Money wanted for the restoration of an authentic British trench complex
Not only the city of Ypres is supporting the restoration project, the friends of the In Flanders Fields museum are also starting a crowdfunding campaign. The British trench is one of the eye-catchers in a new project by Tourism Flanders and Westtoer.
The Yorkshire Trench and Dugout site, along Bargiestraat in Boezinge, is a complex of trenches with underground passages, where a pack of British soldiers were killed in WWI. The site is in very bad shape. Dimitry Soenen, alderman of museums Ypres: “We have two dugout entrances. They are raiding. The trenches themselves, the walls are imploding there. We have filled them in with sand to prevent worse.”
Unique and authentic
The In Flanders Fields Museum puts money on the table, and the circle of friends starts a crowdfunding to restore the trenches and air-raid shelters to their former glory. They aim for 10,000 euros. Gilbert Ossieur, Friends of the In Flanders Fields Museum: “It is the only site where you can still see authentic trenches and a dugout. It is very important as an educational element for young people. We want to do everything we can to restore it .”
There will also be new information boards. The refurbished trenches and air-raid shelters will become a hotspot of the Landscape project, in which Westtoer and Tourism Flanders want to promote the Westhoek as a peace region. Sabien Lahaye-Battheu, deputy and chairman of Westtoer: “A war completely destroys the landscape, we also see that in Ukraine. The landscape has recovered after WWI, and we will show that recovery in 2023 and 2024. This project is an example of the locations.”
This site was discovered by a farmer in the early 1990s and resurfaced by the Diggers, a group of amateur archaeologists at the time. Now the memorial site is hidden in a business park. The British will also soon be doing their bit, and crowdfunding is also underway across the channel for this project: 10,000 British pounds has already been raised there.