For our April 2022 branch meeting we are very pleased to be able to welcome Stephen Barker back to Highworth. On this occasion, Stephen's talk will be entitled 'Hardit Singh Malik, The RFC and the First World War'.
From his arrival in the UK alone in 1912 as a fourteen-year-old, to Balliol College, Oxford and into the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, Hardit Singh Malik lived an extraordinary life, often in the face of great adversity, yet always with charm and good humour. He played cricket for Sussex and was an Oxford blue in golf, playing with the Prince of Wales.
He rose to become the Indian Ambassador to France after a long and distinguished career in the Indian Civil Service, yet always maintained strong bonds with Great Britain. Yet it is as a fighter pilot during 1917-19 that he is best known, coming up against the Red Baron and the British military establishment.
Stephen is an independent Heritage Adviser who works with museums, universities, and other heritage organisations to design exhibitions and make funding applications. He worked at Banbury Museum and Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum. Stephen has delivered projects for University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University and the Battlefields Trust. He delivers presentations and tours related to the First World War and British Civil Wars. He is a Trustee of the Bucks Military Museum Trust, the Old Gaol, Buckingham and is an Arts Council Museum Mentor. He is the author of 'Lancashire's Forgotten Heroes' - the 8th East Lancs in the Great War and 'The Flying Sikh: Hardit Singh Malik'.
All members and guests are most welcome to attend. Doors open c13.40 for a 14.00 start. We do ask for a £3.00 donation on the door to cover room hire etc.
(Members are also asked to note that the May meeting will be a week later than usual to avoid the Bank Holiday. It will take place on Sunday, 8th May 2022; details of this subject and speaker will be added to the WFA website as soon as they have been confirmed.)