WHILE still not quite ready to open to the public Burtonwood Heritage Centre can once again welcome back school groups interested in finding out more about the history of RAF Burtonwood.
Sadly, due to technicalities within the Covid regulations for the heritage centre, a planned reopening for the piblic has been put back a little further, but they are hoping that by the end of June they will be able to open up our doors to the public, once again.
They are however, in a position to welcome back school groups, within class ‘bubbles’ and are looking forward to having the first school visit for over 18 months, at the end of May, with more schools hoping to visit through June.
On top of this they have once again been working with Barrow Hall Primary School, helping to set up their “Burtonwood Week”, where the children spent the week learning about RAF Burtonwood. Something which is particularly relevant for the children at Barrow Hall, with their school located at the end of one of the old runways.
As part of this they successfully managed to squeeze the jeep #BAD1 (the last official jeep from RAF Burtonwood) into the main corridor of the school, as a centrepiece for their display, which featured several other artefacts from the Heritage Centre.
This year’s “Burtonwood Week” was a huge success and the opening day of celebrations was covered by Granada Reports.
Heritage Centre manager John Cotterill said: “We were hoping to be able to combine this week, with our Reunion week, as was the case in 2018, which saw returning veterans, who served at Burtonwood, visit the school and share their memories with the children. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing pandemic situation, the reunion that should have taken place in May 2020 and was rescheduled for 2021 has once again had to be postponed. We are however hoping, that should circumstances allow, we will be able to arrange for our veterans to visit the school again next year.
“Although, we have been forced to stay closed for what is now 14 months, we have still been receiving many fantastic donations. Artefacts such as: uniforms, previously unseen photographs recovered at the time the Base was cleared out prior to demolition, tools from the workshops, toolboxes and many more items. We are forever grateful for these donations, all of which help us to expand our current displays, so much so, we may well need to add another building! Please keep them coming.
“It is thanks to, donations like these, the ongoing interaction with local schools and the expansion of the Heritage Centre, that we are able to continue with what we set out to do in 1987 and that is to ‘Keep the Memory Alive’” added John.
For more details about the heritage centre visit http://www.rafburtonwoodheritagecentre.co.uk/
