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Isle of Man / Re: WW1 Internment Camp at Knockaloe
« on: Thursday 21 May 15 23:03 BST (UK) »
Continuing from the previous post regarding the Knockaloe Visitors Centre
In terms of the Visitors Centre Archive, we have agreed that it will link through to the Manx Museum (“imuseum”) archive and, in the same way we are currently doing via e mail, we will help people find out from the “imuseum”, the International Red Cross and other sources, including some excellent private collections, as much as possible about their family’s World War 1 internment story. It does need a fair bit of knowledge to understand what such information means in terms of telling the internment story of each internee. That aspect is time consuming but fascinating, and our volunteers will be there to help, either face to face or online .
With regard to the operational aspects of the Visitors Centre, it has been fantastic to see our village come together on this. As a team we have a huge amount of expertise to draw on. I am a Trustee of The Milntown Estate, the historic house and gardens in the North of the Island, former home to the Christian family so I am used to dealing with the responsibility of ensuring it has available staff and volunteers and is financially viable, whilst remaining true to what the Settlor wanted for the Estate, and will be using this experience for the Visitors Centre for Knockaloe. Our Board is chaired by a lawyer and former Clerk of Tynwald, it also has two Chartered Accountants, farmers, local tourist accommodation owners, a doctor to name but a few, as well as commitments of help from many others, all of this is voluntary. Indeed, the first person to approach us to offer to help man the visitors centre is herself a great granddaughter of an internee. This summer, I have a history student helping us with the archive and one of the Board's own staff members is also dedicated to assisting on this project.
It would be illogical to double up with what the Manx Museum is doing. Their resource is fabulous and we intend to continue to work with them. They fully supported the advantages of a site specific Visitors Centre. However, as a Government organisation with a public sector approach to overheads and construction, every site they have costs a phenomenal amount of money which is presumably why the “imuseum” is to close, and Knockaloe is not going to be sufficiently "mobbed" to be able to cover such costs, rather it will tend to attract those with a specific interest (although we shall be actively encouraging the schools). We shall of course encourage our visitors to visit their fabulous flagship museum in Douglas which provides an excellent explanation of internment across the island, similarly there is the independent Leece Museum in Peel, which has a superb collection of artefacts and we want to also work with them. Our "angle" is very much listening to the human stories and helping descendants fully understand their own internee's experience of World War 1, of which the Isle of Man formed one part, and, as part of this, we want to help descendants and others visualise what the rolling hills would have looked like 100 years ago, and how the families torn apart by internment would have felt, when our village became more populated than the island's capital!
It will be a lot of work for us all but we passionately believe that it is important, Our work has already started online, however the Visitors Centre will be a long process. Whilst the community has raised well over £100,000 to date, we have over twice that to go to set the exhibition up with appropriate disabled etc facilities. But this is not going to be a one off commemoration exhibition, rather a permanent, world class exhibition that gives a new purpose to the historic schoolrooms and preserves the stories of those internees for future generations. The initial Visitors Centre is just the start of the story. With the offer of a an original hut we have ideas a-plenty…
Any support anybody can give would be gratefully received – do look on our website
www.knockaloe.im for how to donate, for example by just sponsoring a bed – we have 23,000 to fill! The sooner we can get the Visitors Centre up and running, the sooner this legacy can be preserved and developed to help descendants around the globe.
Apologies for the long response, but hopefully this provides an explanation of what the registered charity is doing and why it is important, finally, 100 years later, to actually do something at Knockaloe itself to ensure it is protected for future generations. I am delighted to say the meeting last night went well. Government are looking to long lease the farm but committed to ensure that any lessee works with us so we can protect Knockaloe's WW1 heritage in a sympathetic manner.
In terms of the Visitors Centre Archive, we have agreed that it will link through to the Manx Museum (“imuseum”) archive and, in the same way we are currently doing via e mail, we will help people find out from the “imuseum”, the International Red Cross and other sources, including some excellent private collections, as much as possible about their family’s World War 1 internment story. It does need a fair bit of knowledge to understand what such information means in terms of telling the internment story of each internee. That aspect is time consuming but fascinating, and our volunteers will be there to help, either face to face or online .
With regard to the operational aspects of the Visitors Centre, it has been fantastic to see our village come together on this. As a team we have a huge amount of expertise to draw on. I am a Trustee of The Milntown Estate, the historic house and gardens in the North of the Island, former home to the Christian family so I am used to dealing with the responsibility of ensuring it has available staff and volunteers and is financially viable, whilst remaining true to what the Settlor wanted for the Estate, and will be using this experience for the Visitors Centre for Knockaloe. Our Board is chaired by a lawyer and former Clerk of Tynwald, it also has two Chartered Accountants, farmers, local tourist accommodation owners, a doctor to name but a few, as well as commitments of help from many others, all of this is voluntary. Indeed, the first person to approach us to offer to help man the visitors centre is herself a great granddaughter of an internee. This summer, I have a history student helping us with the archive and one of the Board's own staff members is also dedicated to assisting on this project.
It would be illogical to double up with what the Manx Museum is doing. Their resource is fabulous and we intend to continue to work with them. They fully supported the advantages of a site specific Visitors Centre. However, as a Government organisation with a public sector approach to overheads and construction, every site they have costs a phenomenal amount of money which is presumably why the “imuseum” is to close, and Knockaloe is not going to be sufficiently "mobbed" to be able to cover such costs, rather it will tend to attract those with a specific interest (although we shall be actively encouraging the schools). We shall of course encourage our visitors to visit their fabulous flagship museum in Douglas which provides an excellent explanation of internment across the island, similarly there is the independent Leece Museum in Peel, which has a superb collection of artefacts and we want to also work with them. Our "angle" is very much listening to the human stories and helping descendants fully understand their own internee's experience of World War 1, of which the Isle of Man formed one part, and, as part of this, we want to help descendants and others visualise what the rolling hills would have looked like 100 years ago, and how the families torn apart by internment would have felt, when our village became more populated than the island's capital!
It will be a lot of work for us all but we passionately believe that it is important, Our work has already started online, however the Visitors Centre will be a long process. Whilst the community has raised well over £100,000 to date, we have over twice that to go to set the exhibition up with appropriate disabled etc facilities. But this is not going to be a one off commemoration exhibition, rather a permanent, world class exhibition that gives a new purpose to the historic schoolrooms and preserves the stories of those internees for future generations. The initial Visitors Centre is just the start of the story. With the offer of a an original hut we have ideas a-plenty…
Any support anybody can give would be gratefully received – do look on our website
www.knockaloe.im for how to donate, for example by just sponsoring a bed – we have 23,000 to fill! The sooner we can get the Visitors Centre up and running, the sooner this legacy can be preserved and developed to help descendants around the globe.
Apologies for the long response, but hopefully this provides an explanation of what the registered charity is doing and why it is important, finally, 100 years later, to actually do something at Knockaloe itself to ensure it is protected for future generations. I am delighted to say the meeting last night went well. Government are looking to long lease the farm but committed to ensure that any lessee works with us so we can protect Knockaloe's WW1 heritage in a sympathetic manner.