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Richard has worked covertly at national and international level within the intelligence community and on covert serious and organised crime investigation and disruption. He is a former source handler and anti and counter surveillance operative (nationally accredited).

In 2017 Richard was honoured by Prime Minister May having been nominated for the National Police Bravery Award. He was regional winner for his action in saving the life of a Jewish male while in Israel.

He is qualified in Christian Studies through Chelmsford Cathedral (graded exceptional) and is currently examining his Christian calling. At some point, he hopes to become an ordained Church of England vicar.

Richard frequently engages in group talks and lectures, after dinner speeches and sermons. Enjoyment is gained from ethics and ‘faith’ based tours to all locations of study. These tend to focus on moral and theological issues. Poetry and personal accounts as well as witness records are used to augment the learning experience.

Holocaust tours are client focused according to requirement with the objective of providing balanced understanding of ‘The Jewish Question’. They are also used to focus minds on policies that underpinned the Nazi regime – surely a must for anyone with an interest in progressing learning in world war military history?

Richard welcomes business and is happy to tailor bespoke field trips, faith and non-faith pilgrimages on an individual client basis. He has a wide experience working with Adult groups, schools, disadvantaged young people and individuals with special needs.

Client safety and security is paramount, and Richard’s years of field experience always present a well-guided and safe learning environment.

Ewan’s particular interests are Leadership, the Realities of War and Close Combat, through the ages, but particularly the ‘horse and musket’ era. On tour, he believes in balancing depth of research with enjoyment.

He is a direct successor to Wellington’s McGrigor as Director General Army Medical Services. He set up and led the British Army’s Air Assault Medical Regiment and then commanded all of the Army’s Field Hospitals operating in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He was awarded an MBE for Squadron leadership in the First Gulf War and CBE for his direction of the Army Medical Services (AMS), at a time when the AMS achieved its highest battle casualty survival rate in history (halving the death rate).

A graduate of the Army Staff College and member of the Royal College of Defence Studies, his MA was on whether it is possible to create a strategy which endures. A Fellow of one of the Medical Royal Colleges, he is also an Apothecary and Freeman of the City of London.

Gregarious rather than combative by nature, he was surprised to be elected as President of the Combined Services Martial Arts Society by its members, and even more pleasantly surprised to win the first Worldwide Open tournament for renaissance sword & buckler at Hanover in 2010.

Ian Gumm is the founder and CEO of In The Footsteps, a leading independent battlefield tour operator, as well as a full-time battlefield historian and guide. He has led tours since 1998 and has visited the battlefield of the Norman Conquest, the Hundred Years War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Anglo-Zulu War, the First World War, the Second World War … and much more.

“Touring the battlefield is my passion, it is what I love to do and I feel extremely privileged to be able to escort people around the battlefields of the world visiting some of the most important historical sites that have shaped the world in which we live.”

Ian served in the British Army as a Reservist for thirty-six years during which time he commanded B (Rorke’s Drift) Company of the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Wales; commanded the Regimental Contingent at the affiliation parade with 121 South African Infantry Battalion (a Zulu Battalion) in South Africa; was the officer responsible for training all junior and potential officers in Wales and was the staff officer responsible for the First World War Centenary Commemorations for Wales.

His experience, gained both on the battlefield and with the British Army, allows him to add a soldier’s perspective and paint the picture of a battle on the canvas of the countryside. This enhances your tour experience, as Ian is not only able to impart an understanding of the history, but also a feel for the men who fought the battle and the ground over which they were fought.

“So whether you are ‘following in the footsteps’ of an ancestor or relative on a genealogy tour; ‘following in the footsteps of heroes’ on a more general tour or retracing the steps of a military unit or formation on a battlefield study or staff ride you can be sure that Ian will deliver an experience that will leave you with memories that last a lifetime.”

As an Accredited Member of the International Guild of Battlefield Guides, Ian endeavours to maintain the high standards, both in terms of service and good practice, that are commensurate with the Guild’s ethos. In addition to being an Accredited Member of the International Guild of Battlefield Guides, Ian is a member of the Western Front Association, the Last Post Association and a registered tour guide with the European Tour Operators Association.

As well as leading battlefield tours Ian delivers interesting and informative military history talks and presentations to professional organisations, businesses, clubs, societies and other groups, small or large.

My interest in military history started many years ago and, by the age of 12, I KNEW that I was going to join the RAF. I served with the RAF for over 28 years, including 17 years on the Boeing Sentry AWACS, with operational flying in the Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.

I left the RAF in 2009 to become a full-time Battlefield Guide, and have now completed 129 tours (it should have been a lot more but COVID-19 got in the way!).

I take groups to the Western Front and, having travelling widely in India, have a major interest in the story of the Indian Corps on the Western Front. I also lead Second World War tours and have been privileged to take veterans to Normandy and Monte Cassino. What an honour! I should have taken a group to Imphal in August 2020 to commemorate VJ Day but, sadly, this was cancelled due to COVID.

Having spent so long in the air environment, I also lead tours to sites related to the Great War in the air, the Combined Bomber Offensive and the German secret weapons programme. This naturally leads to the subject of National Socialist Germany and I have explored a number of aspects of Hitler’s Germany, from the concentration camp and forced labour systems through to the Final Solution. It is a difficult but important subject.

And Germany, of course, leads to an interest in Berlin. I never served in Berlin – but I am an old Cold Warrior!

I joined the Guild of Battlefield Guides in 2008 and completed validation in November 2011.

Allan served for 22 years in the Regular Army in the 17^th/21^st Lancers and Queens Royal Lancers, a career which ended at the Armoured Fighting Vehicle Gunnery School, Lulworth.  Allan was later commissioned into the TA serving for a further 9 years firstly with the Dorset and later the Royal Wessex Yeomanry in Bovington where he began guiding battlefield tours.

Allan’s first battlefield tour as a guide was for the Yeomanry to Normandy in 1999.  He has since guided nearly 200 battlefield tours for both Regular and Territorial Army units, schools and numerous adult groups to the Western Front, North West Europe plus other campaigns outside of the two World Wars including Waterloo and Agincourt.  Allan has guided many ANZAC focused tours of the Western Front, 1916-1918.  Allan retired from teaching to give himself the time to be an active Battlefield Guide and works freelance for several companies and organisations.  Allan also regularly gives talks on Military History to a wide variety of audiences from those including very senior serving officers to local groups in the Dorset area and wider afield.

Allan is an Accredited Member of (Badge Number 66) of the International Guild of Battlefield Guides and a current Validator for candidates on the Path to their own Badge.  He is a member of the Western Front Association, Royal Lancers Regimental Association and a Trustee for the Dorset Yeomanry Association.

Allan is an Alumni of the Duke of York’s Royal Military School, Dover.  Whilst in the Army he studied and graduated through the Open University, later training as teacher at the University of Bath after which he taught History in a secondary school in Poole.  Allan was later appointed as the Headteacher of the Compass, the school responsible for providing Alternative Provision for young people in Weymouth, Dorset. Allan still in Weymouth with his wife Angela, who tolerates both his guiding and golf in exchange for holidays in the sun!  They have two grown up children.