On 21st October, it was announced by Durham County Council that the DLI Museum, honouring the memory of the Durham Light Infantry, would be closed. Political lobbyist for the campaign challenging this decision, Liam Bewick, explains how we can actively support the cause…
My name is Liam J. Bewick, and I am the political lobbyist for the Save The DLI Museum campaign. My role is to deal with the politics and government communications on behalf of the group.
As many of you may already be aware, the DLI Museum and Art Gallery is signed for closure by Durham County Council in April 2016, and we want answers from the Council regarding the future storage of artefacts. The DLI is a huge part of our local heritage, and we don’t want the artefacts stored on a temporary basis while the remainder is archived for scholarly use.
The agreement with Durham University will only allow the collection to be stored for a period of five years. What will the fate of the collection be after that?
We also want to know why Durham County Council invested £3m into Wharton Park, situated directly opposite the DLI Museum, while no such investment was made to the museum itself. Part of the restoration project for Wharton Park is to build a heritage centre within the park. If it’s concerning local heritage, why isn’t the DLI involved in this project?
These are questions that need answering, but we can only achieve the answers by banding together as a single committed, strong entity.
So, what can you do to help?
It is crucial that we put pressure on the Council, and you can do this by getting in contact with your local councillor by letter, email and/or telephone. You can use one method or all three. If we shout loudly enough, County Hall will hear us.
Furthermore, we need to put pressure on our national representatives too, so I strongly urge all of you to write to your local MP’s (regardless of party politics). We want the Department of Culture, Media and Sport on board, contacting our Ministers, John Whittingdale (Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport), Ed Vaizey (Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy) and Tracey Crouch (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport, Tourism and Heritage).
There are a select number of councillors who are already on board with the campaign, and give it their full support. Please don’t harass them! They are:
- Mark Wilkes
- Amanda Hopgood
- Owen Temple
- Richard Ormerod
- Richard Bell
- Audrey Willis
- Watts Stelling
- Alan Shield
It is with devastation that we must fight this battle less than a week before Remembrance Day, a day to honour the men who fought so that we could feel the warmth of opportunity, but I thank you for support.
Everyone who visits the North East has the right to see for themselves the contribution that the Durham Light Infantry made to Great Britain, and we won’t allow that contribution to be forgotten without a fight.
Liam J. Bewick
Click here to visit the Save The DLI Museum website.
