Royal West Surreys Museum Clandon park on fire

Discussion in 'WW2 Museums. Events, & places to see.' started by Clive Wiley, Apr 29, 2015.

  1. Clive Wiley

    Clive Wiley Member

  2. idler

    idler GeneralList

    That looks pretty final...

    The only crumb of comfort is that their document archives are in the County Archive.
     
    Clive Wiley likes this.
  3. BFBSM

    BFBSM Very Senior Member

    Sorry Clive, I buggered up the rep, hit the wrong button, should have been a positive rep point.

    Mark
     
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  4. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    Clive Wiley and dbf like this.
  5. DavidW

    DavidW Well-Known Member

    That's terrible. No loss of life however.
     
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  6. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    As David says, no loss of life, which is the most important thing. But to see any archive potentially destroyed like this is a researcher's worst nightmare.
     
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  7. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  8. Swiper

    Swiper Resident Sospan

    Incidents like this should act as a major warning to all, not least to museums/archives who have not digitised their collections (or established a suitable back up of copied sources.)
     
  9. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    As others will already have read, it seems that the QRWS Museum has suffered a total loss of their exhibits, with only the VC's (stored off-site) and the Regimental Colours surviving the blaze. The only hope now is that the less flammable items may still be salvageable from the ashes, once the building is safe to enter and search through.

    Heartbreaking to hear.
     
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  10. South

    South Member

    Very sad to see all the photos of Clandon Park now just a shell.

    My Grandad was in the East Surrey's, I have some paperwork from his time (7yrs) with them. A few pieces of paper that I'd be devastated to lose - the loss of all the museum exhibits is awful. I really hope they can save a few things from the ashes. Such an awful shame.
     
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  11. Staffsyeoman

    Staffsyeoman Member

    Suggestions that six VCs have been lost (along with the rest of the medal collection). A bleak day for all historians.


    ....and why the hell didn't they have sprinklers??
     
  12. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    Fortunately the original VC's have been stored off site and they are confirmed as being safe.

    However the rest of the collection looks to have been totally lost:-
     

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  13. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

  14. bexley84

    bexley84 Well-Known Member

  15. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Some more encouraging news from the scene of the fire. One of medal cabinets was retrieved and opened up by the Surrey Fire Brigade, revealing that many of the medals had survived the blaze. A restoration project will soon be underway in an attempt to bring these awards back to display quality.
     
  16. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    Here are some images - (Thanks to Neil Unwins).
     

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  17. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Thanks CK. And thank you again for all the photographs of museum collections and war memorials you have placed onto the forum. After terrible instances such as Clandon, these images gain even more value and importance.
     
  18. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  19. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Just reading an article in the latest National Trust magazine about some of the people in the team involved in restoring Clandon Park .
     
    bamboo43 likes this.
  20. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    How are things progressing?
     

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