Bloody Sunday Trust given a cash boost
Funds from foreign affairs minister will benefit Free Derry Museum
By Eamonn Houston
A museum dedicated to the history of some of the pivotal events of the Troubles received a cash boost from the Irish government yesterday.
The Bloody Sunday Trust, which oversees the Museum of Free Derry, was awarded €25,000 (£17,000) by foreign affairs minister, Dermot Ahern.
The museum has amassed an impressive archive of material relating to the civil rights era in Derry.
Sinn Féin MP Martin McGuinness and SDLP leader Mark Durkan have been credited with securing the money which will be used to further develop the museum.
Mr McGuinness said: “I welcome the announcement for the Bloody Sunday project. I made representations on behalf of the Bloody Sunday trust and I am glad that these have been successful.”
Mr Durkan said that the museum had exciting plans for the future.
“I wrote to foreign affairs minister, Dermot Ahern, expressing my full support for the Trust’s application to the Department’s Reconciliation Fund and am delighted that the minister has allocated €25,000 towards this project.
“This museum will provide a lasting commemoration, not just of the tragic events of Bloody Sunday, but of that entire period in Derry’s history – a history that merits being told and heard.”
Adrian Kerr of the Bloody Sunday Centre said that the funding would help the museum grow. It has already attracted thousands of visitors since it opened in January.
“We’re very grateful,” he said, “I would like to thank Martin McGuinness and Mark Durkan for their efforts. We’re still getting a lot of visitors and have received a very positive reaction. We look forward to seeing the finished product.”
The museum will be housed at Glenfada Park, which is central to most of the events detailed in the exhibitions, and also close to the Bloody Sunday Monument, Free Derry Corner and the Bogside Artist’s murals.
The main area for the Battle of the Bogside is only yards away from the museum’s site, with two people killed and five others injured in front of the building during Bloody Sunday.
The Trust said the collection which contains over 25,000 individual items, many donated to the museum by local residents, would be known as the National Civil Rights Archive.
It will tell this part of the city’s history from the point of view of the people who lived through it.
The term Free Derry has been used for the musem and it will be covering areas in Derry including the Bogside, Brandywell, Creggan, Bishop Street and Foyle Road.
The museum’s collection will be expanded to tell the story of the city right up to the present day.
