Our Goal

Due to the financial pressures from Covid-19 and a change of circumstances with our landlord in Ballyclare, the War Years Remembered museum has been closed to the public since 2019.

We are raising money to relocate and rebuild the War Years Remembered museum in new premises in Newtownards, Co. Down and reopen to the public once again.

To achieve this we need your help to pay for the costs of moving the museum and its artefacts as well as renovating the building in order reopen the museum to the public.

A massive amount of work and funding is needed to renovate the premises to make it suitable to house and present the tens of thousands of artefacts in the War Years Remembered collection.

"In Need of Renovations- New Premises in Newtownards, Co. Down"

At present the building is essentially an empty shell and needs the necessary repairs and services to be able to open to the public. Included in the costs are:

Perimeter fencing

Making and fitting of internal entrance door with disabled access

Fitting of fire doors

Conveyancing

Carpark painting

CCTV and alarm system

Acco drains

A full electrical rewiring and electrical equipment

Building of internal walls

Timber and building materials

Hire of machinery

Skips and rubbish removal

Plumbing

On top of this are the relocation costs and the general overheads to run the charity.

We are not a state funded museum and rely on donations from those who support us in remembering our wartime heritage. Every donation will go towards reopening the museum to the public and our charitable work.

The huge cost of getting the building ready and up to standard has shocked us all and especially with all the added work which we did not realise needing to be done. However, we are confident that with your support we can see this massive project to completion. We will update the page as we go along so you can track our progress and see how your donation is contributing to the project.

About Us

War Years Remembered is an Irish war museum and charity that protects, preserves and presents a large collection of artefacts pertaining to the military and social history of the First and Second World Wars.

WYR offers the public extraordinary exhibits showcasing artefacts spanning across The Home Rule Crisis, Partition of Ireland, Home Front (Belfast Blitz), First World War and Second World War. The artefacts are not limited to the island of Ireland, they also cover nations from across the globe including Poland, Germany, Belgium, USA and more. The collection includes weaponry, uniforms, vehicles, paintings, documents, books, personal effects, furniture, homeware and other items relating to the above periods.

We also have the enormous privilege of having the wartime artefacts of Newtownards war hero Lt Col. Robert Blair Mayne DSO & 3 Bars, having been donated them by the Mayne family relatives. We believe that it is only right to bring his artefacts back to his hometown to be properly displayed alongside the other exhibits of brave men and women in the War Years Remembered collection.

Updates

11/11/2023

Today we held a Remembrance service at Lt Col. Blair Mayne DSO & 3 Bars grave at Movilla Cemetery, Newtownards. On behalf of War Years Remembered we would like to thank all those attended.

We would like to extend our gratitude to Fiona Ferguson who laid flowers on behalf of the Mayne family, Lisa Dawson for her amazing rendition of "Do Not Stand By My Graveside and Weep", Harvey Alan for playing the bugle and the staff at Colonel Paddy's, Newtownards who hosted refreshments afterwards.

"The Mayne Family Plot at Movilla Cemetery"

"Statue of Lt Col. Blair Mayne outside Town Hall, Newtownards"

"David McCallion, Fiona Ferguson, Norman Ferguson and Peter Forbes outside Colonel Paddy's, Newtownards"

We also laid a wreathe at Billy Hull's grave (Blair's driver) and would like to thank his son Gary for attending.

"Laying a wreathe at Billy Hull''s grave"

A wreathe was also laid at the 3 Polish war graves in Movilla Cemetery.

"Polish War Graves, Movilla Cemetery"

25/12/2023

Roller shutter has been fitted externally and once the plastering is completed internally and electrics done, the disabled access doors can be fitted.

A massive thank you to Fran the plasterer and Eddy who laboured for him, completing the plastering which once cured will need painting for the internal disabled door to be fitted.

External security fence is up and looking good, the snagging on the perimeter fence and gate seems to be complete which will allow for gate contacts and beams to be fitted over the Christmas period.

Alarm, fire and cctv guys have also been in and laid thousands of feet of cables and have begun installing equipment . A special thank you to Mark for all his hard work and patience.

Santa and his helpers have been working hard wrapping and packing the artefacts ready for the move. The Deadline to be out of the building in Ballyclare has been set as the 16th of February 2024.

We can not thank everyone enough who has helped and donated so far and a Merry Christmas to you all!

15/01/2024

Today we received our 100th donation through the page! A massive massive thank you to everyone who has donated so far and as well to all the volunteers giving up their free time between packing in Ballyclare and doing work to the premises in Ards. We would also like to thank the various businesses that have offered their help whether free materials or a discount.

A lot has been achieved over the last few weeks....

Security fence and new disabled access doors have now been completed.

The appeal was covered by the County Down Spectator and the Newtownards Chronicle, a big thank you to them.

Plumber has removed all the old pipe work from the building.

Work has started on the CCTV and alarm system so that we can begin moving artefacts down from Ballyclare. Thanks again to Mark who has been flat out down in Ards.

Joinery work done on internal walls in the new premises as well as internal walls taken down in Ballyclare. A big thank you to Andy Pyper.

A massive amount of work has also gone into rewiring the building and installing new lighting.

You can see by the pictures the amount of hard graft done by volunteers who give their time freely with one common goal to preserve, protect and present our veterans artefacts not just for this generation but for generations to come.

16/02/2024

The charity has now achieved its deadline to relocate the museum from Ballyclare to Newtownards! The massive operation saw the preparation and safe transportation of the tens of thousands of artefacts in the WYR collection including vehicles, uniforms, documents and more. On top of this was the movement and stacking of four portacabins and several lorryback containers. Various transportation vehicles and equipment were needed for the process and included box vans, lorries, low loaders, Hiab loaders, forklifts, skips and cherry pickers.

"Deadline achieved...the Ballyclare premises now empty"

There are so many people that came through to help with the move and we can not thank everyone that was involved enough:

"McGimpsey Removals who supplied transportation vehicles, packing supplies and manpower"

"JWM Recovery/Action Vehicles who transported the various vehicles in the WYR collection"

"Thanks to Rory and friends who transported and stacked the portacabins and containers"

"A thank you to the National Lottery Community Fund for helping fund many of the costs associated with the move"

Now we begin the enormous process of rebuilding the WYR museum in the new premises on the Crawfordsburn Road, Newtownards. However, the charity has had to spend more than expected to relocate and we urgently need funding to continue work to the building in order to reopen the museum to the public. Please continue to donate.

25/09/2024

The last few months have seen an enormous amount of work to our new premises with the help of bricklayers, plasterers, plumbers, joiners and electricians. This has been a massive undertaking to refit the building so that we can open to the public in accordance with building control regulations and standards.

Most recently we had new fire doors fitted and work has now commenced on our disabled toilet.

We are also very excited to present an evening of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Blair Mayne DSO (3 bars) alongside our good friend Peter Forbes and best selling author Damien Lewis!

This will be Damien’s first ever book launch / signing, here and it will be a rare opportunity to ask him questions on his latest book, in the trilogy about Blair Mayne, as well, as a chance of buying a signed copy…

The event will be held Wednesday 6th November 2024 in the Queen's Hall, West Street Newtownards.

Tickets Available: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/.../sas-daggers.../e-obqddx