On Tour with the Lothian Veterans Centre (LVC)

Earlier this month our Armed Forces and Veterans Manager, Mark Downie joined the Lothian Veterans Centre (LVC) CEO Pauline Cherrington, LVC Case Worker & Welfare Adviser Kevin Piacentini along with other Veterans on a thought provoking and at times emotive and reflective trip to a number of military sites/museums of significance and curiosity. Hear from Mark on his experience below

Day One

After leaving Dalkeith, we travelled directly to the Devil’s Porridge War Museum in Eastriggs near Gretna. This interactive museum tells the story of the HM Factory Gretna which was the largest munitions factory in the world during World War 1. Here we learnt about the 30,000 workers including 12,000 women known as the Gretna Girls who made cordite for the war effort. In fact, it was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who coined the name ‘Devil’s Porridge’ after watching the woman mix cordite explosive there. This was a fascinating and very educational few hours spent in the museum, topped off with a lovely lunch before we headed south to our Base Camp hotel in Burton upon Trent.

Devil’s Porridge War Museum

Day Two

After a hearty breakfast in the hotel, we all boarded the coach for the short trip to the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) where we paid tribute to family/ friends and comrades who had made the ultimate sacrifice. This was also time of personal reflection and the vast grounds of the NMA easily allowed us to spend time alone at monuments of our own individual service/units/battalions with our memories and thoughts to those no longer with us.

LEST WE FORGET

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

National Memorial Arboretum

Day Three

Again, after another substantial breakfast we packed our kit away, boarded the coach and made our way to Eden Camp Modern History Museum in Malton near York. Eden Camp is a historic prisoner of war camp from World War 2 which has now been converted into a living museum. Once again this was a fascinating and thought-provoking experience which allowed us the opportunity to explore 22 of the original huts and experience history as it was.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating interactive experience which again triggered our memories as we were transported back in time. On leaving Eden Camp we then travelled to our new base camp/hotel near York and after experiencing temperatures over 30 degrees some well-earned cool refreshments were the order of the evening.

Day Four – The Return Leg

With our bellies full once again we boarded our coach to head north. However, there was one last experience still to come and what an ‘experience’ it was! We made our way to Stockton-on-Tees and stopped at The Last Post Memorial Bar.

This place is genuinely a sensory overload and a true unrivalled hidden gem. The memorabilia that Julie and her team have collected is utterly amazing and alongside the bar the Museum is simply incredible with equipment, flags, plaques and many more items: it’s a sight to behold.

It is difficult to explain just how incredible this place is and tucked away in an area you wouldn’t expect. Julie told us that you would need to spend six days going
round displays to be able to read/digest all the information on offer and, personally, I would say this was a conservative estimate!

Not only were we all in awe of what she had created but Julie went even further by entertaining us, not only with her personal story but also by bringing out the Karaoke which got us all singing and dancing along too.

What a way to spend a Thursday afternoon and what an incredible way to end our outstanding trip.

The Last Post Memorial Bar

After leaving the Last Post Memorial Bar we reluctantly returned to our coach and made our way back to Dalkeith safe in the knowledge that we had bonded as a group, made new-found friendships whilst strengthening existing ones. For me this was a fantastic, unforgettable and indeed at times an emotional trip but also filled with lots of laughter and like-minded banter as you would expect from veterans. I’d like to say a big thank you to all at the Lothians Veterans Centre in Dalkeith for making this trip happen and for inviting me to be part of it. Thank you