大象传媒

Introduction

This article has been written by Joseph Ritson, a volunteer for the 大象传媒 Radio Cumbria CSV Action Desk volunteers at a commemorative, interactive exhibition about World War Two at Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle, Cumbria. The author fully understands the terms of the 鈥淧eople鈥檚 War鈥� website.

To coincide with the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War Two a two-year education project was created entitled 'Their Past Your Future'. It was led by the Imperial War Museum in London and intended to explore issues such as commemoration, conflict and citizenship. The exhibition incorporated a wide range of activities for all ages throughout the UK, from infants to senior citizens.

Within the exhibition are personal stories of essentially ordinary people confronted by war, including how individuals kept their families safe, how their wartime experiences changed their lives in the years that followed, and how they still remember lost family and friends. Many of these personal stories are put into the wider context of the war. Supporting these personal memories have been displays of wartime artefacts, memorabilia and photographs as well as an illustrated 'Timeline' showing the war鈥檚 impact on the UK landscape and society.

The touring exhibition arrived at Tullie House on 25 July 2005 and was on display until 4 September 2005. On Friday 19 August 2005, the 大象传媒 Radio Cumbria CSV Action Desk team of volunteers were in attendance to help support the touring exhibition, promote the 大象传媒 "People's War" project and help anyone with wartime memories to make a contribution to the "People's War" Archive. Leading the team of 大象传媒 CSV Action Desk volunteers were Jemma Bellingham and Elisa Colton from Radio Cumbria and Paul Corcoran of Radio Newcastle.

The IWM touring exhibition

The IWM Second World War touring exhibition was housed in a room next to the front entrance to the Tullie House museum entrance. It incorporated three visual 'Timelines' beginning in 1938 and depicting 'The World at War', 'The UK at War' and 'England at War'. At first glance, these themes appeared rather innocuous. Yet, they resulted in some very emotional responses among some of those who visited the exhibition (see below).

Within the central part of the exhibition was a large video screen showing film clips of the war and some personal testimonies of people who had lived through those particular events. Also inside this central part of the exhibition were photographs and personal wartime stories of men, women and children. Some of these became well known as a result of the war, while others are still not widely known. These included Leonard Cheshire V.C., Johnny Smythe, William Rose, Mary Elizabeth Harrison, Terry Mathews, Dennis Knight and Beryl Myatt. The accounts featured people with a wide variety of wartime experiences. Not all of those featured had survived the war.

One of those whose story was featured in the exhibition and who died in the war was a young girl called Beryl Myatt. A German submarine torpedoed the ship evacuating Beryl and 89 other children to Canada. The ship was the 'City of Benares' and it was sunk on 17 September 1940. Only 13 of the 90 children on board were rescued. This proved to be a very poignant story, particularly for those families with young children who were visiting the exhibition.

A couple of visitors I spoke with after they had viewed the IWM exhibition commented that the 鈥楾imeline鈥� emphasised 鈥楨ngland at War鈥�. This was immediately obvious as soon as the visitor entered the room where the exhibition was held. The city of Carlisle, Cumbria is in England. Carlisle, known as 鈥楾he Border City鈥�, is only about a dozen miles from Scotland and many residents of Southern Scotland use the city for work, shopping and leisure.

The visitors who mentioned this to me said that it would have been better for the exhibition to have included specific sections about the other parts of the British Isles if the 鈥楨ngland鈥� was being singled out! When I looked at the IWM leaflet publicising the exhibition, I found there were nine separate touring exhibitions and it implied that the ones sent to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales emphasised the different impact of the war in each location.

Some Austrian visitors made remarks that were even more emotional. They commented that the exhibition was very good, but that perhaps it could have given the viewpoint of 鈥榯he other side鈥� (i.e. the Axis or German / Austrian view). This Austrian couple wrote these remarks in the IWM 鈥楥omments鈥� book at the exit to the exhibition.

The next couple, who had seen the comments expressing the idea that the view of 鈥榯he other side鈥� had been written into the book had even stronger views about the IWM exhibition and the war. They commented: 鈥淲hat about the 6 Million Jews and others who died in the Concentration Camps?鈥� They also wrote sentiments to this effect in the official IWM 鈥楥omments鈥� book. Perhaps these differing views demonstrate that the IWM touring exhibition did, at the very least, make people think about different aspects of World War Two, 60 years after it ended!

Another visitor to the exhibition told me it had brought back some memories of his childhood. It reminded him of many things that he had experienced as a young lad growing up in Hornchurch, Essex. For some reason, his family were not allowed an 鈥楢nderson Shelter鈥� in the garden, and they didn鈥檛 have a 鈥楳orrison Shelter鈥� under the table, so his father had built a different Air Raid Shelter of his own. Living in Hornchurch, which is about 12 miles from the London Docks, this gentleman remembered the German bombers coming in via the Thames to bomb London and the docks, and the British Spitfires engaging them in dogfights.

Being young lads, they used to cheer the British pilots from the ground. They used to pick up pieces of shrapnel from the ground. One fellow in the Home Guard had given them what turned out to be a live round. When he took it home, his Dad had taken it off him and made it safe. One of his friends had also been given a live round. He took it inside the house, hit it with a brick and, being live, it flew round the room off ricocheting off all the walls!

Yet another couple went round the exhibition with their young granddaughter. One of the ways the exhibition was using to engage young children to learn about the war was to provide the materials to make a 鈥楪as Mask鈥� box. After making a miniature box, the family looked at a couple of real gas masks, toys and photographs of wartime evacuees. As can be seen from this example, getting at least some children interested in aspects of the war will perhaps help ensure some of the memories about the war will not be completely forgotten.

Local exhibits of the Second World War

To help give a more local perspective about World War Two, Tullie House Museum also had a number of artefacts, photographs and memoirs on display that come from its own Archives. These included photographs of Home Guard Platoons, ARP helmets, a stirrup pump, and household items like a flat iron. Two of the most popular items were the gas masks in their original cardboard boxes, one of which was a child鈥檚 size.

One significant social impact of the war was the large scale evacuation of children. Carlisle and the rest of what is now Cumbria (then Cumberland, Westmorland, North Lancashire and part of North Yorkshire), was an area that received evacuees from some of the larger conurbations such as Newcastle-upon-Tyne. One of the local exhibits on display was a suitcase for a boy that a typical evacuee might had when leaving home. The individual artefacts were taken from the Tullie House Museum stock, and are listed below.

Items that may have been in a boy's suitcase when evacuated during the war:

Ganzie, knitted tie, knitted socks, cub cap, blackout torch, ration book, scout magazine, comic, 'Flickers' (cigarette cards), soft toy (teddy bear), bag of marbles, purse with coins, airplane spotter's cards, homemade toy, whip and top, box camera, wartime 'Monopoly' game, child's book, family photos and a card to write home.

Reading the list of items in the suitcase, it was interesting to see a boy鈥檚 sleeveless woollen pullover described as a 鈥榞anzie鈥�. This was a term that my grandparents, members of the wartime generation would have used. I had not seen or heard that term used for many years!

Lining the suitcase were pages from a newspaper. I noticed that this was the 'Fun Section' from 'The Sunday Post' newspaper, with stories about 'Oor Wullie' and 'The Broons'! Although 'The Sunday Post' is a newspaper published in Scotland it was, and still is, distributed throughout Britain.

After the temporary exhibition closes, Tullie House Museum will plant a tree in the grounds over a World War Two 'time capsule' to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the end of the war. It will also provide a visual memorial long for years to come.

大象传媒 "People's War" project

With the touring IWM exhibition providing the stimulus for so many people to recollect what happened to them or their relatives during the war, the 大象传媒 Radio Cumbria CSV Action Desk team used the opportunity to take down some World War Two memories for the 大象传媒 "People's War" project. As stated earlier, this team of volunteers was led by Jemma Bellingham, Elisa Taylor and Paul Corcoran.

Booklets and forms publicising the project were given out to visiting members of the public. The team added a number wartime accounts to the "People's War" website. Some of those contributing were accompanied by younger family members, who perhaps were listening about what their relatives had done during the war for the first time.

Conclusion

Obviously, the above account is a largely personal view of the IWM exhibition on a particular afternoon in Carlisle, Cumbria. Others undoubtedly would have viewed the exhibition rather differently. Visitors included people from Carlisle and other towns and villages in Cumbria, the South of Scotland, other parts of the UK and from overseas. So depending upon where they originate from, all these visitors saw the exhibition in a different light!

According to the exhibition, about 1 in 5 people alive in 2005 lived through the Second World War. For that group of people, the IWM touring exhibition helped bring back some memories of the war years. For the younger generations who do not have personal memories of the war, it has been an opportunity to find out about many different aspects of what happened in the war. The IWM exhibition, like the 大象传媒 "People's War" project, will preserve some lasting memories of World War Two.

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