Barry at War Museum to open at Barry Island Station (From Barry And District News)

Barry at War Museum to open at Barry Island Station

8:50am Tuesday 18th September 2012 in News

FOLLOWING the successful partnership that brought us the 'Wartime Weekend', the Barry Tourist Railway has invited the Barry at War History Group to create a 'mini- Barry at War museum' in one of the unused rooms at Barry Island Railway Station.

The Barry at War museum will seek to be a focal point where people can come to both learn about this aspect of local history and to contribute memoirs of how people were affected.

Barry at War Group Chairman Ade Pitman said: "The Wartime Weekend not only brought visitors to Barry on a very wet weekend, but showed that there is a huge interest in the area's wartime heritage. This spans from pre-history, through the Second World War and up to the present day.

"The Wartime Weekend helped to foster intergenerational links, with children learning about how their grandparents lived all those years ago, and some of these memories were recorded for history.

"The generosity of the Barry Tourist Railway in offering the previously unused storeroom will give Barry at War History Group a 'home', and enable us to create all-weather events that will further help with our research into local history.

"Despite its small size, we hope that the facility will help local schools to bring history alive for the children."

John Buxton, Managing Director of Barry Tourist Railway, said: "One of the aims of the Barry Tourist Railway is to turn the site into an all-weather tourist attraction comparable to the best in the country.

"Part of this goal is the creation, at Plymouth Road, of a museum to Barry and the Docks.

"The new 'Barry at War mini-museum' is a step towards this, and will also help us to create even more all-weather themed events at Barry Island Railway Station throughout the year.

"As summer weather becomes more erratic it's important to provide all-weather attractions, and the covered station platform is ideal for this as it both provides shelter and shade," he added.

"Ultimately the museum will relocate to the main Plymouth Road museum once that is established."

Ade Pitman added: "It's early days yet, and clearly we have a lot of work to do before the museum will be where we would like it.

"But we're aiming to open during the spring of 2013, and seek to hold events to raise the funds needed to establish the museum at the Barry Island Station during the winter.

"The timing of the opening is significant, as 2013 is the 'Year of the Convoy' - which is especially poignant given Barry's strong links to the Merchant Navy.

"Barry at War would like to hear from anyone who can volunteer some time to help us with the project, or who might have mannequins or display equipment they would like to donate."

You can follow the project at the Barry at War website at www.barryatwar.info and you can find out more about the Barry Tourist Railway, including what events are running at www.barrytouristrailway.co.uk