Sadness as war museum closes
VOLUNTEER-RUN VISITOR ATTRACTION SHUTS ITS DOORS AFTER COSTS SPRIAL
A VOLUNTEER-RUN visitor attraction charting life in Hull during the two world wars has closed after welcoming thousands of people for more than 15 years.
For the past decade, the Hull People’s Memorial Museum has been based in Whitefriargate in the city centre.
Organisers say they were fighting a losing battle against spiralling costs and the loss of nearby parking bays.
Operated by the Hull Remembers charity, amateur researchers based there identified more than 20 previously unknown soldiers in the official records of The Commonwealth War Graves Commission to help dozens of family members find and visit their graves or memorials.
Through their research, they also made it possible for more than 50 local veterans or surviving family members to recover lost, stolen or unissued medals and awards.
Overall, organisers estimate they have researched well over 10,000 individual requests for information relating to war veterans, their families and friends, wartime events and stories of Hull at war.
A successful fundraising campaign also allowed the charity to fulfil its long-held ambition to install a permanent memorial honouring the citizens of Hull who died in bombing raids during the two wars. The globe-shaped sculpture stands in Pargaon Street.
Over the years, the charity raised £200,000, allowing it to develop new displays and exhibitions in the museum. Volunteers have also visited local schools and hosted school trips as well as provided talks for libraries, care homes, social clubs, church groups and youth clubs.
In a message on the museum’s website, chairman Alan Brigham said: “Raising a memorial and maintaining the museum and research centre would never have been possible without all of the generous donations we have received from Hull, the UK and across the whole world.
“While £200,000 sounds like a very big number, it is not. It would not pay for four years’ rent in most of the city centre never mind the cost of heating, lighting and rates.
“Hull Remembers operated The Hull People’s Memorial Museum for over 15 years, ten of which were as guests of the Trinity House charity, our most generous supporters, who allowed us the use of 8-9 Whitefriargate on very special terms. Sadly, the time has come for us to withdraw from Whitefriargate and a visible high street setting.
“Rents, rates, insurance, water, heating, lighting and all the other associated costs are, as everyone is aware, going through the roof. Competing with this, the donations from our visitors, which are essential to our survival, are dropping too – people simply do not have the spare funds to make the same level of contribution as they once did.
“It has also become impossible for some of our volunteers and many of our visitors to access Whitefriargate as the city is actively permitting the misuse of disabled parking bays, with six having been removed and two more being scheduled for conversion into an on-road seating area for pub users.
“In addition, an estimated 12 metered parking bays have been taken out of use in the area. All the remaining parking bays are now closed by a new barrier across the only access to Silver Street, closing all access. This is not the primary reason for our closure but it is seriously affecting so many other businesses too.
“We would like to thank everyone who has supported us for so long – visitors, volunteers, donors and the many ‘hidden’ supporters; our trustees, our Ypres and London teams, our friends at the Carnegie Heritage Centre, The East Yorkshire Family History Society, authors Val Wood and Ronald Fairfax and so many more besides.
“Thank you all and be proud that you made it all happen in exchange for the odd cup of tea! It should be remembered too that all of this has been provided free of charge by volunteers who have never received wages, expenses or fringe benefits of any kind.”
Mr Brigham said the museum had successfully achieved its aim of casting off the “veil of anonymity of wartime secrecy” surrounding Hull’s wartime suffering.
He said: “The world now knows that Hull, the worst-bombed place in the United Kingdom, was that unnamed North East Coast Town of the newsreels and printed press.
“Our publicity campaign has reached international film and documentary makers, the printed press and radio stations worldwide, stimulating and supporting the production of new titles featuring Kingston upon Hull.”
The charity is hoping to continue offering much of its research work online and is currently organising the safe return of many personal artefacts donated over the years to their original owners.