Trustees of DWR Museum

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE TRUSTEES OF

THE DWR MUSEUM

Registered Charity Number 246188

HELD AT

BANKFIELD MUSEUM

ON MONDAY 16^th NOVEMBER 2009

Present
Brigadier Dick Mundell

Colonel Mark Lodge

Lieutenant Colonel Walter Robins

Lieutenant Colonel Tim Isles

Major David Harrap

Captain Ian Fillan

Mrs Alice Mahon

Mr Barry Sheridan

Chairman

In attendance

Mrs Franne Wills

Mr John Spencer

Mr Scott Flaving

Secretary

Apologies

Major Chris Jowett

ITEM DISCUSSION ACTION

1.

OPENING REMARKS.

1. The Chairman opened the meeting and reported to the Trustees that he had received many positive comments on the refurbishment of the Museum.

2. The Chairman thanked John Spencer for over 20 years of service to the Museum and made a presentation of a ‘Duke on Horseback’ statue. Franne Wills was presented with flowers for her invaluable support to the refurbishment project.

2.

APOLOGIES.

1. Apologies had been received from Major C Jowett.

3.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING.

1. The Minutes of the previous Meeting were accepted.

4.

MATTERS ARISING FROM THE PREVIOUS MINUTES.

1. Para 4.3 Priestley Cup. I Fillan reported that the Huddersfield Drill Hall Trustees had arranged for the repair and re-gilding of the Priestley Cup, now on long loan to the Huddersfield Drill Hall. The Drill Hall Trustees had paid for the repair work and they had decided to put the annual grant of £200 to the Museum towards the £695 cost of the repairs, therefore there would be no grant to the Museum in this FY. It was discussed that the loan had, therefore, been, in effect, a net cost to the Museum, but the Museum Trustees recognised that there was always a possibility that the Cup could form part of a future Museum display and expressed their gratitude for the continuing support of the Drill Hall Trustees.

2. Para 12.2. School Plaque. J Spencer reported that the person from the school who had requested a plaque be erected at Wellesley Park, to commemorate the Depot, was no longer in post and did not actually have the authority required to site a plaque. After discussion it was resolved that a plaque would be of benefit to the heritage of both the Regiment and the Town. A Mahon agreed to approach the Council. W Robins and T Isles were asked to investigate a suitable site and suggest wording for the plaque.

A Mahon

W Robins

T Isles

5.

FORGOTTEN VOICES PROJECT.

1. The Chairman stated that the public response to the display was very good and B Sheridan reminded Trustees of the Museum’s Unique Selling Point (USP), the concentration on individual soldiers’ stories, as a way of relating the history of the Regiment to the public. This created a distinct difference from other military museums.

2. F Wills reported that the Forgotten Voices Project had been chosen to form the basis of a presentation at the HLF Conference on 24 Nov 09 at the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall in York. This was a nice acknowledgement of the quality of the display and good publicity.

3. Computer Plan. Trustees discussed the plans for enhancing access to the website and the introduction of some PC ‘games’ or other software onto the Museum PCs. It was agreed to investigate what was available and suitable, with the IWM and Ypres Museums being cited as good examples of this work. F Wills, M Lodge and D Harrap were asked to research the issue.

F Wills

M Lodge

D Harrap

6.

EDUCATION AND MUSEUM LEAFLET.

1. The leaflet had now been produced and was distributed to Trustees. It was well received.

2. It was reported that the audio system in the museum and recorded stories were not being as widely used as they deserved and the Chairman requested that more prominence be given to the CD sales and thought be given to wider publicity of the audio facility to visitors, including perhaps an index of stories focussed at targeted audiences and children’s quizzes based on the stories. F Wills and J Spencer were asked to look into this.

3. M Lodge suggested that the brochure inner would make a good display stand for J Spencer to use in off-site presentations. F Wills agreed to investigate the provision of a pull-up stand.

F Wills

J Spencer

F Wills

7.

TEMPORARY CLOSURE OF THE MUSEUM.

1. F Wills explained that the essential building works had been postponed due to lack of funds and the potential for phasing the work was being examined. However, it was still likely that the whole building would need to be closed. The timings were not yet known, but likely to be next summer for the roofing works and autumn/winter for the rewiring.

2. The Chairman asked that consideration be given to the provision of temporary displays in suitable locations in Calderdale, Craven and Kirklees and F Wills and J Spencer were asked to investigate a concept of temporary displays. M Lodge offered to give some free time to help in the construction of some displays.

3. D Harrap was asked to investigate, with 4 YORKS, the scope for secure storage for the firearms collection. This could help save costs for the Council on funding storage space.

4. F Wills and J Spencer assured Trustees that the security of storage of the entire collection would be to a high standard and not replicate the storage deficiencies of the 1986 refurbishment.

F Wills

J Spencer

M Lodge

D Harrap

8.

ACCREDITATION.

1. Full accreditation has been achieved. A review was likely to be carried out in due course, as an ongoing part of this process.

2. F Wills asked if all acknowledgment and thank you letters for the donations of artefacts were up to date. J Spencer was asked to check.

J Spencer

9.

ACCOUNTS.

1. The Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2009 were distributed to Trustees.

2. It was noted that most income was from donations and bank interest.

3. C Jowett had posed the question as to why the Museum’s investments had been made at the particular time they had been. It was explained that £30k had been given to the Museum by the Regimental Association Fund as part of the amalgamation process of creating the Yorkshire regiment. Brig Mundell had sought the advice of John Barkshire, the investment advisor to the DWR Trustees, and he had advised the funds be placed in the Army Common Investment Fund, which had been done. These investments had initially gone down, as a result of the financial crisis, but were now recovering.

10.

ARCHIVES.

1. The Chairman reported that the Archives were part of the Museum Trustees’ responsibilities and were being looked after on a day to day basis by a team of willing Volunteers at Halifax, but that there was a need to effectively record and computerise the Archives collection for long term record keeping and to improve access to it.

2. D Harrap was asked to investigate how to move this forward and identify any options for improving income to the Archives.

3. It was suggested that there may be some HLF funding available to provide support for digitising the collection.

4. It was necessary to include in the review all items, including the ‘archive’ items held in Huddersfield Drill Hall and 3 YORKS, notably their photographic collections.

D Harrap

11.

ICONIC ITEMS HELD BY 3 YORKS

1. J Spencer reported that he had visited 3 YORKS and had checked and marked the Iconic Items held in the Officers’ and Sergeants’ Messes.

2. After discussion, it was decided it was not necessary to wait for an updated valuation before sending the loan agreements to the Battalion. RHQ YORKS agreed to take on the subsequent annual check with the Battalion to confirm all items were still held, in good condition and insured. S Flaving requested J Spencer send him the loan details in order to create a database for this purpose.

J Spencer

S Flaving

12.

MUSEUM OFFICER’S REPORT.

1. J Spencer circulated the Museum Officer’s Report, at Annex C, and took the Trustees through it. He emphasised that the number of school visits had risen in the last six months. The Trustees asked B Sheridan to thank Fiona Willats for her work on the education projects.

2. The 33^rd Re-enactment group had been invited to take part in a police initiative to promote firearm safety and also to form a Guard of Honour for the Mayor’s procession to the Halifax Minster dedication ceremony on 22 November 2009.

13.

AOB.

1. Communication. The Chairman asked that the Museum be promoted more actively within the Regimental Association and wider Regiment. For example, publishing the Museum Officer’s Report and extracts from the Trustees’ Minutes in the pages of the Iron Duke and Regimental website, as well as publishing the new Museum leaflet on the website.

2. F Wills reported that some grants were available for small projects: up to £1000.00 to support accreditation work and up to £10,000.00 for the 2012 Cultural Olympics Project. J Spencer and F Wills agreed to investigate. Possibilities likely to meet the grant criteria were the Guardroom Gongs, Commonwealth soldiers serving in the Regiment and improved computer access/facilities.

3. A new concise history and digest of the ‘Dukes’ had recently been published and each Trustee would receive a copy. These would be available through the Museum shortly.

4. The Chairman reported that new drums were being presented to The Yorkshire Regiment, including 3 YORKS. The old DWR drums were to be disposed of according to the wishes of the DWR Trustees. He would write to the DWR Trustees to request a drum for the Museum.

5. The Secretary reported that the Freedom of Wakefield had been offered to the Yorkshire Regiment. The Area Headquarters, Halifax, would be leading on taking this forward.

J Spencer

S Flaving

F Wills

J Spencer

S Flaving

Chairman

14.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING.

The next meeting is to be held on Monday 26 April 2010 at 12.30 hours at Bankfield Museum.