Great Britain Royal Artillery Museum to Close GMIC members please help ***IMPORTANT*** ANY NEWS?

[paul wood]

I don't know if you have heard, but the Ministry of Defence is planning to close the Royal Artillery Museum. This would obviously be a disaster for anyone interested in Army, military or indeed British heritage..

The intention, evidently, is to give all medals to the officers' mess (you can guess what might happen to them), books and records will go on the open shelves in the local library (you can guess what might happen to them), any interesting items of ordnance will be stored in a big warehouse somewhere and everything else will be got rid off (a scrap merchant has already removed a few items)!!

There is an e-petition set up on the HM Government web site which already has about 1,500 signatures. If you haven't already signed it and want to, the link is below:

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/64840

[Spasm]

Paul

E-petition signed. Exactly the problem discussed in other threads about whether to donate items to museums. How bloody annoying. Its a massive place down there South of the river (I used to live next door to Woolwich in Thamesmead), another bit of the arsenal's heritage going to be sold off to developers I suppose.

1526 signatures and counting. 100,000 are needed I think so that it gets debated in the House of Commons.

Edited June 3, 2014 by Spasm

[IrishGunner]

Unfortunately, one must be a resident of the UK to sign the petition. Of all the armies in the world, I thought we could always count on the British Army to uphold it's long, long history and traditions. I guess the Exchequer doesn't have that same feeling. Sad day when Firepower closes.

[Tony]

Unfortunately, one must be a resident of the UK to sign the petition. Of all the armies in the world, I thought we could always count on the British Army to uphold it's long, long history and traditions. I guess the Exchequer doesn't have that same feeling. Sad day when Firepower closes.

There's no need to be UK resident, I'm not and it worked for me. Just tick the UK citizen box and fill in the rest.

1584 now.

[IrishGunner]

Curious question: Will MoD close all of its military museums or is this one being singled out for some obscure reason?

[Jock Auld]

Signed,

I can't believe they want to close it after the amount they took off mess members to fund it.

These clowns at the moment should change their moto to 'Taking the Great out of Britain'!

If they took a modest pay cut and binned their expenses racket they could fund it indefinately and some hospital and schools too!

Cnuts.

Jock

Edited June 4, 2014 by Jock Auld

[Taz]

Signed,

Let's hope enough people participate in the petition.

Regards Eddie

[Brett Hendey]

A partial solution to the UK's financial problems is simple - stop wasting taxpayer's money on 'foreign aid'. In the cloud-cuckoo land occupied by politicians there is the persistent belief that foreign aid is essential to the UK's continued existence as a 'world power'. In fact it feeds the 'culture of entitlement' that goes with mindless charity and mainly benefits the wrong people.

Brett

[Mervyn Mitton]

All of our Members outside of the UK are able to sign the Petition. Use the drop box to show your Country.

The historical items they are getting rid of don't bear thinking about. They are going to hang VC's in the Officers'

Mess.................

If you are British - write to your MP and complain. If you belong to other Forums - please get this petition posted

onto them.

[paul wood]

Thanks Mervyn, the more this worthy cause gets publicised the more signatures we will get.

Paul

[IrishGunner]

When I check the "No" box to the question, "British citizen or UK resident?" I get the following pop-up in red type:

You must be a British citizen or normally live in the UK to create or sign e-petitions.

I'm all for saving Firepower (as a Gunner I clearly have a vested interest), but wouldn't violating the terms of UK e-petitions by having non-citizens "sign" void the petition itself?

[paul wood]

However if you were an Albanian illegal immigrant you would have no problem.

Paul

[Alex K]

Signed

[Mervyn Mitton]

IG - if they won't allow people overseas to vote - then why put a box asking your Country ?

Paul - you have done us a great favour by drawing attention to this planned closure.

I have drawn our Chairman's attention and asked if we can put the weight of GMIC behind the

protest. We will have to wait and see if he thinks it adviseable . Mervyn

[paul wood]

Thanks Mervyn,

Paul

[Taz]

With regards to voting from overseas it worked fine for me.

Saying that though I ticked the yes box because I am still a British National, if you tick no I imagine that excludes you from completing the form.

Also I linked to Facebook, 1 RTR forum and Soviet-awards forum.

Eddie.

[IrishGunner]

IG - if they won't allow people overseas to vote - then why put a box asking your Country ?

I would imagine to track UK subjects that live abroad. I am stating the obvious to you, but you can be a British subject and live in another country.

Go to the site. Click "no" to UK citizen or resident and you will see the red warning. Also, go to the bottom and click "Terms and Conditions"

Submission Conditions

An e-petition may freely disagree with the government or call for changes of policy. There will be no attempt to exclude critical views. Decisions to accept or reject will be made on an impartial basis.

However, to protect this service from abuse, e-petitions must satisfy some basic conditions.

To create or sign an e-petition, you must be either:

• a British citizen
• a resident in the UK (you normally live in the UK)

I am not trying to be argumentative and surely support saving Firepower. But clearly this is not open to those not subject to Her Majesty's rule. I wish it were...but I think its pretty clear that my "vote" won't (and shouldn't) count. Again, a pity, because this history has a legacy for Gunners regardless of citizenship.

Edited June 4, 2014 by IrishGunner

[Mervyn Mitton]

I am so sorry IG that you are not allowed to vote. I am sure you are right in your interpretation - I don't live in the UK -

in fact I am shown as non-Resident , but was able to sign. I don't think even our Members realise just how big the Museum is

or, what wonderful historical pieces are going to be dispersed. Mervyn

[paul wood]

Nearly up to 2,000 signatures. I have notified the editor of Medal News and hopefully he will do something about it for the next issue which should get a few more signatures. If anyone is a member of other military forums. Or has contact with anyone who runs military related publications please let them know. Every signature we can get is worth its weight in gold, alas one can't do at they used to do in Northern Ireland elections many years ago "vote early, vote often."

Thanks for all the support shown by members of this forum.

Paul

[Patrick Dempsey]

Signed through something of a red mist.

My capacity to be appalled by the seemingly deliberate, relentless, dismemberment of our islands peerless historical past continues. And all planned to take place in the 4 year time frame of commemorations for the Great War.

You really couldn't make it up.

The fact that it is probably being done due to penny pinching and is being conducted with what appears to be utter indifference (outside of circles such as here) saddens me all the more. The disbanding of Regiments with centuries of tradition and battle honours continues, Regiments never to be seen again are lost to us forever. And now museums are the next target.

At the risk of an element of hyperbole, there are times that i weep at what has become of my country and the attitudes displayed towards it.

Edited June 5, 2014 by Patrick Dempsey

[Alex K]

It's the main reason I would flatly refuse to donate anything, military or not to ANY museum. IMHO the government pays for our institutions including the MOD with Taxpayer's (Our) money, to take what is by definition therefore "Publicly owned" assets and dispose of them willy-nilly is wrong. The fact that the medals may well end up hanging in the officers mess is immaterial as they will no doubt now be off-limits to the public who paid for them with taxes, I bet those frequenting the mess wont even notice them. Just my little rant

Alex K

Edited June 5, 2014 by Alex K