Spring 2011 Issue 12 Registered Charity No 271943 THE LION AND THE DRAGON NEWSLETTER of THE Friends of Cumbria’s Military Museum The Border Regiment, King’s Own Royal Border Regiment & Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment CONTENTS Notes From The Chairman ...................................... Page 1 The Alma Project ........ Page 2 The Biggest Meccano Kit In The World ............................ Page 2 Notes from the Chairman The Heritage & Archaeology of Alma Block ................... Page 3 Museum Jottings ......... Page 3 Despite the fact we have experienced one of the most severe winters Metal Detecting Rally, Underley for many a year with snow, ,ice, freezing temperatures, airports Park, September 2010 Page 4 closed, rail and road networks paralysed, the flu virus rampant, all Bonfire Night on The this and much more did not dampen the enthusiasm, dedication and commitment for the move of the Museum currently located in Queen Battlements .................. Page 4 Mary‟s Tower to Alma block in the Outer Ward of Carlisle Castle. Catching Culture & Inspiring Imaginations ................ Page 4 There will be a number of events organised by the Friends and the New Booklet ................. Page 5 Museum Support Group in 2011 to support fund-raising for this Who Do You Think You Are? essential move. The Museum Appeal still has to raise considerable ……………………….. .... Page 5 match funding and I appeal to all our readers to spread the news What’s In A Name?.. .... Page 6 throughout the county and beyond; any donation large or small will The 55th (Westmorland) be gratefully received and faithfully applied. The Museum is also trying to build up a pool of volunteers for a variety of tasks. THERE IS Regiment In Bhutan 1865 WORK TO BE DONE and if you can spare a couple of hours now ...................................... Page 8 and then it will be much appreciated just .give the Museum a call on 1st Battalion Home Coming 01228 532774……Sorry no vast remuneration but the odds are you Parade .......................... Page 10 will get a nice “cuppa” at the end of your labours! The Lord Ashcroft Gallery At The Imperial War Museum ...................................... Page 11 Jim Ormiston Obituaries .................... Page 12 Chairman Future Events .............. Page 12 Membership Notes ...... Page 12 THE ALMA PROJECT Since the last issue a lot has happened. The Museum has tendered for various aspects of the Stage 1 Development work for the project, which received a generous grant of £100k towards the £119k cost from the Heritage Lottery Fund North West (HLFNW) last year. The work will include the Architectural Design, Design and Exhibition Layout & Plan and the Activity Plan. Swarbrick Associates (David Swarbrick) of Carlisle have been appointed as the Architects. PLB Ltd of Swinton, near Malton in North Yorkshire will be doing the Design & Exhibition and Activity Plans. The Museum Staff & Trustees will prepare the Business Plan and a Quantity Surveyor and Project Manager will also be appointed. Amongst a number of projects on historic, listed and other buildings, David Swarbrick has previously done work at Carlisle Castle. PLB Ltd have carried out a wide range of work in the Museum & Heritage sector including the new History of the Tank in Warfare Gallery at the Tank Museum at Bovington in Dorset. They have also done a lot of work in the Education and Outreach sector including the development of discovery visits for school groups on English Heritage sites including Carlisle Castle. This experience of Activity Planning is crucial to the Project as the Museum seeks to cater for existing audiences and most importantly attract new ones through permanent displays, temporary exhibitions, education and research work, facilities and a range of activities and events for educational and other groups, individuals and families. There is a considerable of work to do and all of the detailed plans and development work will form part of the Stage 2 Application to HLF in September 2011 for an HLF grant of £900k which, with additional match funding, will cover the cost of the work on the building and the exhibition and museum fit-out. The Project Manager will assist the Alma project team with the preparation of the Stage 2 HLF Application and the management of the Project. A decision from the HLF will be expected in early December 2011. Following tendering and appointment of contractors the actual work on the building would be planned for the second half of 2012 with completion towards the end of the year or early 2013. As part of the architectural work, the Museum commissioned a computer based CAD-survey of the building both internally and externally. Andy Russell of Russell Geomatics completed the work in early February and produced an incredibly detailed set of drawings, both plans and elevations. The survey was completed in early February and the drawings have been put to good use by the architect to develop the building layout. THE BIGGEST MECCANO KIT IN THE WORLD Alma Block was emptied of Archive material by Christmas 2010, but the County Council still have tenure on the building. They are currently in the process of the formal handover of the building to English Heritage and once completed we will formally take the building over in late Spring or early Summer. The Council have kindly granted us access to the building since Above – the former Restaurant/Bar with the January to complete the computer original bar on the left, dismantled shelving in based survey and other the centre and the patterned linoleum floor. This development work. However, in order for the survey to be room will be the temporary exhibition gallery of completed inside the building, Museum Staff had to dismantle the new Museum. the mass of dexion steel racking, which the Archives did not require and which had been left. This filled the basement, one ground floor room, and the whole of the first and second floors (600 sq. metres). On the first floor this was constructed to mezzanine level almost to the ceiling and one estimate was that there was some 4.5 miles of shelving!!!!! The massive task of dismantling was organised by Tony Goddard, the Assistant Curator with volunteers Chester Forster & Matt Lund and with occasional help from Nick Hazlewood and Stuart Eastwood of the Museum Staff, Mike Milbourn from the Friends Group and Graham Cameron of the 1st Battalion Duke of Lancaster‟s Regiment. One building surveyor assumed that a gang of 20-30 men had spent a month doing the work. Tony and his team are to be congratulated on their phenomenal achievement, which if it had not Page 2 been done would have caused long delays to the project. By avoiding the use of contractors, they have also saved a huge amount of money. THE HERITAGE & ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ALMA BUILDING Remarkably the Museum has no internal photographs of Alma and no plans of the original internal layout of the building. However, as the building has been cleared many original features have been revealed for the first time since 1959 and we have worked out the original usage of the rooms. The former Dining Hall on the ground floor has a narrow oak planked floor throughout. The rear of the building includes the kitchen, preparation & storage areas. In the basement there were two class-rooms. On the first floor there are three principal rooms at the front of the building; the Games Room (left) with its mahogany floor and the marks where the feet of the billiard table have been; the Restaurant/Bar with the original mahogany bar and linoleum floor in regimental colours of yellow & green; and the former Corporals’ Room again with the coloured linoleum floor; these and other features will be retained wherever possible. Behind the bar was another kitchen, pantry, stores and the living room and bath-room of the canteen manager. The three rooms on the second floor formed the rest of the manager‟s accommodation. MUSEUM JOTTINGS Despite the freezing weather of late November and December, the overall visitor numbers to the Castle in 2010-2011 have matched the previous year. The Museum coped with the cold, but inside temperatures rarely made it into the mid-50‟s. A burst water pipe in the store was discovered in the nick of time on 27th December; the dining room of CHQ became the temporary home of the reserve costume collection for three weeks. The usual routine of work plus the Alma Project have kept the staff very busy. The wide range of acquisitions have included a canteen of cutlery presented to Sgt. Percy Puckett MM on retirement in 1932, photographs of the NW Frontier and the Thal Relief Force in Afghanistan 1919, a range of Army posters and prints from the National Army Museum and the loan of a BSA M20 500cc motorcycle complete with despatch rider from Tony Murning of Millom. In December we welcomed representatives of the Kendal Branch of the Regimental Association to CHQ where they presented their Old Standard to the Museum and John and Lynne McLean ( below) who presented the medals of their late father ex-CSM Alex Mclean ex- 4th Battalion Border Regiment during WW2; Major Mike Brandwood accepted them on behalf of the Museum. Jack Gill, accompanied by Ray Gill, Brian Thewlis and John Hodgson also presented a generous donation of £500 from the Branch to the Museum Appeal and the Branch made a further donation of £200 in memory of Alex McLean and their late Chairman Brian Coulter. Page 3 Metal detecting rally, Underley Park 19th. September 2010 Thanks to the kindness of the Pease family, a metal detecting event was arranged by John Ferguson and Peter Yorke with much historical information on the site provided by Mr Henry Armitage at Underley Park near Kirkby Lonsdale.