"From Farm Fields to Airfields" Exhibition, Beverley

Hi All,

Just posting the following after having had some contact with one of the organisers of this fascinating-looking local exhibition about some of the Yorkshire Airfields during WW2:

“I am one of the volunteer co-ordinators for the Museum Service of the East
Riding Council, and in the case of the airfields exhibition I am
co-ordinating the volunteers of the East Riding Rural Life Project at Skidby
Mill. Although I am employed by the council on a part time basis, the
majority of the research for the exhibition was done by the volunteers, and
then pulled together into the display by me.

The idea for the exhibition came from one of the volunteers, who is ex-RAF
himself (although based in West Yorkshire I believe). Because the remit of
our project is “Rural Life” our main emphasis in the research was to look at
how the airfields related to the surrounding rural communities. We looked at
things such as impacts on the rural economy, romances between servicemen and
local girls, billeting in the local community and so on. However, when it
came to putting the exhibition together we were unable to illustrate the
display using this type of approach, so had to change it somewhat to look at
the airfields themselves. The exhibition therefore does include information
on the types of buildings and the architecture, the squadrons that were
based there and what the airfield is now used for etc. (We were also trying
to accommodate a bit of the information that we felt visitors to the
exhibition would expect to see.)

There are also a lot of fascinating stories from local people who remember
particular incidents, such as the NAAFI girl who was chased down the runway
by a Halifax at Lissett, and another NAAFI girl who lost a dishcloth, only
to find it at the bottom of the tea urn at the end of the day.

Overall we have been working on the exhibition for about a year. The opening
was well-attended, there were probably about 40-50 people there, and it was
opened by the Chairman of the East Riding Council who is also ex RAF. The
feedback that we have had so far has been mostly positive. We are aware that
there will probably be holes in the information collected, much of which was
gathered through an appeal in the newspapers for people to tell us their
stories.”

“From Farm Fields to Airfields” – The Treasure House, Champney Road, Beverley, HU17 8HE (for those with satnavs!) until November 29th. (MultiMap link here . Opens in new window).

The Treasure House is open from 9.30am to 5pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; from 9.30am to 8pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays; and from 9am until 4pm on Saturdays. Admission to all galleries is free.

My contact details are below. The attendants at the Treasure House (01482 392780) should be able to answer general queries. I am out of the office from now until November 4th.

Fiona Jenkinson
Heritage Volunteer Co-ordinator & Acting Beverley Curator
Tel: 01482 848405 (Mon, Thurs)
or 01482 392783 (Tues, Weds, Fri)

On behalf of Fiona Jenkinson,

Chris