sir Colin ‘Tiny’ Barber KBE CB DSO, Honorary Colonel, passes in front of camera, P&Ds and Battalion march off. P&Ds and battalion march towards saluting base outside St George’s Hall and P&Ds wheel to side to play the battalion past the saluting base. Battalion marches past in open order. Battalion marches back into Fraser Street past the Shakespeare Theatre (now demolished) and into the Fraser Street Barracks.

Camp – Otterburn June 1958 (at 05:31 minutes)

  • Morning Activity in High Street (at 05:41), soldiers falling in, officers conferring outside Nissen huts, tented camp in background. CO: Lieutenant Colonel Ian Buchanan 
  • Y Company Set Out for Training (at 06:22) Soldiers in denims, TOS and 38 pattern battle order prepare arms and equipment, officers confer (in kilts), soldiers march off, P&Ds lead platoons off parade ground.
  • The Duke of Edinburgh’s Competition Sten Practices (at 07:39) Soldiers prepare weapons and ammunition beside a moorland road on Otterburn Ranges and a wooden six-foot wall obstacle is erected. The group receives instruction and cross the obstacle in pairs helping each other and then fire Sten guns from the kneeling position at cut-out targets on a field range. Officers inspect targets; targets are pasted up. Other pairs repeat this practice. Groups of four run forward to fire Sten guns. 
  • Preparing for the Three Mile Test (at 11:07). Soldiers change into running kit (in the style of Chariots of Fire) on the range road and warm up. The group sets off and runs several circuits. Supervising officers and NCOs sit at a table.
  • The Colonel Congratulates the Team (at 13:05). The CO, Lieutenant Colonel Ian Buchanan, speaks to the team, now dressed in battledress blouses showing the 42nd Division insignia. 
  • The Medium Machine Guns in Action: Typical Otterburn Conditions (at 13:20). Large group of soldiers, many in waterproof capes, prepare MMGs (Vickers), aiming posts and fill belts on a range shrouded in Otterburn mist and looking very wet.
  • Beating Retreat on the Camp Parade Ground (at 14:28). P&Ds in full ceremonial dress with pipe banners formed up on Parade Ground. Nine drummers march forward to sound bugles. Shot of approximately ten or more pipers. Close-up shots of band counter-marching. Drummers slow march. Band marches with battalion spectators in background. Band forms circle. Drum Major salutes the CO. Band marches off.

Menu Title: Liverpool Scottish Retreat Knowsley Hall (believed to be filmed by Captain Hertzog circa 1958/59) [Total Runtime 05:09 minutes]

The first section of this 8 mm footage, some unfortunately rather under-exposed and dark, is of the Pipes and Drums of the Liverpool Scottish Beating Retreat at Knowsley Hall. The salute was taken by the host, the 18th Earl of Derby MC, later to be the last Honorary Colonel of the Liverpool Scottish. The band appears to have about fifteen pipers and in excess of twelve drummers. There is further footage of a separate parade at Knowsley to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Territorial Army in 1958. This parade seems to involve a representative selection of the West Lancashire Territorial Army units.

  • Liverpool Scottish Retreat Knowsley Hall (runs 00:00 to 02:05)
    • P&Ds march on (at 00:05)
    • P&Ds slow march away from camera (at 00:17)
    • Large crowd of spectators and marquees (at 00:22)
    • P&Ds march towards camera and counter-march several times (at 00:35)
    • Drum Major reports to Lord Derby and salutes, returns to the band which marches, counter-marches and marches off with close-up of band as it passes the camera (at 01:04)
  • Golden Jubilee of the Territorial Army in 1958 (runs 02:05 to end)
    • Liverpool Scottish Guard (perhaps a hundred soldiers) with Colour Party marches past together with other West Lancashire units (at 02:16)
    • A limousine draws up in front of the banked stands of spectators, there is movement on the saluting dais and an open-topped long-wheel base landrover is seen (at 02:39) 
    • Inspection by Lord Derby (at 02:55) Lord Derby (in uniform) inspects soldiers (and crowd) from the LWB Landrover
    • Casualty is carried of by stretcher bearers (at 03:23) captioned ‘One who didn’t march past’. 
    • Colour Party of an infantry battalion (presumably the 5th Battalion The King’s Regiment) marches past the camera (at 03:33)
    • Colour Party of the Liverpool Scottish and guard marches towards saluting dais (at 03:39)
    •  Shot of VIPs on dais, followed by shots of Royal Engineer plant driving past and other units including the Liverpool Scottish, marching in six ranks, paying compliment to the Earl of Derby when marching past the dais. (at 3:55)
    • A military band marches and plays. (at 04:44)
    • VIPs including Lord Mayor depart (at 05:05)

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