The Virtual Regimental Weekend - the sequel


It's sunday evening and I am sitting here reviewing the weekend's event. The first ever Virtual Regimental Weekend. I have been surveying the 'event' all day, checking that everything is running to plan. Yesterday, people were pleased with the sports quiz, a quick tour round the Museum with yours truly and the Regimental speeches at the end of the day. Photographs of friends flooded the event page and comments such as 'The Queen. The Regiment. Respect to all concerned. Thank you' and 'The Queen,Regiment, and all lions and lioness near and far' 
 made me realise that the idea had worked and people had got engaged with the whole idea. Result.

Today would have been the parade. A time when folk would arrive at the Castle, nursing some sore heads from the night before, in blazer and berets bedecked in medals ready to parade to the Cathedral for the annual thanksgiving service, before returning to the Castle for the march past and salute. How to transfer this to social media? Luckily, we had some video footage taken (mainly by mobile phone) over the past few years which was put together to give a snapshot of the parade. Additionally, the Museum already had plenty of photographs which was added to by more photographs sent across to us by some of the Regimental family. Add to that pre-recorded audio to give the feel of being on parade and we had our morning programme was full. Great to see people watching the videos and sharing the on-line experience. More photos of previous weekends have been uploaded throughout the weekend and the interaction has been constant. And so good to see people commenting and replying to each other. 

From Northern Ireland to Ayrshire, Cumbria to Wiltshire, people have been getting involved. Initially, I think people were unsure what exactly we were trying to do and were reluctant to sign up but with the help of some of the Regimental Association, pushing people to press the 'going' button, we eventually got more and more folk involved. As I type this, 132 people have attended the event with another 76 'interested.'  The general feedback seems to be positive with encouraging responses on the event page. For the Museum, this has been a great way of enhancing our relationship with our veteran community, showcasing our flexible response to a situation outside of our control. This is the first time we have attempted anything like this, but then this is the first time we have been locked down in a world-wide pandemic. The world is not operating on normal rules and we are all having to adapt. The Regimental weekend could not take place but the Museum responded by altering and adapting the annual programme to suit a virtual audience spread across the world. With staff on furlough, we volunteered to help Nick and TomCo put together this online event  in a few weeks. We have successfully risen to the challenge. 

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