Victoria Cross winner, WO2 Johnson Beharry opened the National Army Cadet Force Museum in Octavia Hill’s Birthplace House, Wisbech yesterday (Monday September 11) to mark Octavia’s legacy from 1889 when she established the first Independent Army Cadet Unit.

Guests included: Brigadier Tim Seal Vice, Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire The High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire Colonel Ashley Fulford, National Colonel Cadets at Regional Command Brigadier Richard Lyne, Royal Anglian Regt, The Mayor and Mayoress of Wisbech, and veterans from the Wisbech branch of the Royal British Legion.

Wisbech Standard: The letter-reading The letter-reading (Image: Mark Knight)

Brigadier Seal read out a letter received from Buckingham Place acknowledging the new National Army Cadet Force Museum and Octavia’s pioneering work with the cadets.

After the opening, WO2 Beharry gave a talk on “how he won the Victoria” Cross.

Local cadets from Wisbech detachment and children from nearby Cambian Wisbech School had the opportunity to meet WO2 Johnson Beharry VC COG and help him plant a tree on Centenary Green to commemorate the occasion.

Wisbech Standard: The tree-planting at Centenary Green to commemorate the occasion.The tree-planting at Centenary Green to commemorate the occasion. (Image: Mark Knight)

The museum displays a range of uniforms, traces the ACF time line from 1889 to the present day, manuals, and a “touch screen” for videos, photographs and You Tube links.

A virtual tour with information points has been created for cadets who are unable to visit the museum in person.

Wisbech Standard: The National Army Cadet Force Museum has officially opened at Octavia Hill’s Birthplace House in Wisbech.The National Army Cadet Force Museum has officially opened at Octavia Hill’s Birthplace House in Wisbech. (Image: Mark Knight)

Born in Wisbech in 1838, Octavia Hill’s pioneering work in Southwark, London with youngsters  lead the way to the modern day Army Cadet Force (ACF) as it is known today.

Octavia Hill was a well known social reformer, one of the three founders of the National Trust and a campaigner for open spaces but is largely unknown for her work with the Army Cadets.

Photos by David Jackman - Everything Local News