Council News

20 June 2008

New exhibition opening at Wrexham County Borough Museum

‘Mentioned in Dispatches: From the Crimea to the Second World War’

Wrexham’s soldiers, sailors and aircrew were in the thick of the battle whenever this country was at war throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Wrexham County Borough Museum is marking this selfless service in its new exhibition ‘Mentioned in Dispatches’.

The exhibition tells the story of Britain’s many conflicts through news stories from the front and letters sent home to give a local viewpoint on the titanic struggles of the past. The exhibition also highlights the amazing feats of gallantry performed by local soldiers, sailors and airmen, such as Luke O’Connor who won the Victoria Cross in the Crimea and Flight Lieutenant David Lord who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his valour in Operation Market Garden in the Second World War.

Cllr Bob Dutton, Lead Member for Communities and Performance, said:

"It is great to see this important part of our communities’ heritage being commemorated in the ‘Mentioned in Disaptches’ exhibition.

Highlights of the exhibition:

• The three campaign medals won by Wrexham-born, Troop Sergeant-Major Edwin ‘Balaclava Ned’ Hughes who was the last survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade, 1854.

• Costume and memorabilia belonging to Captain Bernard Warburton-Lee from Whitewell in the Maelor. Captain Warburton-Lee was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross after he led a flotilla of destroyers up the fjord to Narvik (Norway), surprised the German destroyers in the harbour and scored a morale boosting victory in early 1940.

• The Burma stick – the stick used by Brigadier Gwydyr-Jones in Burma during the Second World War when the Royal Welch Fusiliers were fighting against the Japanese Army.

The exhibition includes an area where visitors to the exhibition can commemorate the service of friends, loved ones and ancestors during previous conflicts and those on active service now.

For younger visitors there is a chance to handle objects related the Second World War and a ‘Toy soldiers’ gallery activity.

The exhibition is being officially opened at 6.00pm Monday June 16th. The exhibition is on show until September 6th 2008.

For more information about the exhibition

Contact the press office or Jonathan Gammond, Access & Interpretation Officer on 01978 317 970