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With another season behind us and the snow beginning to fall, it is a good time to look back and reflect over the past 25 years and the accomplishments of this museum. Of course a museum is really just a building with "stuff" in it, albeit in this case some pretty amazing "stuff," so who I really want to recognize are the people who have brought this museum to life. Those people are our volunteers.
Whether you volunteer on our board of directors, the front desk or work shops, I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank all of you; 25 years of success and growth would not have happened if it were not for you. It started with the foresight of three gentlemen in Nanton, Howie Armstrong, George White and Fred Garret. From there the enthusiasm has spread and now we hove members worldwide and volunteers traveling great distances just to be part of our group. I remember as a little boy, traveling from Lethbridge to Calgary, passing through the little town with the big plane. What I didn't know at the time is that the little town had an even bigger community spirit.
For 25 years our group has told the story of the people who trained in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and then went on to serve in Bomber Command.
We started with a lone Lancaster bomber, as ew started to grow, a weathered Avro Anson joined the bomber sitting on the side of the road. That was the beginning of our momentum. Soon we had Bomber Days, where you could tour through the Lancaster, then came a roof and four walls to protect our historic artifacts from the elements. It has been said, "If you build it they will come," and come they did.
We now have a first class facility housing a most impressive collection that telling story of the role Canada played during WWII. Through the museum's interpretative programs and special events, we continue to honour those who fought for the freedom we enjoy today.