A Land Fit for Heroes?

This project incorporated a range of activities that were undertaken over the five years of the First World War centenary. Exhibitions, talks and booklets based on local research, all delivered to mark the start of the conflict, were funded by Gairloch Museum and delivered by Museum volunteers independently of any national initiatives. The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) then supported activities in 2018-2019, to investigate the detailed story of one 'returning local hero' - both his wartime experiences and the community to which he returned, in gauging the impacts of the conflict and to what extent it created 'a land fit for heroes'. Over this part of the project's duration, exhibitions were mounted in three venues whilst two booklets were additionally researched and printed. Education sessions were held with all bar one local school and an adult Skills & Learning Group. These sessions featured resources from the collections held by Gairloch Museum (artefacts, photographs, documents) to create content for handling packs and the displays. Visits were also arranged to local war memorials, graveyards and Fort George (near Inverness), the site of a training base for local regiments during the War. In 2018 an Armistice Day community commemoration event was organised with talks, 'authentic' wartime-themed refreshments, music and readings. The combined experiences and resources all contributed to the Three Wars Gallery within the new Gairloch Museum that opened in July 2019. A further permanent resource was the creation of a digital database, accessible via Gairloch Museum's website, of every local person who served in any capacity during the conflict, together with photographs, documents and object images. In the summer of 2019, a further exhibition titled 'Remembering the Peace' was prepared for display at Inverewe Garden (National Trust Scotland), to recognise the significance of the 'Peace Stone' placed there in 1919 by the Garden's founder, Osgood Mackenzie. The display incorporated posters from some of our project school sessions. All thirty three participating volunteers were invited to a 'thank you' tea party at the project's culmination. Our Evaluation Report for the HLF offers more detail about our various learning and heritage engagement outcomes, and is available via the link below.