Taking the above in context with the Barra project, what is happening is nowadays termed ‘protectionism’. The FAAM will try and bring the Barra home to roost, and along with any other ongoing projects, use these as ammunition in their attempt to secure sufficient funding from any and all sources to keep the museum, and help the RN keep Yoevilton. Yes, the future risks are that big.
Sadly, though I used to think that the loss of (for instance) an important asset such as Yeovilton was a ‘big’ thing, nowadays it’s not. We’ve already lost several other ‘big’ assets – Lyneham being a good example, and nowadays nothing surprises me. But the message is clear: our government-owned heritage is not as safe as we thought it was, and such petty items as DP872 are just pieces in the larger games that the bureaucrats like to play occasionally. They see no ‘worth’ in them, but more their value in hard cash or as bargaining tools. The dedicated volunteers likewise.
Taking the SDSR comments above, I think we can see the way things are going (and I’d mention closure of certain IWM resources here as another example of this), so we need to get used to a lot more disappointment in future.
But all is not lost: there are many fantastic private museums out there, where our heritage is cherished and safe from any Governmental meddling. I suggest that we need to lend our support more fully to these groups, because they would seem to be the true guardians of our past.
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