Devonport Naval Heritage Centre archive is tucked away in a corner of residential Plympton in what used to be a community centre. Ryan, a volunteer on the Island Stories, and myself were met by
Paul Santillo and Pete McCarthy who showed us around the archive, which is entirely run by volunteers.
Paul and his team were clearly immersed in the material. They were both involved in curating and gathering material for themed exhibitions. Paul showed us this photo of nissen huts near Devonport Dockyard which will form part of an exhibition he is curating which considers examines the impact that the blitz bombing had on the fabric of the city of Plymouth.
They also related the stories of individuals and the conditions they lived in, the death of a fifteen year old boy in the dockyard, the widow with five children to support who wrote asking for a job making rope, which were pieced together from the array of records and sources on the site; photos, engineering drawings, medical records all of which solely relate to the history and activity of Devonport Dockyard.
A highlight was a series photos of a collection of ship’s heads, that Pete had taken on his mobile phone. They were incredibly colourful, topical and a little bit irreverent, a real surprise!
■ 2018 / Blog / Last Updated February 23, 2018 by admin / Tags: Devonport Naval Heritage Centre barne barton theislandstories archive history hlf
