From Farm Fields to Airfields – NEW EXHIBITION in Beverley

A new exhibition called ‘From Farm Fields to Airfields’ has opened this week at the East Riding Treasure House, Beverley.

According to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s website:

The exhibition, which will run until 29 November, was compiled by volunteers of the East Riding Rural Life Project and looks at the World War Two airfields of the East Riding from the point of view of the rural communities who lived around them.

Fiona Jenkinson, heritage volunteer co-ordinator, said: “We had a great deal of interest in this subject when we appealed for information at the start of the project.

“We have been told some really interesting stories about how the rural communities coped with having an airfield on their doorstep. For example we learnt that RAF Leconfield was built by a largely Irish workforce who were housed in Nissen huts on the site of the old cattle market in Beverley.”

The Treasure House is open:

Monday – 9.30 am to 5.00 pm
Tuesday – 9.30 am to 8.00 pm
Wednesday – 9.30 am to 5.00 pm
Thursday – 9.30 am to 8.00 pm
Friday – 9.30 am to 5.00 pm
Saturday – 9.00 am to 4.00 pm

Admission to all galleries is free.

For more information, call Fiona Jenkinson on (01482) 392783.

The exhibition isn’t the biggest I’ve seen, but it was a delight (located around the first-floor café) – professional and well balanced, and is a credit to Fiona Jenkinson and volunteers of the East Riding Rural Life Project. Chris Percy / Noel Ryan’s (AIX) photographs feature prominently, as do a number of delightful models and a small number of artefacts.

If you can spare the time and are interested, I also found some original wartime documents in the ground floor public-access county archive. These include a series of original (albeit rather small) airfield camouflage plans. Ask the friendly staff for assistance. The documents are DDX589/1, DDX589/2 and DDX589/3. Airfields featured are: Rufforth, Church Fenton, Marston Moor, York, East Moor, Linton on Ouse, Melbourne, Pocklington and Tholthorpe. Other documents are available and you can search the online database via: http://www.eastriding.gov.uk/cs/culture-and-information/archives/archive-search/

Useful phrases include the usual: RAF, Royal Air Force, Airfield, Aerodrome, plus the name/s of your chosen airfield/s, etc.

The Treasure House is located on Champney Road in Beverley (postcode : HU17 8HE). If your in the locale it’s worth going to…

Phil Rhodes