27 January 2020

A short film from Cumbria County Council with Councillor Peter Thornton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, and Trevor Avery,  Director Lake District Paradise Project.

News Release from Cumbria County Council 19 December 2019

A unique Cumbria-based project to raise awareness of the Holocaust and commemorate the 300 Windermere Children – child survivors of the Holocaust who were brought to the Lake District to recuperate after the Second World War – has taken a major step forward.

The Lake District Paradise Project aims to create a world class visitor experience and learning centre which will tell the Windermere Children’s story as well as the modern history of the area.

Cumbria County Council’s Cabinet today agreed to provide a long lease on Ellerthwaite House, the Windermere library building, to the Lake District Paradise Project (LDPP). Under the terms of the lease, the library building will house the LDPP’s museum and exhibition centre alongside the council-run library service.

This unique partnership formed to commemorate child Holocaust survivors is believed to be the first of its kind in the UK.

Cabinet’s approval to grant the long-term lease paves the way for the LDPP to seek external funding from national funding bodies to meet the cost of major refurbishment works throughout the building.

The county council will continue to run local library services from the library building, which will support the local community as it does now. This will complement and sit alongside the LDPP-operated museum and exhibition centre, which will tell the story of the 300 child Holocaust survivors’ journey to the Lake District as well as the modern history of Windermere and the surrounding area, including the Sunderland ‘flying boat’ factory at White Cross Bay and creation of the Calgarth Estate.

The LDPP will aim to build on the success of the ‘From Auschwitz to Ambleside’ exhibition, currently housed on part of the first floor of the library building, which continues to gain international recognition.

Cllr Deborah Earl, Cumbria County Council Cabinet member for Community Services, said: “I’m delighted Cabinet has approved a long-term lease for Windermere library building. The Lake District Paradise Project has some fantastic plans to create a world class museum and visitor attraction in Windermere. At the same time we can secure the future of an important library building in the heart of the community, which can act as a catalyst to draw in external national funding. It’s a real win-win for the area and I’m really looking forward to seeing this exciting project come to fruition.”

Trevor Avery, Director of LDPP, says “The timing of this is perfect as it comes just as we’re about to enter 2020, the 75th anniversary of when the child survivors arrived in the Lake District from the camps, and also the victory of the world’s democracies over a horrendous tyranny. There can be no better way to celebrate the children’s survival than to commemorate it through a hugely important library and education initiative.”

The Lake District Paradise Project is a registered charity. Its mission is to create a world class visitor experience and learning centre in, and for Windermere that includes and commemorates the continued links between the Lake District, the place and the people, with the child Holocaust survivors and orphans who came to the area in 1945.

For more information, go to http://ldpp.org.uk/

 

Details of a Consultation Event on 19 October 2017 : 4 – 7 pm

The Lake District Paradise Project is a registered charity that would like to invite local residents and visitors to a consultation event on Thursday 19 October.  LDPP was set up to educate the public about the Holocaust and to commemorate the three hundred child Holocaust survivors who settled in the Lake District and the local community who welcomed them.

Its mission is to create a world class visitor experience, library, museum, archive and community hub in, and for, Windermere that includes and commemorates the continued links between the Lake District, the place and the people, with the child Holocaust Survivors and orphans who came here in 1945.

LDPP has secured funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to assess the feasibility of developing a destination museum and visitor experience in Windermere. It is important that local people are consulted at every stage and this is the first opportunity for you to have your say. You can attend the consultation event or complete our survey on-line.

The museum which is on the first floor of the library building on the Ellerthwaite site has an evolving permanent exhibition “From Auschwitz to Ambleside” and a contemporary art programme with artists including internationally renowned Miroslaw Balka.  The permanent exhibition tells the story of the Waterbird, the White Cross Bay “Short Sunderland” factory, Calgarth Estate, and the three hundred child Holocaust Survivors who came from Eastern Europe to the Lake District in 1945.

LDPP may have the opportunity take over the Ellerthwaite site including the house and gardens from the County and District councils to develop the museum alongside the library and use of the site by the community.

The Directors of LDPP issued a statement:

“We have the opportunity to increase the impact of a beautiful but underused asset in the heart of Windermere. We see the potential to develop a world class museum and visitor attraction embedded in the community but we need to know what local people in Windermere think about our ideas”

 For further information, please email

info@ldpp.org.uk

 

 

          



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