On the 16thOctober I attended a conference ‘Overhead and Underfoot: Legacies of the Second World War around Lough Neagh’. Throughout the day there were several interesting presentations given, some more relevant to my project and others just interesting to the history about the area.
Richard Doherty gave a presentation on the second world war around the Lough Neagh area, this certainly gave context to the areas that I have visited before. I haven’t met Richard before, so it was good to see another military historian that was so knowledgeable about costal command. Unfortunately, I didn’t get his contact details, but it would be easy enough to obtain them if needed. Another historian Ernie Cromie who I have worked with before gave another presentation of the history of these sites, looking at the types of troops that were posted there and the impact that made to the communities. I need to arrange a meeting with Ernie and see what type of text/caption for my images would best suit, what would send the best message with accompanying my work.
A third aviation historian gave a presentation on inspiring stories of the second world war, Jonny McNee, the subject matter was about excavating artefacts. I got speaking to him afterwards, got his contact details as he is based in the north of NI. I haven’t visited these areas on foot as of yet, he said he would point them out to me and give me some background knowledge/history.
Dr Jim O’Neil was another historian and archaeologist that talked about surveying the built heritage, he talked about all the different types of buildings that had been reused. I was surprised with how many there were, and I had visited these areas myself and hadn’t found so much. Dr O’Neil could be very useful contact and could offer his prospective as an archaeologist, I have his email and so I need to make time and see if he will meet with me. There was also a presentation by Ian Henderson on Second World War legacy potential in tourism industry. There he discussed different types of people that would investigate and explore their heritage, this something I have never thought about and has made me think about another audiences, further afield.
Finally, the presentation from PhD researcher Rebecca was the most interesting, it seemed that everything she is researching is what I’m trying to do photographically. Rebecca is mainly concerned with what happens to this airfield sites afterwards, facts and figures were the forefront of her presentation. I most definitely need to arrange a meet with her, I have her email address. Overall this conference was priceless to my project and have found quite a few contacts that should keep me busy for a while.
Update on Living Legacies
I emailed the Project Officer for Living Legacies and he has agreed to meet with me to look at my project and discuss possible funding. This is very exciting and hopefully I can get him onboard I will update my CJR when I can with the outcome. In the mean time I will look for meets with the above researchers and historians.
Critical Research Journal 