Reginald Miles

Commemoration in Figueres

Further to my last post, much has happened regarding the tribute to Reg Miles. The students and teachers of Ramon Muntaner High School, the Mayor and City Councillors of Figueres, the director of the Toy Museum and others have planned a full schedule for the 21 October. There will be a significant presence of New Zealanders representing the Miles family, the Spanish Embassy and Consulate, the Royal New Zealand Artillery and others – happily including myself! The RNZA have commissioned a bronze by Matt Gaudi for the permanent exhibition.

This promises to be a moving and profound event, all the more so because it has been the students’ initiative.

Matt Gaudi’s bronze for the permanent exhibition at Figueres

 

La Morte del Brigadier

It has been a pleasure to be involved in a small way with a group of Spanish students at Ramon Muntaner High School in Figueres, Catalonia, in their research on Brigadier Reg Miles for a podcast.  With their English language teacher Anna Llobet I Agustí and her colleague Joan Manuel Soldevilla, they premiered their podcast at the Ceba Negra true crime festival in Figueres in March. It was very warmly received. My congratulations to them!

They now feel they would like to pay some sort of tribute to Brigadier Miles. With support from the local Town Hall and the director of the Catalonian Toy Museum, formerly Hotel Paris, they are organising an event to honour his life and career with a display and a memorial plaque. This is to take place in the room where Miles died on 21 October, marking the 80th anniversary of his death on 20 October 1943.