Museum Plans for Church
Rescuing Dryfesdale & Trinity Parish Church: Grand plans to turn an iconic Lockerbie landmark into a new museum that celebrates Lockerbie's history and heritage as well as commemorates the December 21, 1988, terrorist bombing of Pan American flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland
GRAND plans have been unveiled to turn an iconic Lockerbie landmark into a new museum that celebrates the town’s history and heritage and commemorates the air disaster.
The former Dryfesdale Church has been purchased by a group of locals working with The Pan Am 103 Lockerbie Legacy Foundation and it’s set for a new lease of life.
Their vision is to turn it into a ‘memorial church museum’, which would blend worship with remembrance, education and advocacy.
American Victoria Cummock, pictured below on the church tower today, who lost her husband John in the 1988 tragedy, set up the foundation and is spearheading the development with a group of Lockerbie residents.
This week she said: “We have just acquired Dryfesdale and Trinity Church. This is a major milestone towards fulfilling our Foundation’s mission to commemorate, advocate and educate about the UK’s deadliest terrorist attack and US’s deadliest attack until 9/11.
“We are honoured and thrilled to be able to rescue this iconic Lockerbie heritage site which is in major disrepair. Once restored and renovated it will be the home of the Lockerbie Memorial Church Museum.”
A brochure has been created setting out the full proposal. It describes the main mission to ‘create a self-sustaining, reverential place of pilgrimage that continues the existing use of the building for community benefit, including interactive learning and cultural events’.
The foundation aim to restore and maintain the main body of the church ‘as a space for reflection, contemplation, ecclesiastical services and commemorative events’.
There would also be a dedicated memorial gallery on the ground floor for the six WWI and WWII war memorials, as well as the addition of a victims’ memorial for the 270 people who died when Pan Am 103 exploded on December 21 1988.
An interactive space is planned to showcase the area’s history, culture and traditions, featuring pre-history and archaeology: excavations from the Neolithic period, Bronze Age, Roman and Viking times, as well as more recent local history.
Meanwhile, the entire second floor of the church will be converted into multiple interactive exhibition spaces and a resource library that offers educational programmes and related activities about the bombing.
Alongside it will be exhibitions highlighting the efforts and ‘humanity’ of Lockerbie residents on that fateful night and since then. It will include first-hand accounts from some of those who were there.
The foundation hopes the building will be used by local and global visitors, as well as students, academics, victims’ families and residents.
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