7 minute read
Gurkha Museum
Gavin Edgerley-Harris passes the baton to Daren Bowyer, the new Director of the Gurkha Museum
From the moment Gavin Edgerley-Harris announced his decision that, after 27 years of exceptional service (from volunteer to Director) he would retire in 2020, it was never going to be a normal year for the Gurkha Museum. But no-one could have predicted then the impact of a global pandemic. For a start, it delayed Gavin’s retirement and he generously soldiered on for a further, challenging, six months. Interviews scheduled for April had to be delayed until mid-July and my appointment suggests that some much better candidates must have dropped out because of the delay! As I had a three-month notice period, even with some manipulation of untaken leave, meant we could not effect a handover until the very end of September.
Gavin’s accumulated knowledge of all things Gurkha is not something I can replicate but I have started climbing the huge learning curve. The Museum’s library seems to be migrating to my study and bedside table! Although I never served in a Gurkha unit, I did serve alongside QGE on a couple of occasions. As a troop commander in the mid-1980s my Squadron undertook a construction project in Kenya and were augmented by a troop of 69 (then) Independent Gurkha Field Squadron. (We were also augmented by a young SSLC/Gap Year Commission 2nd Lieutenant by the name of Wardlaw – but that is another story!). I also commanded 20 Field Squadron – part of 36 Engineer Regiment which is also RHQ QGE – so my neighbours were the British and Gurkha Officers of 69, and later 70 Sqns QGE. (Another aside – the Colonel Commandant was a subsequent OC 20 Sqn; he’s following me around!). Since leaving the Army in 2008, I have held a range of COO/CEO level roles in education and the not-for-profit sector.
It has been an unusual – and in some ways challenging – time to take over a Museum and especially this one which is so firmly embedded in the Brigade and with vital links to both the serving units and the Brigade’s veterans. There are so many people I should have met and have at best been able to communicate with by email or over Zoom. We have, for most of my tenure, been closed to the public and it is very disappointing to find this
Portrait of Field Marshal Slim
week that we will not be allowed to open with nonessential retail, indoor leisure such as gyms and pools, and even theme parks (!) on 12 April. Rather we must wait until ‘Step 3’ on 17 May, along with all but the most ‘high risk’ businesses.
The closure for most of last year, and now extending to almost half of this year, has of course affected not just visitor numbers and educational impact, but also finances. The overall financial position, taken at face value, is sound. A strong performance by our investments, particularly in the latter half of the year, and a surprise legacy, actually resulted in a slight strengthening of the balance sheet. Taking into account the legacy and reduced expenditure – we terminated two probationary positions and furloughed remaining staff where possible – our outturn for the year at the operating level was a deficit of c£60k, better than both the budget and the previous year. However, without that unexpected legacy, the position would have been a deficit over £110k and the overall financial position does not reveal the full impact Covid has had on capacity and activity. (admissions, shop, gallery hire etc.). In raw terms we saw a hit (to year end, 31 Dec 20) of some £45k–£50k to trading income. On top of this our targets for individual donations, grants and trusts etc. were all impacted by the reduced capacity in the fund-raising department (loss of one member of staff) and the many other pressures on grant makers/donors. We must, though, count ourselves luckier than many. Our supporters are many and generous and what we receive from the Brigade and from the Regimental Associations is very much appreciated.
As we approach the end of the first quarter of 2021, we remain in lockdown and so with admissions and gallery hire income remaining zero. We are offsetting this from a developing range of online activity, but there are, of course, production costs to account for. In addition, there is a new threat to our retail income stream in that the GWT has launched an online retail offer with a range of goods very similar to our own. It is too early to say what the impact will be on us but, given GWT’s greater reach and marketing capacity, it cannot do other than reduce our income both directly from sales and from the individual donations and memberships often generated from them.
However, as Churchill may or may not have actually said, you should “never let a good crisis go to waste!” The absence of visitors and events from the Museum, and consequent impact on traditional income generation lines, has been the catalyst for accelerating our on-line activity and moving ourselves more firmly into ‘the digital space’. Not, I should quickly add at the expense of the physical space, of which more below.
Last summer, the opportunity of lockdown was used by the team to refresh our website and increase our social media output. This has had a markedly positive impact on our reach. Visitor numbers to the website have increased significantly, so we are telling the Gurkha story to more people and across a wider geographic and demographic audience. That is great news for our impact and has seen a helpful rise in individual donation and in Friends and mailing list memberships. Our ‘Uncle Bill’ online exhibition
on the life and leadership legacy of FM Viscount Slim is our most successful online event yet. We are shortly to launch our wider online lecture and podcast series under the brand ‘Gharma Sunnu”. To help us keep pace with increased interest and demand and ensure the continued flow of online activity once we have reopened, we plan to recruit a digital officer. A virtual tour of the Museum is also in planning, which will be ‘Virtual Reality’ enabled: with a cheap and easily available set of VR glasses and use of your own compatible mobile device you will be able to ‘visit’ the museum from the comfort of your favourite armchair! All of this has purpose beyond lockdown as it will continue to reach an audience beyond easy travelling distance of Winchester. But we are absolutely not neglecting our physical space. Indeed, good progress is being made with the MOD’s lawyers to secure a long-term lease. With that security of tenure, fundraising opportunities from major grant makers will be opened-up to us and we can start planning in earnest for the museum’s long-term future. In anticipation of this, work is in hand for some short-term improvements. The McDonald gallery is getting a facelift and we are developing displays of the Brigade’s more recent service in Afghanistan and the Middle East, bringing the story up to date.
The need to find a suitably prominent place for the portrait of FM Slim, which has been so generously presented by John Anderson and Duncan Briggs, prompted a more wide-ranging re-arrangement of the pictures in the McDonald Gallery. It will now tell more of ‘the Gurkha Story’ clockwise around the room, from Kalunga to Sangin. In addition, QGE are scoping a full redecoration and new conservation blinds have been installed – reducing the threat to the pictures from UV light. A sophisticated track lighting system is on order, which will allow different settings – for lectures, dinners, exhibitions etc. – to be stored and controlled from an iPad, and new curtains have been sourced. When we reopen to the public, the McDonald gallery will be refreshed and better able to leverage its undoubted commercial potential, while also offering a better aesthetic for home users.
Meanwhile, QGE are also assisting in the design and construction of a ‘sangar’ mock-up to add atmosphere to the planned Op HERRICK displays. A sand-look floor covering will complete the redesign.
We have faced some challenges; there are more ahead. But the future for the Gurkha Museum is an energised and positive one. As ever, we are immeasurably grateful for the support of 6 GRRA.
What’s on at The Gurkha Museum in 2021
The American Revolution
24 June 2021: Lecture and Curry Lunch
This talk will strip away the patriotic froth surrounding the events of 1775–1783 and examine the facts of the war The Story of Indian Independence and the Creation of Pakistan
25 June 2021: Lecture and Curry Lunch
A judicious and unsparing look at events of 1947 from a British perspective Peak Performers
30 September 2021: An evening of Lectures and Curry Supper
First-hand accounts from experts who have summited some of the world’s most formidable peaks. The British Army in the Napoleonic Wars
9 December 2021: Lecture and Curry Lunch
Once described by a (French) critic as being ‘a mob of flogged criminals led by coffee house fops’, The British Army in fact developed during the Napoleonic Wars into a finely honed killing machine.
