Sir George White band hosts Remembrance Festival

An exhibition put on by War Years Remembered Museum will allow local schoolchildren to benefit from guided tours of a wartime display featuring uniforms, weapons, and militaria from both world wars.

“The educational aspect of this event cannot be overstated” said event planner Robert Glenholmes.

“With 2011 being the 70th Anniversary of the Belfast Blitz and also the 90th Anniversary of the Royal British Legion we wanted to put something extra special on display.”

A major part of the display will be a recreated 1940s house which we hope is a true representation of how residents in Northern Ireland would have been living during the war years.

As well as the 1940s house an item on display this year which is sure to be of interest will be the 1939 WW2 90cm Search Light which has been restored to fully working order.

These lights were used during the Blitz in support of Anti-aircraft Batteries to help locate enemy bombers. The search light on display in Broughshane is the only one of these lights in Ireland and it will be nice to see it light the skies once more on Thursday and Friday night.

The exhibition will be open free to the public from 9.30am-10pm on Thursday 10th and from 9.30am-5pm on Friday 11th November. The mood on Friday night will change to an Evening of Remembrance featuring music provided by Sir George White themselves and also including a religious service which will include an Act of Remembrance.

Saturday 12th November will be the showcase event of the festival with an afternoon concert featuring some of the country’s top bands including Lisburn Young Defenders, Shankill Rd Defenders, Dunloy Accordion and Ballykeel Loyal Sons of Ulster.

A new act this year will be the inclusion of an Irish Dance Display which we hope will bring some festival emotion to a sombre occasion. Alongside the concert and the interior museum display will be a showcase of military vehicles outside the community centre.

The highlight of this display will be the Irish built 1941 Carlow Ford Mk VI Armoured Car made by Thompson & Son of Carlow on the chassis of a Fordson E88t truck. Used during the emergency of World War 2 and by the Irish army in the Congo during the unrest in the 1960s. Very few examples of this vehicle are left in existence from the original 21 that were built.

With the community centre being the meeting point for Broughshane RBL parade on Sunday the hall will be open free to any members of the public who wish to have a last look around the exhibition.

Finally the members of Sir George White Memorial Flute Band Broughshane would like to thank everybody who supported the band during 2011 and look forward to another successful year in 2012.