Bushmills and the Great War

The Bushmills and the Great War exhibition was held in Bushmills Community Centre over the first two weeks of July.

The exhibition was opened by Charlie Warmington, otherwise known as the ‘Roamer’, the well-known writer in the Newsletter.

Next to speak was my good Australian friend, Jeff Kildea. Jeff has been a very good friend for many years and was only too willing to come to Bushmills and speak.

Next up was Gavin Glass from the Royal Irish Rifles Museum in Belfast.

Gavin is the Curator of the museum and brought the Victoria Cross won by Robert Quigg all those years ago when he went out to search for Sir Henry Macnaghten following the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

The exhibition was set up to raise funds for a statue to Robert Quig,g and as such has been hugely successful.

Another prized item on display was the Macnaghten medals, never before seen outside of Dundarave House and never seen outside the Macnaghten family.

On the opening day, the two sets of medals – the Macnaghten medals and the Victoria Cross – sat side by side for the first time.

We always have police protection while the Victoria Cross is with us, and the two policemen did a very good job.

A number of people handed in medals, and these will be on display next year.

It is always very encouraging when people hand things over that they can no longer care for and three items handed in will be displayed next time.

The Macnaghten family also gave me a pile of photographs never before seen out of Dundarave, and these have now all been copied and framed.

They are photos of Sir Henry and Sir Douglas and will be used in future years to honour the two boys of the family who were killed in action during the Great War.

The exhibition has proved a geat success and has raised good funds for the statue although the total amount is still unknown.

A raffle held over the two weeks has been successfully completed and the prizes distributed.

Robert Thompson.