2009 — Fall
Annual Christmas Open House
COME ONE, COME ALL to our Annual Christmas Open House on Sunday,
December 13, 2009. 2 p.m. until 4 p.m.
Kick off the Christmas Season sharing time with your friends and
family at the Museum. Come and see our new exhibits and how the
staff have been busy decking the halls.
Mark it on your calendar - we hope to see you there.
Summer Students
This summer the Museum was fortunate to have three summer
students - two of them (Charles McMillan and Michelle Whitchurch)
returning from last year and our 'newbie' Rebecca Gloor. The three
young people worked hard and accomplished many things over the
summer, including setting up our new exhibit, "Learning through
Play".
They also helped the staff get more caught up in cataloguing,
giving tours, photographing artifacts, and countless other
things.
New Acquisitions
In our last newsletter we told you of Mr. Ron White, an
excellent craftsman from Tillsonburg who handcrafts ships. The
Museum has now received two more , MTB #379. and HMS Dreadnought.
They really are a must see and a great addition to our
collection!
Another local modeller has graciously loaned the
Museum a model of a Fokker Triplane, made famous by Manfred von
Richtofen, "the Red Baron". Meticulously detailed, this model is
truly a wonder to behold.
If you read St.Thomas's new local weekly paper, the Super
Shopper Weekly News, then you may already know the Museum was
presented with a framed photograph of the Avro Arrow. It was
donated by Mrs. Iris Wellwood in memory of her brother Sgt. K.
Wood,RAF, killed in action Dec. 16, 1943.
W M Thompson's Fenian Raid Medal
In July, Andrew Cadzow, who has a great interest in medals,
presented us with a Fenian Raid Medal originally awarded to St.
Thomas resident W.M. Thompson for his efforts as a member of the
St. Thomas Rifle Company during the Fenian Raids in
1866. A true philanthropist, Mr. Cadzow purchases
medals at auction, and then donates them to local museums across
Canada, asking only for a tax receipt for all his efforts.
In June, we received from Mr. Ken Allen, a private collector,
his complete collection of about 3000 items relating to the Royal
Canadian Engineers. This huge donation will not
be formally 'received' by the Museum until the completion of a
Movable Cultural Property Application (tax reasons, you know), a
process that may take up to 15 months to complete.
Remembrance Week Was a Very, Very Busy Week for the Museum
Remembrance Week this year was again a very busy time for the
staff and volunteers at the Museum. The week of November 11th there
were tours booked every evening for Brownies, Girl Guides, Cubs and
Scouts as well as tours during regular business hours. Ian Raven
gave a talk at the Library, on the home front during the early days
of WW II and Jeff Booth read letters from his books "Opened by
Censor" and "All is Well with Ellis". The Museum
had a display at Southwold Service and laid wreaths at the
services' in Port Stanley and St. Thomas. Busy! Busy!
New Exhibits
You may remember two years ago the Museum did a big move of
exhibits. To properly address the annversaries of
Vimy Ridge and the Armistice we moved our WWI exhibits into the
Main Exhibit Room and downsized our WWII exhibit and moved it to
the WWI Room. WWII is now back in the Main Exhibit Room with a
display on the "Beginning of War II", focusing on the time line of
1939 to 1941. As well, the new exhibit "Learning through Play",
done by the summer students, is located in this room.
When we moved the WWI Exhibit back to its original room we gave
it a new look as well. With the help of Tim Barrett and the staff,
what used to be the 'Bunker' is now a vignette of a trench during
WWI, and the Fokker Tri Plane model mentioned earlier, is also on
exhibit in this room.
The 'Post War' Room has now moved into Duncombe House, where you
will see new exhibits relating to the current Afghan campaign. This
includes battledress worn by our soldiers in Afghanistan as well as
some artifacts that Craig Grant brought home from his recent
tour.
A second exhibit is mounted on the wall and consists of a
listing of the citations of soldiers who have received the Star of
Military Valour or the Medal of Military Valour for their actions
in Afghanistan. Reading these citations gives a very clear
impression of how difficult and dangerous this campaign is for our
soldiers.
The Museum Is in Demand
Over the summer months, D.N.D. sent someone to the Museum to
research our records on #4Bombing and Gunnery School at Fingal. The
researcher spent a full day copying and searching our files on the
school. Jeff Booth and Ian attended the Bachus-Page Educational Day
with a demonstration relating to the British Soldier. Museum
volunteers and staff manned an exhibit at the Wing & Wheels Air
Show, as well as the Seniors in the Park event. We have had a
request from a teacher who was running a workshop for all Ontario
teachers on Education and Museums asking for a copy of our
education programs to pass on to the attendees.
For the first time this year the city of St. Thomas
participated in the Doors Open Program and the Museum was part of
it, ranking third in the number of visitors received. On top of all
that, it has been a very busy summer for visitors on a daily basis
and our numbers are up over 6% overall!
International Plowing Match
In 2010 Elgin County will be hosting the International Plowing
Match and the Elgin Military Museum is combining resources with the
other Museums in the County for a display. All this requires a lot
of planning and meetings before the actual event takes place. Mr.
Raven has been going to monthly planning meetings for several
months now. As the event comes closer we will most likely be
looking for volunteers to help. Please consider volunteering a bit
of your time to this event.
Sorry to Nag, But…
While we are continuing to calculate the increased costs to the
museum by the acquisition of the Duncombe House Heritage Centre, we
are trying to keep expenses to a minimum. As time passes and more
permanent display areas emerge these costs are becoming known. It
is hoped that the new exhibits will draw in more spectators to the
museum through 2010, so tell (and bring) your friends.
While the new space is not yet generating much income, it is
generating expenses that are taxing our meagre reserves to the
limit. Insurance costs went up by 50% adding coverage to the new
space, and the cost of utilities has effectively doubled.
As we expand more space will be given to new and expanded
exhibits, for example, a larger Hall of Honour is in the planning
stages now. If you feel strongly about that or anything else feel
free to let us know. Of course, we all know that money talks, and
we love to listen. You might want to write us a BIG cheque and have
an area named after you. Or, if you prefer, just write the cheque -
and we won't tell anybody - the bottom line is that bottom lines
should be black, not 'red', and we need some of your 'green', if
that is to be so.
They Will Be Missed
Many of us will look at 2009 as the year we said goodbye to too
many great friends and supporters. Space does not permit us to list
them all, as we should, but some do leap to mind.
- Mignon Barnes
- F. 'Joe' Fellows
- Charles Phillips
- Nell Allen
- William Allen
- Jim Gillick
- Jack McNeil
Forever in our hearts, we will miss you all. Thank you for all
your support.
Museum Acquires Vehicles
The Museum has completed negotiations with National Defence to
obtain two M113A1 Armoured Personnel Carriers for use as exhibits
at the Museum. The M113 was the workhorse APC of the Canadian
Forces for many years, and some have even seen service in
Afghanistan.
The vehicles were recently declared surplus by DND, and are
currently being 'demobilized' before coming to the Museum. With a
nominal valuation of $20,000 per vehicle, these vehicles become one
of the largest donations the Museum has ever received.
Although the Museum does not yet have a delivery date (this
process has already taken close to 8 months), work will begin
shortly to prepare suitable pads for the vehicles.
2010 Marks 100th Anniversay of the Navy
2010 will mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the
Royal Canadian Navy, and the Museum has commissioned a custom built
model of HMCS St. Thomas to mark the occasion.
The ship takes form…
Along with St. Thomas, the Museum has also ordered models of
HMCS Edmunston and U-877, the submarine the two ships sank December
27, 1944 in mid-Atlantic.
Scheduled for delivery in the spring of 2010, the ships will form
the nucleus of a new naval exhibit to mark the 100th
anniversary.
Each model requires hundreds of hours of detailed
work. Similar models have been appraised at over $8,000.
The Great Spam Cook-Off
Craig Grant, appropriately dressed in WWII battledress, draws
his Spam and Bully Beef to prepare for the Great Spam Cook Off held
Nov. 6 at the Elgin Regiment. The event was a great success, and
raised over $600 for the Museum and the Wounded Warriors Fund. It
was so successful that we are hoping to make it an Annual Event!
(below are some picture of the Event)
The Prime Ingredient awaits the competitors.
Judge Bill Todd questions his judgment.
Could we interest you in some lunch?.
No, they are not eating their own.
Sure they are smiling; they only have to cook
it.
And the winners are…
Museum Receives Major Funding Grant
Press Release - Immediate Release
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The Elgin Military Museum is the grateful recipient of a grant
from the Elgin Business Resource Centre. The grant will enable the
Museum to write an analysis and business plan relating to a major
acquisition for the Museum.
This acquisition will dramatically transform the Museum and
create a major new tourist attraction, with the potential to draw
thousands of visitors from across the region, the country and even
international destinations. Locally, it will create a myriad of new
tourism based business opportunities in addition to a number of new
employment positions with the Museum.
While the current negotiations preclude a detailed announcement
of the project, the Museum is confident of a successful conclusion
to this process, and looks forward to working with local
municipalities, groups and individuals as we bring this project to
fruition.
The business plan that this grant will fund is an integral key
to the success of this project, and the encouragement and support
provided by the Elgin Business Resource Centre has turned this
project from an interesting idea to an achievable project, which
will bring new jobs, new
visitors and new revenue to many businesses, individuals and
groups across Elgin County.
The Executive and Members of the Elgin Military Museum wish to
express their deep gratitude and appreciation to the Elgin Business
Resource Centre for this grant, and the opportunities it will
create.
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