A Collection of Medals to the 60th Rifles and King’s Royal Rifle Corps

Peter and June Done

Peter and June Done form an unusual pairing in the world of medal collectors in being one of the few, if note the longest established, husband and wife collectors.

Peter and June began back in 1960, Peter joining the OMRS in 1962 and June a year later. In 1964, PEter and June linked up with a few other collectors to form the Birmingham Medal Society (BMS) wit Peter as Founder Secretary (and lately, as editor of their journal and newsletter) and June, subsequently, as secretary for 22 years. Int he early years of the BMS meetings were initially held at their house, but with Peter’s appointment as Technical Superintendent and Analytical Chemist of Department of Metallurgy and Materials at Birmingham University, the monthyl meeting moved to the lecture theatre there. Both June and Peter separately, both became President of the BMS, having now retired to Wales they were made honorary members and continue to keep in regualr touch with all their BMS and OMRS collector friends.

Their contribution to the hobby of medal collecting was rewarded with individual awards of the OMRS Award of Merit in 1995.

Peter and June’s interest in forming this collection to The 60th Rifles and KRRC was due to the fact that the regiment had an impressive history with a wide array of battle honours giving them an extensive range of campaign medal to collect.

Althouch not a major collection, it has nonetheless been selected carefully, with research in mind and only forms a part of their wider collection which, since their retirement to the Welsh coast, their holiday home since the 1960’s, now encompasses medals for gallantry at sea and to the Coast Guard, as well as their continuing interest in medals to the RAF and RFC, the Naval Brigade and medals relating to Birmingham.