Feature - International Bomber Command Centre

This story was originally submitted as part of a university assignment. I also covered this story in the form of a TV News package linked in my Television portfolio.

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Six years to the day since the £12.5 million project started. 14 acts of vandalism on the site. The International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) has finally opened to the public. Katharyn Daniels went along to the site on Canwick Hill on opening day to learn more about the project.

Back in March 2017 the disappointment in Nicky Barr’s voice is evident, but also the determination. Vandals had broken into the centre and stolen food and generators ahead of an open day. “It’s a big concern with the open day, but we will be going ahead with that,” she tells me. “Our volunteers have gotten us back up and running.”

The open days were crucial for raising funds. “It’s been a rallying call for the community really. We’ve been inundated with offers of help.

“The fight has to go on. Those men that we’re honouring wouldn’t have backed off from something like this, you just dust yourself off and get on with it.”

And dust themselves off they did.

It is now January 2018 and the contrast is clear. Just under a year since we spoke on the phone and I meet Nicky Barr in person, in the shadow of the Centre to which she has dedicated the past few years of her life. “We started in 2012. It’s six years to the day since I started.” Her voice holds relief.

Unfortunately tragedy hit. Chairman of the IBCC, Tony Worth CVO, passed away unexpectedly last November, meaning that the opening ceremony was held in private to remember him. “We’d always planned to walk through those doors together. It was very emotional, but I’m sure he’s looking down on us today.”

Mr Worth CVO started a trust in 2009 when he was Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire to recognise Lincolnshire’s contribution to the war effort. The area was ‘Bomber County’ with over a third of Bomber Command stations based in Lincolnshire. This then led to the formation of the IBCC.

Nicky explained. “Tony’s family history was very closely linked with the RAF, his father and two uncles served in Bomber Command. The two uncles didn’t come home. He wanted to use the opportunity to not only commemorate the work of Bomber Command, but the contribution Lincolnshire made.”

The site is peaceful. A place of reflection. The Chadwick Centre, named for Roy Chadwick the designer of the Lancaster Bomber, is a busy hub with a café and the archives to learn about those who fought for our freedom. However, once you step through the doors leading into the peace garden, the hustle pales into insignificance.

270 rust coloured metal sheets surround the Memorial Spire and they direct your eye up the tallest war memorial in the UK, which was designed to represent the wing of the Lancaster.

When up close it becomes clear that these sheets bear the 58,000 names of those who lost their lives while fighting for Bomber Command during World War Two. “For those that didn’t come home it’s the first place in the world where they’re all commemorated and memorialised. And for many of those on the walls, it’s the only place in the world where they’re commemorated.”

If you look roughly south when in Lincoln, you are guaranteed to spot the Spire. But standing in front of it and witnessing the sheer scale of what Nicky Barr and the rest of the IBCC team have managed to create, is a different matter entirely.

The bird song is the only distinct noise, some muffled chatter can be heard as people explore the site and revel in its significance. Just through open days and educational events the site has already had 20,000 visitors and played host to 14 different nations.

It feels disrespectful to talk. To disturb the silence. It is baffling how some people had had so little respect to vandalise the site. It was not just that one event in March 2017. But Nicky is not one to give up. The resilience with which she spoke to me a year previously had shown that she was a force to be reckoned with. Even when asked if they faced difficulties during construction, she chuckles: “Oh did we.”

Alongside trying to raise the funds needed, finding the remains of 32 Romans on the site, and technical issues with gas and electricity, they had 14 break-ins.

“Whilst the damage hasn’t been huge it’s actually the time it takes. It’s disheartening to know there are people with so little respect that they think that’s an entertaining thing to do.

“We’ve had arson attempts on the shed, we’ve had broken bottles thrown around, it’s upsetting.”

The hard work and refusal to give up on the project was worthwhile. While there I am stopped by a veteran who expresses how grateful he is for the IBCC.

And Nicky tells me that “veterans have helped raise thousands” because they’re “desperate” for their stories to be told.

Canwick Hill was chosen for the IBCC due to the view of Lincoln Cathedral. Standing in the middle of the Memorial Spire, with that rust coloured metal surrounding you, which muffles the noise and shelters you from the wind, the Cathedral is perfectly framed. “The view is beautifully captured. When you bring the veterans that served in Lincolnshire up here that’s a hugely emotional point for them.”

And of course, that view of the Cathedral is one of the most poignant aspects of the site. The young servicemen flying for Bomber Command used the Cathedral as their sighting point and many would have taken it as a signal that they were nearly back safe from the war.

But for many thousands more, Lincoln Cathedral would have been the last thing they saw of home.