Remembering Scotland at war
Issued by Absolute PR for National Museums of Scotland
Pioneering online museum and social network set to capture Scotland’s memories of conflict
The Highland Council features in Remembering Scotland At War which launched at Edinburgh Castle on Thursday, 24 June 2010. It was formally launched locally at Timespan in Helmsdale on Wednesday, 30 June 2010.
Remembering Scotland At War, a pioneering online museum with a social networking area particularly aimed at ‘capturing memories’ has been developed by Museums Galleries Scotland. It showcases and encourages personal accounts from civilians, younger and older veterans, and currently serving military personnel of how conflict has affected them.
The culmination of a three year project led by Museums Galleries Scotland and funded by the Big Lottery Fund, Remembering Scotland At War features over 200 exhibitions, interviews, photographs and footage spanning from the Second World War to more recent conflicts including Iraq and Afghanistan. Accounts include personal stories of individuals, families, local communities, and even the impact on Scotland’s landscapes.
In addition to the online museum’s exhibitions, there is an interactive social media area where personal memories can be exchanged and anyone can create a profile to upload their own reminiscences, photographs and videos, discuss exhibitions and make comments. The museum is free, constantly evolving and fully interactive.
As part of developing the online museum, Museums Galleries Scotland worked with 13 museums and galleries across Scotland to create the thought-provoking exhibitions. These stretch from the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery north to the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre and Museum at Lyness and south to The Museum of the Black Watch, Perth.
It has included extensive intergenerational work which has been inspirational to a younger generation and created a greater understanding of the impact that war has had on people of all ages. Schools including Dingwall, Dornoch and Helmsdale Primary Schools and Gairloch High School have supported the initiative by gathering and recording personal emotive and humbling memories from members of the Seaforth Highlanders part of legendary 51st Highland Division, to a number of local residents who have recount their fathers’ recollections of ‘war’.
The exhibitions feature hundreds of moving accounts. Being taken prisoner by the Germans during World War Two, being a child buried in rubble during the Clydebank Blitz and training for deployment to Afghanistan are all examples of how people have remembered conflict.
Through the exhibition entitled ‘Hidden Highland Histories WWII’, The Highland Council has closely collaborated with eight local museums: the Dingwall Museum, Timespan in Helmsdale, the Highlanders Regimental Museum, Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, Historylinks at Dornoch, Gairloch Heritage Museum, the Highland Museum of Childhood and the Highland Print Studio in Inverness. Each of these institutions has played an important role in bringing together the veterans and school children as well as sourcing images and objects for the exhibitions. They now all have their own WWII schools’ loan box, which includes replica objects, activity suggestions and DVDs, which have been created during the project.
It features a number of fascinating topics from Bomber Command and the Seaforths as Prisoners of War to Codebreakers and Growing up during the War. The exhibitions are brought to life through the life stories and memories of local veterans and civilians and with photography, documents and items from the period from gas masks to POW tags.
Veterans featured in the Remembering Scotland At War digital museum include:
Esther McDonald’s (Helmsdale) father, John Oliver Fraser Mackay, who was a Sergeant in the 5th Seaforth Highlanders. He was with the Reconnaissance Corp at the time he was badly injured by a mine at El-Alamein, Egypt. J.O.F Mackay spent time in a number of hospitals in Egypt, South Africa and England.
He returned to Scotland in 1943 and continued to farm the family’s croft for many years. He also became a prominent member of the local council in Portgower, Caithness. Esther recalls here what life was like for her father when he returned from the war.
Neil Wilson was born in Fortrose, Ross and Cromarty, in 1920. He joined the territorial branch of the Seaforth Highlanders at a recruitment drive in his hometown in 1938, much to the horror of his parents. On the 1st September 1939, Neil was called up to fight and travelled with the Seaforth Highlanders to France as part of the 51st Highland Division.
After a brief engagement with the enemy, British troops were forced to retreat and the majority were evacuated at Dunkirk, France. The 51st Highland Division were cut off from the rest of the British Expeditionary Force, however, and were forced to surrender at the small tidal port of St Valery, France. Neil spent his remaining war years as a prisoner in Germany and Poland where he worked variously as a labourer in a cement factory, a sugar factory, and eventually a coal mine. Neil returned to Fortrose after the war and now lives in Avoch, Easter Ross.
Andrew Mackenzie was born in 1923 in Edinburgh and volunteered for the Royal Air Force in 1941. He trained in England and Canada, eventually becoming a pilot of Lancaster Bombers and flying many missions to the continent. Andrew Mackenzie has a Distinguished Flying Cross medal that he received while in the RAF. Andrew now lives in Dornoch.
Joanne Orr, CEO of Museums Galleries Scotland said: “We have been delighted to lead this ground breaking project. With advancing technology, there are increasing options for the way museums and galleries tell stories about their collections and – most importantly – how those stories affect individuals.”
“We have all been influenced by Scotland’s involvement in worldwide conflict. From stories told on your grandfather’s knee to emotive images you see on today’s news, this pioneering online museum, enriched by The Highland Council’s significant contribution, ensures that our personal stories are never forgotten. By adding our memories and photographs, we can all contribute to a rich collection that benefits and challenges all generations.”
Bill Fernie, Chairman of The Highland Council’s Education, Culture and Sport Committee said: “The Highland Remembering Scotland At War project offered school pupils the opportunity to find out at first hand, the experiences of local people who had lived through the Second World War. The stories from the men and women who had stayed at home and fought abroad are inspiring, funny and at times harrowing. We are delighted that these unique stories will now be shared with school pupils and the wider public on the Remembering Scotland at War website.”
Remembering Scotland At War features a dedicated learning resources centre where pupils, teachers and parents can download school-based activities. It will also be available to pupils and teachers through Learning and Teaching Scotland’s new Scottish schools’ intranet, Glow, giving more access to images.
To explore the exhibition or to add a memory, visit the museum at www.RememberingScotlandAtWar.org.uk
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