Talks
General The Lord Richards of Herstmonceux GCB CBE DSO DL
''A Conversation on a Troubled World''
2pm Saturday 15th July 2023
General David Richards led operations in East Timor, Sierra Leone, and Afghanistan. He is probably best known for his command in Sierra Leone in 2000 when he interpreted his orders creatively to achieve more than was at first thought possible, ensuring the ultimate defeat of the RUF rebels and the avoidance of much bloodshed in the capital Freetown. He went on to command the NATO campaign in Afghanistan during the Alliance’s expansion of responsibility across the whole country. Having first commanded the British Army, in 2010 he became Chief of the Defence Staff, the professional head of Britain’s armed forces and their strategic commander as well as the Prime Minister’s military adviser and a member of the National Security Council. He was intimately involved in the conduct of campaigns in Libya, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan as well having to take responsibility for the security of the 2012 Olympic Games at very short notice. He retired in July 2013. His UK operational awards include a Mention in Despatches, Commander of the British Empire, Distinguished Service Order and Knight Commander of the Bath; the first officer to receive an operational knighthood since World War 2. In 2011 he received the annual Churchillian Award for leadership. He was created Baron Richards of Herstmonceux in February 2014 and now sits in the House of Lords. Amongst other appointments he is a visiting Professor of Exeter University and an Honorary Fellow of both King’s College London and Cardiff University. Until recently he was Executive Chairman of Equilibrium Global, the geo-strategic advisory company. He is actively involved with a number of charities, especially the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League of which he is the Grand President. His autobiography Taking Command was published in October 2014.
Lieutenant General (Retired) Sir Simon Mayall KBE, CB
''A Soldier in the Sand - Decoding the Modern Middle East''
2pm Sunday 16th July 2023
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Much of General Mayall’s 40 year military career has been marked by a focus on the Middle East, and his experience and understanding of the region is long-standing and deep. In 1985, having learned colloquial Arabic, he was seconded to the Sultan’s Armed Forces, commanding an Omani tank squadron. He was the Operations Officer for the 1st (UK) Armoured Division in Operation DESERT STORM, the liberation of Kuwait. Before commanding his Regiment, 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards, he went to Balliol College, and then St Antony’s College, Oxford, where he wrote a book on Turkish security policy. He subsequently completed an MA at King’s College, where his thesis was on Jihad philosophy and the ‘Civil War’ within Islam. He is also an avid student of Crusading history.
As Commander of 1st Mechanised Brigade, he was deployed to Kosovo in 2002, and in 2006-2007 he was Deputy Commanding General of the Multi-National Corps (Iraq), based in Baghdad, during the period of the fight against AQ-I, the Sunni ‘Awakening’ and the ‘Surge’. The following year he was appointed Assistant Chief of the General Staff and then, in 2009, Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Commitments) with policy responsibility for global operations, particularly in Afghanistan. With the election of the Coalition Government of 2010, he was appointed as the first Defence Senior Adviser Middle East (DSAME), responsible for re-energising the UK’s security relationships with partners in the Gulf, the Near East and North Africa. This period coincided with the complexities of the ‘Arab Spring’, the overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya, the Syrian ‘civil war’ and the rise of ‘Islamic State’. In 2014, after the fall of Mosul to ISIS, he became the Prime Minister’s Security Envoy to Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government. He was instrumental in establishing the new Royal Navy base in Bahrain.
General Mayall retired from the Army in July 2015, and was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower of London. He is a Senior Adviser with Greenhill, Coutts Bank, and Viaro Energy, and the Director of Sandcrest Consulting. He is a regular contributor on Middle East and Defence and Security issues on television, radio and in the press, and he lectures on related subjects to many academic and business fora. His book, ‘Soldier in the Sand - a Personal History of the Modern Middle East’, was published in late 2020. He was knighted in 2014, and has also received the US Legion of Merit for services in Iraq.
Colonel Richard Charrington
‘Bringing the Stansted Sabres to life: Waterloo and the Ponsonbys’
12:15pm Saturday 15th July 2023
Richard Charrington was commissioned into the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (the successors of the 12th Light Dragoons who charged at Waterloo) and had a career involving tours in Cyprus, Bosnia and Northern Ireland before commanding the Regiment from 2003-5 including a tour in Iraq. He left the Army in 2012 and is now a consultant specializing in culture change and leadership development.
He was appointed a member of Her Majesty’s Corps of Gentlemen at Arms in 2014, and Colonel of The Royal Lancers in 2019. A keen historian, Richard authored Spearmen, an illustrated Regimental history and was Chairman of the Royal Lancers Museum Trust prior to assuming the Colonelcy. He is married, has three grown up children and lives in Dorset where he is attempting to tame too large a garden.
Colonel Patrick Crowley
‘Rose, Castle and Crown’
11am & 3:30pm Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th July
Patrick Crowley is currently the Chief Executive of the South East Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association. He leads a team which promotes the Reserves and encourages the Cadet experience in the South-East. This follows 34 years of service with the Queen’s Regiment and The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, in which he is still Deputy Colonel. His service included many tours of Northern Ireland and service in Belize, Gibraltar, Zimbabwe and Baghdad. He is a keen military historian, having published a Guide to The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, The Infantry Regiments of Surrey, Afghanistan – The Three Wars, Kut 1916, Loyal to Empire; the Story of General Sir Charles Monro and Infantry Die Hards; the Anatomy of a Regiment.
Published this month, his latest book is Rose, Castle & Crown; Hampshire and the Isle of Wight’s Citizen Soldiers; the topic for his talk. He is on the committee of the Military Historical Society and a trustee of a number of military-related charities. At one stage, he was a Napoleonic reenactor. He is also a battlefield guide and has led groups to the Peninsular War battlefields of Albuera and Salamanca
Hugh MacDonald-Buchanan
'Hard Pounding: The Campaign And Battle Of Waterloo'
12:15pm Sunday 16th July
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Having attended Harrow School, Hugh obtained his degree in Geography at University College London then worked for over 23 years in the banking and funds management sectors of The City Of London finance district for Enskilda Securities Ltd., N.M.Rothschild & Sons Ltd., and Taylor Young Investment Management Ltd.
In 2004, he changed career and, after a two-year course sponsored by The Institute Of Tourist Guiding (supported by the then Department Of Media, Culture and Sport), he qualified as Blue Badge Guide Of The Year 2006. HMB is a now a professional UK based tour guide, lecturer and arranger of short tours for a broad range of clients both from The United Kingdom and from overseas. Clients include private groups, corporations, and students. Hugh specialises in military history tours in addition to the local cultural tours he runs in the UK.
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Military History Tours
Hugh leads tours to visit the battlefields of The Peninsular War 1808 – 1814 and The Battle Of Waterloo 1815; The Western Front 1914 – 1918; The Fall Of France and Dunkirk 1940; The Battle Of Britain and The London Blitz 1940; The D-Day Landings and The Battles For Normandy 1944. His particular interest is in tracing the development of battles in the landscape, and in relating them to the general historical context of the time. The tours normally are for a duration of two days up to ten days.
In London, Hugh runs themed walking tours to illustrate The London Blitz, The First World War and Britain’s Military History Throughout The Ages. The idea is to use the landscape (buildings, monuments, memorials) to bring to life the story of each theme. The narrative looks into the social, political and general “home front” aspects as well as the strictly military. The tours can be dovetailed into a visit to a relevant museum such as, say, The Churchill War Rooms, The Guards’ and Horse Guards Museums, The National Army Museum, The London Docklands Museum and The Fire Brigade Museum.