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NEWSBCH CENTRE: KEMBLE?See also PROJECTS
Can we help save these rare Air Ministry pattern wooden huts at Kemble? Maybe they could become the small museum and workshop facility that we desperately need... SO far this year we've put a lot of hard work into solving our basic need for secure storage and workshop space. Thanks to the generosity of one of our supporters we have managed to have use of some low-key, minimal space that we are now using. However, as we become more successful, what little space we do have becomes overwhelmed with our projects and growing Archives. Also the need for our own display space with access by the public is crucial to our objectives. Due to commercial sensitivities we can't reveal the full extent of our efforts this year - just to say that the situation is ongoing and we feel there is still some possibility of success of BCH obtaining use of a large public display facility. At the very least it has proven our concept that it is possible to fulfil our ultimate ambitions in the 21st Century - we just need the right set of circumstances.
Meanwhile we are still without the extra space we need and the vital display space with public access. Given our existing links with Kemble, the fate of some dilapidated Air Ministry huts has come to out attention. Due to their wooden construction and the ravages of time, these once ubiquitous buildings are now quite rare. We are researching its history but this particular example was both once the Station Medical Centre as well as MT Stores and Rest Room. Kemble Airfield itself - whilst not in the thick of it in terms of Bomber Command - was a repair facility and has much WWII history associated with it and the surrounds.
The building for the last few years has been left vacant and the elements and vandals have started to do their worse. Although there are currently no plans to demolish the building, unless something is done NOW the structure will be beyond recovery. In co-operation with the owners of the Site, BCH hopes to at the very least help preserve the building so that the deterioration is stabilized. We have also submitted a proposal to allow BCH to have use of huts as storage and workshop facilities. If we could refurbish the Site to a suitable standard we may even be able to use the facility as a small Heritage Centre with initial access by researchers, and then ultimately access by the general public. Such a Centre would not give the large storage and display space that we need for full size aircraft, but at least it would be a tangible facility that we could use and retain even if our larger museum becomes a reality. Once the Dave Hall's Kemble Mossie Project is complete we may even have the sight of a dH Mosquito taxiing around the aerodrome too. Needles to say if given the go-ahead both the short-term restoration of this building, and our longer-term use of it as a Heritage Centre will require vast amounts of volunteers' time and effort. The biggest hurdle to overcome though is our lack of funds. If you can help in any way be it expertise, materials or even local history knowledge, we would make very good use of it. If this story has fired your imagination
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