Open weekend
Saturday & Sunday,
8
- 9 March 2014
Event photo album. Were you
there?
Some
of the Hut 9 rooms will be restored in an attempt to try and recreate how they
would have looked during 1944-1948. In other rooms members of the Hut 9
Preservation Group and WW2 re-enactors will be telling the fascinating
stories of the 4 time-frames of Island Farm:
- 1940-1944 - Billet
for the Royal Ordnance Factory workers.
- 1943-1944 - American
billet for the 109 Field Artillery (28th Infantry Division).
- 1944-1945 - German
POW, Island Farm Camp 198.
- 1945-1948 - High
Ranking German Officer Camp, Island Farm Special Camp XI.
What's
to hear and see during your visit
-
Outside Hut 9, there
will be WW2 re-enactors with all their "kit" and and their vehicles
(weather permitting).
-
Brett Exton will give a
very interesting full talk on the complete history of Island Farm.
-
Richard Williams will
complement Brett's talk and guide you inside Hut 9.
-
Prior to the
demolition of the other huts at Island Farm, the actual drawings made by the German POWs
were carefully removed and preserved. A number of the famous Island Farm
wall drawings/ paintings will be on display inside several rooms/
dormitories. Each picture gives a unique insight into the thoughts of a German POW.
-
Numerous Volunteers re-enactors
will bring the place to life, dressed as former German PoWs, British Home
Guards and American soldiers. They will be occupying several rooms/ dormitories with their full
kit, equipment and brick-a-brac on display. Such equipment would have been used back in the day!
-
Barry Ward
(Preservation Group Member and re-enactor) will be talking all about the
escape; how the tunnel was made and all about the prisoners preparation
prior to the escape.
-
Do not miss our Oral
History Room, where you can tell us any experiences you had or any
stories you know about Island Farm, Hut 9, the Welsh Great Escape and
Bridgend at War.
-
Finally, Dr Jonathan
Hicks will guide you around Hut 9 and talk about the Welsh Great Escape
and the famous Welsh Escape Tunnel.
-
There is
no entry fee, so a FREE for all event!
However, as always your kind donations
will be much appreciated. Without such funds at the moment, our voluntary
work to preserve Hut 9 and its history will be impossible!
-
Due to the restricted room inside
the Hut, the visitors' safety and the preservation of Hut 9, the number of
visitors per tour is limited. We strongly advise people to pre-book tour time
slots well in advance. Previous events were fully booked 2-3
months before their date! This shows how popular this iconic, Grade-2 listed
building is.
-
There will be a chance
for visitors to take a trip back down memory lane with the attendance of "Sweet
and Nostalgic". They are a local business who will be supporting our
event and will have lots of 1940s ideas for people to purchase. Please visit
www.sweetandnostalgic.co.uk
to see the type of things they will be selling outside Hut 9.
To
book for this Hut 9 Event, please contact:
-
Lucy Wootton (BCBC) on (01656)
815209. Please note this information is valid for this event ONLY.
If all of the tour slots inside Hut 9 become booked, we still encourage people to turn up over
the weekend because there will be lots to see outside the Hut. Should spare
spaces become available or people fail to turn up, then we will of course
re-allocate these on a first come first served basis.
Please park in the Innovation Science Park (opposite the Heronston Hotel)
and walk from there down to and along the A48. There will be a sign at the start of the
short path that will get you to the Hut 9 compound; a 2
minute walk.
- For everyone's
safety, please do not attempt to stop or park your car on the busy
and fast traffic A48.
WE SINCERELY HOPE TO SEE
YOU ON THE DAY!
The Hut 9 Preservation Team
Bookings Update |
All Hut 9 inside tours
for this weekend are already fully booked. We are sorry, but as explained
above, visitor numbers are limited. However, should spare
spaces become available or people fail to turn up, then we will of course
re-allocate these on a first come first served basis. |
BUT
ALL IS
NOT LOST!
There will be a lot happening
outside Hut 9. After the guided tour inside Hut 9, there is a tour and talk around Hut 9 about the
Welsh Great Escape by the Chairman of our Preservation
Group, Dr Jonathan Hicks. The famous escape tunnel is
still in tact . So well worth a visit, even if you do
not manage to get a tour inside Hut 9 due to the limited
visitor numbers per tour.
So please
come along and support our local
history. |
To get a taste of things to
come, please visit a
webpage on Hut 9 and a
photo album
on VisitPorthcawl.co.uk
showing our September 2012 Open Doors Event.
|