Passing Comment
By Sue Vincent Jones
Does Barry need its own museum?
Phew, I thought the Covid had caught up with me but it was just that flaming flu that made me miss some of our town’s top Easter delights – not least the ‘Twitchy Curtains Tour’.
This digital delight takes you back in time with 15 bilingual Barry stories from the 1890s to the 2020s. Just click the QR codes placed everywhere from shop windows to even taxi cabs placed around our neighbourhood.
High Street hosted the lovely launch, compete with fanfare and fancy dress led by our historic Hodges from the Victorian Barry Experience – the husband and wife team who have long sought to preserve our town’s rich heritage.
For me, we must always remember our roots. And knowing the good, bad, and even ugly background, to beautiful Barry is completely crucial to understanding our place in the past.
And that’s not just the sweet sentiment but also the hard-fact history that shaped our town into the cracking community it is today.
Mind you, I quite like a cheeky and cheerful reminisce too.
And as proud Barrian, have even got my own little Old Skool town tribute fantastically framed on my She Shed wall.
Got to love those vintage back in the day GWR Railway Posters haven’t you?
I think they are absolutely perfect pictures to hang in a new museum too, an idea that has been lobbied to the local authority for the last few years. For me, there’s a strong case to capture past and even present in one tourist attraction place, and while there’s a lot of will, there’s sure not much cold hard cash.
Could the councils cough up? Would a community grant kickstart the Project, or is a fundraising frenzy needed to pick up the slack?
There’s definitely a strong case though as, to my shock, I now know there is not even one accredited museum in the Vale. And that our only nod to our town’s proud past is the wonderful Barry War Museum.
Operated by the voluntary Barry at War Group, its authentic wartime experience is a definite delight so surely we must take tips from them.
Maybe some tenacious town residents should step up to save the idea with a committed collective starting the ‘Bring Us Barry Museum’ movement.
And then driving forward a concerted community campaign to make the many times mooted pipe dream into a remarkable reality.
I’m game if you are. Any takers?
- The views expressed by columnists of this newspaper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Glamorgan Star, its employees, or proprietors.
🌟 This article first appeared in the printed edition of the Glamorgan Star on 21.04.22
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A well-curated museum of local history, both of Barry itself and of the wider Vale, would be a great addition to the town. With all the new building projects down on the Waterfront and elsewhere, surely some space could be found to build one.