Role Description

The Royal Armoured Corps Memorial Trust was formed in 1946, when the Corps consisted of no less than 82 individual units. 78 years on, that number has reduced to just 14 Regiments, including our four Yeomanry regiments, yet the role of the Trust remains as relevant and as important today as it ever was.

Our objectives remain unchanged to this day and are threefold:

• To help maintain the military efficiency and esprit de corps of the Royal Armoured Corps
• To support all members of the Royal Armoured Corps, both serving and retired, and their families, when in time of need
• To honour the memory of all those members of the Royal Armoured Corps who have died in the service of their country.

The Trust is run by a Chairman and Board of volunteer Trustees, all of whom have served in or have had close connections with the Royal Armoured Corps at some point in their careers. The Trust serves all members of the Royal Armoured Corps and their families, irrespective of cap badge or rank. It is important to state that we do not compete with individual Regimental associations or charities. On the contrary we work closely with them to ensure that every member of the wider Corps family has the support that he or she needs.

The Trust works in close co-operation with The Tank Museum. To minimise our operating overheads, we operate as a separate entity from a hot desk within the main office of the Tank Museum, whilst our accounts are administered on our behalf by the Museum’s Head of Finance. Given that the RAC Wall of Remembrance as well as our Remembrance Room, housing our four Books of Remembrance, are both located on the Museum’s premises, this promotes a strong and close working relationship between the two charities.

Over the years, the Trust has accumulated a capital fund from donations received from members of the Corps, which it uses to generate its income. Approximately £15-£20,000 is applied to support our serving and veteran community and their families when in time of need.

With the limited funds available, the Trust by necessity prioritises our benevolence work. However, our objective to help maintain the military efficiency and esprit de corps of the Royal Armoured Corps ensures that up to £10,000 per annum is donated to support serving soldiers on adventure training expeditions or fund Corps sporting activities. The Honorary Secretary acts as the first point of contact for serving soldiers to request support from these funds.

However, our greatest challenge is continuing to honour the memory of all those officers and soldiers who have laid down their lives for their country whilst serving in the RAC. For younger generations it is increasingly difficult to relate to that WWII wartime resolve, but there have been so many conflicts since, Korea, Suez, Borneo, Aden, Northern Island, The Falklands, Iraq, The Balkans, Afghanistan to name but a few. Each conflict has claimed the lives of Royal Armoured Corps soldiers, men prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice so that we can continue to enjoy the free society which so many take for granted.

The Royal Armoured Corps Memorial Trust is determined that those men will never be forgotten. We maintain a Roll of Honour, contained in four Books of Remembrance, which record all those 12,600+ men who have died in service since the Corps was originally formed in 1939. These Books represent the very soul of the Royal Armoured Corps. It is the responsibility of the Honorary Secretary to update them as necessary on an annual basis.

The Books are permanently housed and displayed within the Royal Armoured Corps Memorial which is located at the very heart of The Tank Museum in Bovington. This Memorial offers visitors an opportunity to reflect quietly on the dreadful human cost of armoured warfare.

The Trust is also responsible for the maintenance of the RAC Memorial Wall, which stands proudly in front of the main entrance to the Museum. Inscribed into the stone are the names of over 300 officers and soldiers from the Royal Armoured Corps who have died on operations since 1945.

The Memorial Trust has digitised the Roll of Honour, so that anybody can do their own on-line research on members of their family or old comrades, to see where and when they died. There is also a direct link to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site. However, it is the Trust’s clear desire to record all this evidence as individual stories. We aim to bring the memory of these men to life, so that future generations will never be able to forget their personal sacrifice.

We aim to digitise the RAC Battlefield Casualty Cards currently held within the Museum’s archives. We hope to “put a face to a name”, and to add this photo to the digitised entry in the Roll of Honour. We want to build on this in the years to come. The Honorary Secretary will be pivotal in creating a team of volunteers to research and record these stories

This unpaid volunteer post has flexible hours but is likely to take up at least three mornings per week, depending upon the level of demand and the amount of research undertaken. Expenses will be paid, in particular for journeys and accommodation whilst on Trust business. A hot desk and laptop will be provided in the Tank Museum on any day of the week except Mondays. It will be the responsibility of the Honorary Secretary to agree with the Trust’s Benevolence Co-ordinator a suitable arrangement for sharing the hot desk and laptop facility.

Role Profile

Role Title	Honorary Secretary to the Trust
Nature of Role	Voluntary, part time, unpaid
Place of Work	Hot desk in Finance Office, The Tank Museum
Key Relationships	RACMT Chairman, RACMT Trustee responsible for Benevolence, RACMT Administrator, Tank Museum Head of Finance
Key Accountabilities	Military Efficiency Act upon all requests for military efficiency support by collating the application and submitting to the Chairman for approval. Notifying the applicant accordingly and arranging payment of grant when due Provide immediate financial support (within 24 hrs) to the family of any RAC soldier returning to the UK after being injured or killed whilst on operations Remembrance Inspect the Memorials at the Museum on a regular basis. Notifying the Chairman of any maintenance issues, arranging repairs etc as instructed Contact each RAC Regiment in December annually, obtaining the names of any soldiers who have died over the previous 12 months whilst in service or on operations. Arranging for the Memorial Wall and the Books of Remembrance to be updated accordingly Liaise with RSM HQRAC regarding the Trust’s involvement at the Remembrance Sunday service and wreath laying at the Tank Museum. Organising a wreath from the Trust to be available for the Chairman to lay at the Memorial Wall on the day Liaise with the Royal British Legion for the Trust’s participation in the annual Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey. Represent the Trust at the Field of Remembrance on the day of the royal visit Arrange for maintenance of the RAC graves at Wool Churchyard and inspect on an occasional basis Research Using own initiative and the facilities and expertise held within the Tank Museum, carry out research to uncover the storylines behind names recorded in the Roll of Honour. Digital Liaising with HQRAC and The Tank Museum to maintain and update as necessary the Trust’s web presence, including adding news items or storyline videos when available Responding in a timely manner to general digital enquiries emanating from the web pages. General Work closely with the Chairman and Trustees to maximise the effectiveness of the Trust to achieve its stated objectives Liaise with a wide range of internal and external individuals and organisations, including Trustees, Tank Museum staff, HQRAC, service charities and the general public. Represent, promote and maintain the good reputation of the RAC Memorial Trust. Help trustees with any future events that are run by the Trust.

Person Specification

	Essential	Desirable
Qualifications	• Good literacy and numeracy skills
Knowledge & Skills	• Good IT skills • Proficiency in MS Office	• Interest in Social Care • Military charities • Regimental histories
Personal Aptitude & Skills	• Keen eye for detail and an inquisitive mind • Ability to work with minimum supervision as part of a small team • Willing to share working arrangements with other part time volunteers • A strong communicator • Good at recording an
Experience	• Experience of working in office environment	• Experience of preparing briefing papers • Experience of working with historical documents, researching archives etc
Other requirements	• Willingness to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) vetting procedure

 

To apply for this volunteer role email John Colton, Chairman of The Royal Armoured Corps Memorial Trust at: jc@racmt.org

Please include include a statement telling us a bit about yourself, including why you wish to volunteer for the role, what relevant experience you can bring and details of any qualifications you hold that may be relevant to the role.