Community rallies round flood-hit museum

An online fundraising page has been set up to collect donations for a flood-hit museum in Co Antrim.
Flooding at the site on Saturday.Flooding at the site on Saturday.
Flooding at the site on Saturday.

Artefacts at the War Years Remembered museum in Ballyclare were damaged during flooding at the site on Saturday, July 28.

The museum, which houses thousands of items relating to both military history and social history from the First and Second World Wars is operated by a team of dedicated volunteers.

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Industrial fans have been brought in to aid the drying process at the unit, while some items have been sent to be professionally restored.

Volunteers are working to restore the museum.Volunteers are working to restore the museum.
Volunteers are working to restore the museum.

The War Years Remembered manager, David McCallion has thanked the public for their support since Saturday.

He said: “We have a way to go before being able to open up again. There are still places drying out, but we are on top of it at last.

“We are now tackling the mould situation and once we have it under control we can carry on with rebuilding the display areas.

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“We have lost some of the items in the storage areas and we have items away being cleaned by specialists.

“At a later date we will need to look at the long term preservation of the water damaged items.”

He added: “We are also reorganizing defences to prevent it happening again, putting in additional shelving as well as pallets to keep items off the floor.

“I wish on behalf of War Years Remembered to thank all those who have helped with the crisis so far, either by donating their time in kind help and donations.

“We have some way to go, but with your help we can do it.”

If you would like to make a donation, go to www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/waryears-remembered?utm_id=107&utm_term=ZzpeegAG7

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