Tag: durham light infantry

Further Plans For Future Of DLI Museum Proposed

By on 16th December 2015in Local Biz

Councillors have received reassurance that plans for the future of the DLI collection will provide a fitting and lasting tribute to the regiment…

A special meeting of Durham County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Management Board heard details of how the authority plans to continue to honour the region’s military history at a time when it must find nearly another £140m of savings from its yearly budget.

In a near two hour session, the council’s cabinet member for economic regeneration, arts and culture Cllr Neil Foster, corporate director for neighbourhoods Terry Collins, head of culture and sport Steve Howell, and chair of the DLI Trustees James Ramsbotham, moved to allay many of the fears expressed since the move away from the collection’s current Aykley Heads home was announced in October.

Through both a comprehensive presentation and responses to questions, the meeting – which was open to the public – heard that:

  • The council is continuing to consult with campaigners, veterans and other interested parties about what can be done to honour the regiment going forward.
  • Durham County Council has received backing for its plans from the Army Museums Ogilvy Trust, which said the authority’s plans “demonstrate a clear commitment to the collection.”
  • The DLI collection will be kept together, not broken up, and be more publicly accessible than before.
  • This will include a free exhibition on the History of the DLI – compared to a £5.45 adult entry fee for the current museum – lasting for at least five years.
  • The proposals will also include a new, not currently available, “on demand” service for families who wish to see artefacts at Sevenhills.
  • Moving the collection will allow curators to spend more time focussing on their work, rather than having to deal with an ageing building, meaning they can concentrate on bringing the DLI story to the widest possible audience.
  • With the museum vacated, the building will be assessed and – if appropriate – declared surplus to the requirements of the council’s culture and sport department. At that stage, it would then be considered for other alternative uses – but there are no current plans for the site or the building. There is a strong aspiration to maintain the landscape.
  • The site of the DLI Museum will see memorial benches remain, and the council is open to exploring whether a new permanent memorial could be created at Aykley Heads.
  • Discussions have taken place over ashes which have been scattered near to the present museum, with a range of options for how to sensitively handle those remains being explored.
  • As part of the proposals, the council has made a commitment to the DLI collection to invest £70,000 a year in funding for at least five years, at a time when it must find nearly £140m more in annual savings. That would include education officers being kept on to take the DLI story into classrooms.
  • An extensive programme of events, including plays, musical performances and an interactive theatrical experience, have been commissioned alongside the already announced ‘History of the DLI’ and ‘Somme 1916’ exhibitions in the next 12 months.
  • The art gallery currently housed alongside the collection will see exhibitions taken on a county wide tour in 2016, while a permanent home is found for it.

James Ramsbotham, the chair of the DLI Trustees, said he felt a “very heavy responsibility” to do the best for a collection that “means so much to so many people,” but that the plans offered a “sustainable and exciting future.”

“There is a much wider story to tell,” he said. “And if we want to continue to engage people, we have got to do something more dynamic to bring people back again and again.

“We need to refresh and be forward looking, much like the DLI was.

“We need to move away from a building that is in the wrong place and look to do things better; to do something that will ensure the DLI lives long in the hearts of the county.”

 

Cllr Neil Foster said: “Necessity is the mother of invention, and you’ve only got to look at the challenges we have now and the continued financial pressures in the years to come to see we have to go out and be innovative.”

The DLI collection includes over 4,000 medals, 1,100 uniform related items, 2,600 examples of weapons and ammunition, more than 400 pieces of equipment, and over 400 relics, as well as extensive records and documents.

Steve Howell, the council’s head of culture and sport, said: “We are keeping the DLI collection together. I’ve had a lot of letters about it and heard the rumours that we are looking to split the collection up, but that is absolutely not true.

“We’ll be retaining and maintaining it as a single collection, regardless of where it is on display. That is how many national collections work – items go out, they are used to tell their stories, and then they come back.

“It’s not just going to be put in a box in Spennymoor, it is going to be maintained with proper curatorial skills so the story can continue to be told and live on.”

The meeting also heard further details of plans for events linked to the DLI and the current World War One centenary.

Steve said: “These are things we would never be able to do in the museum, and are not something we could do while we have to spend so much on the current building.”

Discussions will also continue, with public input, as to what is included in the free, five year History of the DLI exhibition on Palace Green, around future exhibitions, and about what happens after the initial five years.

The plans have been backed by the Army Museums Ogilby Trust (AMOT), an organisation that supports and promotes 139 regimental collections, including that of the DLI, which said it would work with all the interested parties and help where it can to create a secure future for the collection.

In a statement AMOT said: “We believe Durham’s proposals demonstrate a clear commitment to the collection.

“Durham has been generous over many years and we know there is the will to make sure the DLI has a secure future.

“Durham is unusual in the length and depth of support it gives, and this will remain the case with future arrangements.

“Durham’s proposals are quantifiably better than those for other collections at risk.”

Updates on how work is progressing will be presented back to Overview and Scrutiny in both three and six months’ time.

To hear from those campaigning to save the DLI Museum, read their stories here:

Durham Council Pledges To Continue Meetings Over DLI Museum

By on 10th December 2015in Local Biz

Durham County Council has pledged to keep meeting with veterans and campaigners as it develops how best to continue to honour the Durham Light Infantry…

 

Speaking at a meeting of full council on Wednesday morning, the council’s cabinet member for economic regeneration and culture, Cllr Neil Foster, said meetings have already taken place with many who share strong views on the future of the DLI collection.

He said the council will continue to listen to people who want to help bring the story of the men and women who served to the audience it deserves.

Cllr Foster said: “In adopting this report, the Cabinet members recognised the heritage of the DLI regiment must not only be maintained and preserved for future generations, but honoured as widely as possible.

“We also recognise, as a city containing a World Heritage Site, that it is also important to provide an excellent cultural offer, both for the benefit of our own residents and the many thousands of tourists who come to visit us each year.

“However, we must also recognise that what we have done before may no longer be appropriate or sustainable, and we must therefore look for opportunities for how we can make the most of what we have.

“In consultation with the DLI Trustees, whose role is to do what is best for the collection, and in partnership with Durham University, we have sought to find a new way of telling the DLI story – a way that will take it to the heart of the World Heritage Site, with its more than 600,000 visitors a year, and give it the far greater audience it rightly deserves.

“In addition, we have been working with Army Museums Ogilby Trust, the recognised authority in this area.

“We have already met with many of those who have strong views on the future of this museum, and welcome the opportunity to meet others in order that this can help shape the future of the collection and how we exhibit the many important artefacts it contains.

“We understand there has been significant public concern about the proposed changes, particularly with the idea that we are seeking to lock much of the collection away from public view, but that is simply not true.

“Durham County Council – as one of the few local authorities still funding a regimental museum – is committed to multiple exhibitions over the next five years to showcase much of what is currently on display, as well as many items, photos and stories which aren’t.

“At the same time, we want to provide a new, more suitable home for those items not included in exhibitions, with a publicly accessible research facility at Spennymoor at which curators, conservators and volunteers will be able to study and work on items.

“Both of those are longer term commitments to the DLI. Work is well underway on an exciting programme of events for 2016 that further explore and commemorate the role of Durham men and women at war.

“Rest assured that we are very aware of the importance of the DLI both to the history and people of the county and beyond.

“And we believe our plans which we are developing with the input of many will offer both a fitting tribute to those who served with the regiment, and ensure the continuation of the collection for many years to come.”

The DLI collection is set to move from its current home at Aykley Heads in April, by which time the first of the exhibitions on Palace Green, looking at the involvement of Durham people in the Battle of the Somme, will be open to the public.

A five year exhibition on the History of the DLI will follow later in the year, with further temporary exhibitions on different topics related to the regiment, and a linked programme of events marking the World War One centenary also planned.

To discover more about the county’s involvement in the 1914 to 1918 conflict, visit the council’s archive, museum and archaeology services’ Durham at War website, www.durhamatwar.org.uk.

To hear from those campaigning to save the DLI Museum, read their stories here:

Save The DLI Museum: So That His Name Be Not Forgotten

By on 10th November 2015in Have Your Say, What's New?

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. Deryck Collins tells the story of his own connection to the men who fought…

 

When I first visited George and Dorothy Clark’s Sunderland home, a framed photograph of a young lad with curly hair caught my eye.

Knowing my interest in military history, they told me, “That’s Worth. He died in the First World War, only sixteen. He was torpedoed on the return leg of his maiden voyage from Boston to Liverpool.”

My wife interrupted quietly to say, “It was his brother Billie I always fancied. It quite amused my granny – his sister – but he was gorgeous!” A couple of photographs of a handsome young man in his early twenties were passed to me. “He died as well, first day of the Somme. His fiancée Dora never married, even after she emigrated to Canada, but she kept in touch with the family. I used to get a pair of furry slippers from her every Christmas until she died.”

I had obviously touched on a very sad, though very dear family story. I was intrigued. It was the first time I had spoken to someone with such a tangible link to the First World War.

As it turned out, Billie’s sister had kept a few keepsakes of him, including the ‘Dead Man’s Penny’, the giant medal presented to the families of all fallen servicemen. They even still had the official scroll that had accompanied it. It had the usual phrases about duty and death, but the line that stayed with me was: “Let those who come after see to it that his name be not forgotten. Cpl William Worthington Wilson Durham L. I.”

Most incredible, I was shown his final letter home. Within were words in his own hand about people that I knew personally; his sister Nellie and brother-in-law Jim, and their newborn daughter (my mother-in-law Dorothy Clark). The letter pulled me in. It was as if the postman had only just delivered it…

21/3/16
My dear Nellie,
As you said in your most welcome letter (received in Egypt), it is just as well I know you. The cap fits us both however, for I’m sure that if you did not know me, you would long since have been thinking some very hard things about your soldier brother. But as that is not the case, if when we both regard letter writing as more or less of a bore, then there is not much harm done by any lack of correspondence on our parts.
Thoughts however are different, for since I commenced my one and only sea voyage till now, there seems to have been a great change come over us, and I’ve realised what you have been, and are now to us a real sister. Now there is Dorothy, many are the times I’ve had your photo out, and felt the better for it. The tales I hear of her canny way and loveable manner make me feel quite eager for the chance of seeing for myself, and feeling her lips on mine in a cousin’s kiss. You will not realise the kind of possession we feel in having a niece all our own, but it is there Nellie, and we glory in it, perhaps because we may be thinking ‘things’ ourselves, but ’nuff said about that.
I guess there will be no need for me to tell you when we got here, where we are, how we are, what we are going to do and when, etc, etc, etc, for you will no doubt get all that from Mother, so there’ll be no need for me to waste any space on that subject. One little bit of news however, that I have not put in Mother’s letter, is to the effect that a certain number of NCOs leave here tomorrow for a six day spell in the trenches – to learn the ropes, y’ know? Unfortunately I am not included in this number, but hope that I shall be in the next party, which will go up about the 29th of this month. You can use your own judgement about telling Mother of this.
It will make little difference however, whether I go or not, simply because there is very little doing in that sector of the line we are to take over. Also our opponents are said to be Saxons, and they do not believe in pushing things on very much – unlike the Prussians at Verdun. However we shall see about that later.
Shortly before leaving Egypt I received a letter from Dora, enclosing an excellent photograph, and I have not even acknowledged it yet, so you might ‘apologise’ for me, will you Nellie dear, and say I’m going to write just as soon as ever I can. Probably I may get a letter off to her before you do, tho’ I’m not sure. Methinks a secretary will shortly have to be engaged by this chicken.
I am not giving you any address, for you can get that any time from Mother, so now that it is nearly dark and no candle, I’d better close with love to Jim, and with lots of love to you.
Billie

21st of March to 1st July, only ten weeks before the great battle began.

Given Billie’s lack of enthusiasm for letter writing, this may very well have been his last letter. I have read a fair few letters from the front to relatives back home in ‘Blighty’. Most of them are of an entirely different style. The writers frequently stress that they are ‘merry and bright’, ‘fit as a fiddle’ or ‘in the pink’, and do their best to stop fond relatives worrying. They are full of thanks for socks and cigarettes received, and requests for fruitcakes and tins of sardines to come. Billie makes no material requests, and instead he asks his sister to smooth things over with his fiancée, whom he has neglected writing to.

To me, the most moving part was Billie expressing his longing to see and kiss baby Dorothy, a wish I knew would be denied by his death. He had been a Lance Sergeant for over six months and knew his Division, the 31st, had been brought back from Egypt (guarding the Suez Canal) to take part in the coming ‘Big Push’ in France, yet his only regret is not being in the first draught of NCOs for special training. He really downplays it for his sister by stressing the unwarlike qualities of the Saxons they will be facing.

I liked this man. He was doing a serious job in an unfussy, business-like way… just the sort of man I’d be pleased to find in charge of a section in the British Army.

But these feelings of mine could not last forever. A good while later, we went to the British Newspaper Library, then in Colindale, London. After several hours searching, we found the following notice in The Sunderland Echo of 18th July:

Sunderland Daily Echo
18th July 1916
LOCAL CASUALTIES KILLED
Intimation has been received by Capt. and Mrs S. W. Wilson, 10, Azalea Avenue, Sunderland, that their son, Lance-Sergt. Wm. W. Wilson, Machine Gun Section, D.L.I., was killed in action on July 1st. He enlisted in the local Pals’ Battalion in November, 1914, with his three chums, two of whom were wounded in the same action. His officer writes as follows:
“It happened on the first day of the push, July 1st, at the very beginning, when the battn began to move forward. Shrapnel and high explosives were bursting all over, and machine-gun fire swept the whole line. Poor Wilson said ‘Good-bye, chaps. Headquarters are moving. Come on, lads’, and he got on to the parapet, leading his section into the attack. He had only gone two or three yards when he fell with a machinegun bullet through his chest. Someone shouted ‘Billie’s down’, and I understand he was carried back immediately to our trench, but he was dead. He was a steady, quiet, and manly fellow; everybody liked him, and many in the battn have expressed their sorrow to me. That he did his duty, and that he nobly led his section in front of perhaps the most murderous fire that there has been in all the war may be some little consolation to his mother.”

Trying to understand these words, I read many other letters of condolence. If you read enough of them, their formulaic quality begins to come through. It’s routinely implied that soldiers die instantly, and that they feel no pain. They always receive a single, clean shot, and never numerous malevolent, disfiguring chunks of shrapnel. They are neither blown to dust nor buried alive.

In short, they die heroically.

I was unhappy with arriving at this cynical conclusion, so I thought some more on it. Officers had to write hundreds of these letters, and they couldn’t bear to go into the truthful detail. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was not yet recognized, but they couldn’t relive on paper the cruel death of every man under their command.

Besides, an officer and a gentleman would not wish to cause the soldier’s mother or wife such unnecessary suffering. He would seek some way of mitigating it, just as Billie’s officer had done.

 

Billie died a hero’s death, though perhaps more horrifically than was recorded. He, along with 72,195 other men, has his name inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. Apart from that, the Durham Light Infantry Museum is the only place of commemoration that his family have. Please help us keep this museum open, and protest against the Durham County Councillors who – shamefully – want to see it closed in the name of financial austerity.

Deryck Collins

To find out how you can assist in the fight against the DLI Museum’s closure, have a read of these instructions from the campaign’s Political Lobbyist.

Click here to visit the Save The DLI Museum website.

Click here to join the Save The DLI Museum Facebook group.

Click here to contact your local councillor.

Save The DLI Museum: Families Of Victoria Cross Recipients Respond

By on 9th November 2015in Have Your Say, What's New?

Peter Mann speaks to the families of DLI veterans who were awarded the Victoria Cross…

The decision from Durham County Council to close the DLI Museum has caused mass uproar not only across the region, but amongst war veterans and within the families of those who received the Victoria Cross.

Steve Howell, the Head of Culture and Sport at Durham County Council insists, “We are looking to keep the legacies and the stories of this great collection going.

“The medals and other military paraphernalia will be on display at the Palace Green Library and private viewings can be requested on what we hope will be an improved service for the people; but it’s not about the building, it is about the people and those stories and legacies that we can focus on.” Regardless, there remains much opposition, and the VC families are speaking out.

The Wakenshaws, the Youngs and the Heavisides have all categorically spoken of their disgust at such a decision being made without their prior knowledge.

Pte Adam Wakenshaw, whose name lives on through his Great Grandson, Adam, was awarded the VC for his actions in June 1942, where he and several of his comrades were killed in action in Mersa Matruh, Egypt, over what has become colloquially known as ‘The Wakenshaw Gun.’

The Wakenshaw descendants only have the museum to honour their fallen relative (Pte Wakenshaw is buried in Egypt) and, speaking of his ‘hurt and disgust’ at the Council’s decision, Mark Wakenshaw, 47, said: “We will be speaking with the DLI Trustees as the VC is on loan so long as it is on permanent display, and our view is that is where it needs to be, along with the rest of the exhibition.

“My father is visibly upset about all this, and although people may have spoken to my Aunt, she is not the head of the family. They (Durham County Council) have not spoken with my father and, as he is still alive, remains the head of the family.

“I believe this to be a half-hearted movement on behalf of the council and, although I’m all for change, everything in there needs to stay together, for it’s starting to feel like they are getting rid of a lot of social history. They should be treating this with respect, and it’s even more insulting and poignant as to the timing of it all.”

The Young family, for whom Pte Thomas Young was awarded the VC for his services under fire in Bucquoy, France, in March 1918, has a memorial which can be seen in the grounds of High Spen Primary School and a statue in South Shields Town Hall.

His great, great nephew, Grant Young, said: “We are not happy with what has happened and feel that that the heritage and history of the DLI will now fade out and disappear in time.

“Everything, to me, is being systematically destroyed. Something needs to be done, and for them to say they have contacted families of VC recipients is just wrong, for with us the family line dies out with me and I’ve had no contact from them at all. Neither has any other family member for that matter.

“I think it’s all been decided behind closed doors, and it’s not a great situation. None of this is and I’d rather just take back our VC.”

As for Pte Michael Heaviside, who was born on Station Lane in Gilesgate, he was awarded the VC when on the Hindenburg line near Fontaine-les-Croisilles, France, in May 1917. As with those before him, Pte Heaviside performed above and beyond the call of duty, and in doing so almost certainly saved the lives of others in what was described as a ‘most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty’. Following the war, he returned to life as a miner in nearby Craghead.

Alan Heaviside, a surviving relative of Pte Heaviside, added: “The VC was presented to the DLI Museum for permanent display, not semi-permanent or to go into storage as they are suggesting.

“The whole family would agree that it should be on permanent display, and I do believe that there’s some sort of ulterior motive behind it all, and to do this in the run up to the Remembrance Day service is just wrong.”

The future of the DLI Museum is one that could change in an instant, and for those directly affected, it’s a battle that they are more than happy to fight. With the 18,000+ strong ‘Save the DLI Museum’ campaign causing a stir, the veterans have a voice, just as the near 6,000 signatures on the petition suggests.

As Montgomery of Alamein said of the DLI: “There may be some Regiments as good, but I know of none better.”

Click here to visit the Save The DLI Museum website.

Click here to join the Save The DLI Museum Facebook group.

Click here to contact your local councillor.

Save The DLI Museum: What Action Can You Take Yourself?

By on 6th November 2015in Have Your Say, What's New?

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.

Click here to join the Save The DLI Museum Facebook group.

Click here to contact your local councillor.

Save The DLI Museum: A Message From The Campaign Leader

By on 2nd November 2015in Have Your Say, What's New?

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. Frontman of the campaign challenging this decision, former Police Officer John Stephenson, explains why support to save the museum is needed…

When I heard the announcement from Durham County Council Cabinet regarding the closure of The DLI Museum site at Aykley Heads, I was both shocked and disgusted.

I’m not a serial campaigner. In fact, I’ve never been involved in a campaign in my life, but I knew that I had to do something.

The Council announcement coincides with the 1914-1918 Great War commemorations, and came less than a month before Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day. These are days on which we should be celebrating our Armed Forces and honouring their sacrifice, rather than consigning their memory to history.

To show my disgust over the proposals, I made a post on the DCC Facebook page. It was shared and liked hundreds of times, and many people commented to share their support. This led to my decision to commence an online campaign to challenge the Council.

Within an hour of starting the Save The DLI Museum group on Facebook, we had 80 members. After nine days, we now have over 8,500 members. The total is rising daily, and we have members from all walks of life and all parts of the world. The people care, and have come together to try and save a museum dedicated to one of the finest Infantry Regiments to carry colours.

As General Montgomery once famously said of the Durham’s, “There may be some Regiments as good, but I know of none better.” 

The men of the Regiment were drawn from across the North East, and some even heard the call overseas, returning to join. Those men stood for all of the traditions that we in the North East adhere to: courage, honour, decency, dedication to duty, determination, and staying faithful to each other.

The DLI and North East ethos is summed up succinctly by Thomas Young, DLI VC winner. Regarding the actions that won him Britain’s highest military honour, he said, “I am not much of a speaker. There’s not a man of the Durham’s who wouldn’t have done what I did. It was just what any of them would done if they could. The thing happened to come my way and I did it. That’s all.”

The campaign to save the DLI Museum is gaining traction, but it requires as much public support as we can muster if we want to succeed. If anybody reading this wishes to join the campaign and show their support, or even just wants to learn more about our heritage and the sacrifice that these North East men made to secure it, I encourage to join the group here. 

John Stephenson

In & Around Online would like to voice our own support for the Save The DLI Museum campaign. We’ll be posting regular updates, and we encourage anybody who would like to share their own thoughts regarding the DCC announcement to contact us at online@inandaroundmag.co.uk.

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