A Spennymoor scout group were shown how the community can “grow stronger together” after local businesses chipped in to help fund a special museum trip.
This week, 1st Byers Green Scout Group were treated to a visit to The Last Post Memorial Bar and The Don War Memorial Museum, in Thornaby.
The visit was funded by both Miller Pharmacy, in Spennymoor, and Aye Bee Consultancy, in Darlington, with support from Lees Coaches, in Durham, in providing a discount to ship the children to the museum.
The unique venue, run by Julie Cooper, provides a unique experience for visitors with a museum display of memorabilia from wartime as well as tributes to forces past and present.
The children were able to have a talk with a veteran of the royal engineers, Ian Black, on their visit, who served with the army for more than 20 years.
They were also able to create a poppy as part of another activity and were given a guided tour by Kirk at the museum.
“All of the kids loved it,” Chris Stockill, assistant beavers leader, told The Northern Echo.
“I found that in Spennymoor there were not a lot of local things happening for Remembrance, so I decided to try and get something together and we all visited the Last Post in Thornaby.”
The 39-year-old, who works full-time as a project manager and has been with scouts for just over one year, continued: “They got some really good first hand experience - and enjoyed seeing [everything from] the poppies on the ceiling to the bombs underneath the bar area.
“We were then able to provide all the young people with a poppy badge from scouts - there were 60 of us there plus the 10 adults."
One young person said: “I can see that war does not just affect adults...it affects children as well. The story inside showed how 16 children were killed whilst being evacuated.”
Another young person called Sebastian said: “This was a memorable trip and I loved seeing things in real life.”
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Chris, who is from Sedgefield but lives in Spennymoor, continued: “This trip shows that local businesses and communities grow stronger together.
“The businesses offering to pay for the trip show how important they are within our community. Having organisations such as the Don War museum is amazing.
“Julie Cooper who leads this has built such an empire of military items…her desire and motivation to continue the legacy of the veterans is outstanding. Hats off to you Julie.”
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