The popular Society book 'The Royal Observer Corps Medal' is available again due to member demand.

The Royal Observer Corps Medal by Richard Sirley is a complete history of this long service medal from its introduction in 1950 to when the corps stood down in 1995. All the recipients of this medal are listed together with details of when the award was made, any subsequent award of clasps, where the recipient served and any entitlement to other awards. The process of designing the medal, ribbon and clasp is fully described and illustrated. A brief history of the Royal Observer Corps explains how it developed and changed over the years to meet changing circumstances. The various badges worn by the Royal Observer Corps over the years are also described and illustrated. Many interesting groups of medals are illustrated and described in detail.

Paper bound with colour cover, 612 pages, 12 black and white illustrations, 19 plates.

The hard back edition of this book has now sold out, so we have decided to make the book available as a paperback through the print-on-demand service Lulu.com. Go to the shop page and follow the 'Print on Demand Books' link.

The Society is pleased to announce the continued avaliability of ‘By Order Of Her Majesty’ The Crimea Medal by Tony Martin, William Pickering and Arthur Satterley.

The Crimea Medal radically changed the entire process of both the manufacture and distribution of campaign medals forever. Awarding such medals in bulk was a relatively new concept anyway, but pressure from Queen Victoria to issue this one while the campaign in the Crimea was still being fought placed huge strains on those responsible for ensuring that soldiers and sailors received recognition. In the process this created problems for collectors which continue to this day because so many medals were issued unnamed. This fascinating study by a team of three authors looks at the institution of the medal and its clasps, the monarch’s influence, the manufacturing process and includes a detailed look at the naming – both official and unofficial – of the medal. It is the most comprehensive study of its kind ever undertaken and is a must for medal collectors and for anyone who is interested in the Crimean War. 

The hard back edition of this book has now sold out, so we have decided to make the book available as a paperback through the print-on-demand service Lulu.com, see here. Please note that the link will take you away from our website and you will need to order the book directly from Lulu.com.

Convention exhibition breaks records in both quantity and quality - Head Judge Dr Richard Emsley said 'the judges knew they had their work cut out based on the increase in numbers, but when we saw the quality we knew we were going to have tough day. When you see a top class exhibit, doing justice to the effort put in weighs heavily on the whole judging team'.

The quality of the exhibis showed through with 13 out of 29 competitive exhibits being awarded gold medals.

The Best in Show award went to Mark Collins (pictured above receiving his trophy from OMRS President, Air Commodore Graham Pitchfork) – better known in the medal collecting fraternity as ‘Taff’ - for his superbly researched exhibit ‘Long Service & Good Conduct Medals to the 41st (The Welsh) Regiment 1830-1881’. For this he had compiled a nominal roll of recipients with biographies and medal entitlements.

The best first-time exhibitor was Meurig Jones with ‘British Empire Casualties of the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902’.

Members attending the Convention selected Alan Seldon’s ‘Executed as British Spies in World War One’ for the members' Choice Award. This superb exhibition about Belgians executed by the Germans for working for the British between 1914 and 1918 exemplified the high standard of research on show this year.

But probably the biggest cheer of the day was for the announcement that Lionel Digby, who has exhibited at every Convention since the event was founded in 1978, had won his first-ever Gold Medal. ‘The Moonlight Charge’ featured medals and militaria from his magnificent Household Cavalry collection.

A full listing of exhibits and results will follow.

Speakers for Convention 2017 Announced. The speakers will be:

James Davies - The Ministry of Defence Medal Office – Honouring History and Inspiring the Future;

David Langrish - Commemorating Conscription: Papers of the Middlesex Military Service Appeal Tribunal.

Gurinder Singh Mann - Anglo-Sikh Wars; a Journey into Sikh Relics and Artefacts in the UK.

Full details of the speakers and their presentations available here.