Features
and Reviews
Wartime Archives
are opened
On Monday 9th April
Robbie Robinson welcomed everyone to the new Archive Building
at Brixham Battery Heritage Centre. As the last remaining Second
World War Costal Defence Battery the site gained the prestigious
award of Scheduled Monument 3 years ago. Following this the
Battery Heritage Group secured £50,000 of Heritage Lottery
Funding to develop the new archive. |
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Before the official
opening Robbie wanted to thank all those who had contributed
to the project including Brian Farmer, Shaun Fox & Family,
Robert Coopman, Roger Harris, Ivan Pardon, Phil Trayhorn and
their neighboring Holiday Parks for being patient during the
construction work.
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Invited to cut the
ribbon Fred Gardiner opened the new facilities designed to create
visual and sound records of wartime. Fred was one of 8 Brixham
brothers who were involved in the armed services during World
War Two and he became a Home Guard at the Brixham Hospital.
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After Fred's brother Gordon recently
died, they found letters and other items from WW2 which at first
they were going to throw away but instead took to the Battery
Museum. At the opening Gardiner family members came from as
far as Oxford to see treasured family photos and the freshly
created family wartime archive.
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The
day also saw members of the MVT (Military Vehicle Trust) including
Mike Ford and sons, in WW2 uniform carrying rifles and guns.
Mike
helped create the original Battery Museum Building out of an
old derelict ATS Hut and they added impact to the visual archives
which includes models of military boats, vehicles and posters
from World Wars and is intended to grow to include other military
campaigns, such as British involvement in the Napoleonic Wars.
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Chairman of the group Phil Trayhorn personally thanked Robert
Boyd of ACE in charge of fundraising for all his specialized advice
for disabled access. Robert said that the Battery Museum has been
made wheelchair friendly with a new carpet in the main building,
a spare wheel chair, a spare electric scooter for outdoor access
and of course the disabled toilet. |
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Phil Trayhorn said, “After a number of bureaucratic
battles, we successfully opened the Sound & photographic Archive
Building, with the disabled toilet makes it much easier for school
groups to visit through out the year.” |
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Features
and Reviews 
