1st Hussars and Holy Roller & Perry Kitson

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Well that didn’t take too long. Already vandalized

https://london.ctvnews.ca/holy-rolle...eXZNlVjI3lQzAo

I guess the tree sap and bird shit is OK for a war hero of this significance.

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by Bruce Parker

I guess the tree sap and bird shit is OK for a war hero of this significance.

Yup, that is the price you pay when you love an item so much that it just has to go back outside to a city park.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

The story continues (thanks to Robert Morrison for sending this link to me):

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/londo...rged-1.6486728

I guess it helps to create the awareness how precious this tank is and that plans need to be made to protect it from vandalism and external influences.

”My husband said they should put a cage over it to stop people from vandalizing it. Why can't people leave things alone?" Young said. "If they do have to cover it to protect it, that's going to eliminate that connection that kids can have with it."
holy-roller.jpg


Larry Belliveau came to take pictures of the newly restored tank on Monday, just hours before police released news that they had arrested a man they believe was responsible for the vandalism.
"It's a shame because they're going to have to put a fence around it," said Belliveau. "I don't know what our city has become. You can't fix stupid."
Larry Belliveau says he's angry someone vandalized the restored Second World War tank in Victoria Park. (Kate Dubinski/CBC)
larry-belliveau.jpg

[David Dunlop]

Hanno.

That quote speaks volumes. If the ‘connection’ for the children and their parents today is this tank is simply a play toy in a park, the true significance of the tank has already been completely lost.

Same for the vandal. He chose to see what he wanted, not the true significance. All the words cast in metal on the plaques are just lip service now.


David

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Hanno.

That quote speaks volumes. If the ‘connection’ for the children and their parents today is this tank is simply a play toy in a park, the true significance of the tank has already been completely lost.

Same for the vandal. He chose to see what he wanted, not the true significance. All the words cast in metal on the plaques are just lip service now.

I figure the vandal was looking to actually cut his way into the tank (he wouldn't know he was break and entering into the engine compartment) to inspect the pristine restoration first hand. Or maybe he wanted to take it for a joy ride; the news did show it running. Ridiculous you say? Probably for rational people but I know first hand some of the dangerous creepy people that populate downtown London. The good news is the police might be able to return the no doubt stolen grinder to its rightful owner.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Gentlemen, I kept seeing comments on Holy Roller in the New Posts feed that I started in 2017. Today I re-read the last few years. What a collection of cranky old complainers! Nothing better to do than poke s#it at the project and complain about this or that, because 'back in my day ....'. You sound like that Monty Python skit of four old Yorkshiremen.

A few years ago (now here I go), I was assigned to put my arms around a very large and scattered collection of papers, printed materials, and maps at Mapping and Charting Establishment. It is a collection that Ed knows very well. I learned from painful experience, like Ed did, that historical preservation in a public funds setting is completely different from working on ones own private activities. What I might have liked to do would be impossible when confronted by issues and requirements I should have thought about two years ago and submitted a fully costed business plan with three Courses of Action, etc. In short, there were opportunities lost and others seized. It all came down to the project and how the project was executed, because in Canada projects are what work. Did anyone miss my emphasis on projects?

Let's rejoice in the small victories with Holy Roller. A) She is back on display, B) people know her name and recall the tagline part of her story, C) public institutions like Fanshawe College threw their weight behind the project, and D) Holy Roller has had some of the TLC she's been missing over the years. Sure, everyone would have done it differently but complaining here didn't seem to change much after the project was underway.

BTW, the Holy Roller beer wasn't hard to pour into a glass and manage to get down my throat.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Not Monty Python, more Shakespeare: "to thine own self be true"...I am a cranky old complainer, or maybe an old cranky complainer. Just pointing out the missed opportunity is all.

However I did read Canada's three national museums currently have a moratorium on acquiring any new artefacts. I couldn't donate my Fox to them even if I wanted to. Now THAT'S Canadian.

Originally Posted by maple_leaf_eh

Gentlemen, I kept seeing comments on Holy Roller in the New Posts feed that I started in 2017. Today I re-read the last few years. What a collection of cranky old complainers! Nothing better to do than poke s#it at the project and complain about this or that, because 'back in my day ....'. You sound like that Monty Python skit of four old Yorkshiremen.

A few years ago (now here I go), I was assigned to put my arms around a very large and scattered collection of papers, printed materials, and maps at Mapping and Charting Establishment. It is a collection that Ed knows very well. I learned from painful experience, like Ed did, that historical preservation in a public funds setting is completely different from working on ones own private activities. What I might have liked to do would be impossible when confronted by issues and requirements I should have thought about two years ago and submitted a fully costed business plan with three Courses of Action, etc. In short, there were opportunities lost and others seized. It all came down to the project and how the project was executed, because in Canada projects are what work. Did anyone miss my emphasis on projects?

Let's rejoice in the small victories with Holy Roller. A) She is back on display, B) people know her name and recall the tagline part of her story, C) public institutions like Fanshawe College threw their weight behind the project, and D) Holy Roller has had some of the TLC she's been missing over the years. Sure, everyone would have done it differently but complaining here didn't seem to change much after the project was underway.

BTW, the Holy Roller beer wasn't hard to pour into a glass and manage to get down my throat.

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by maple_leaf_eh

Let's rejoice in the small victories with Holy Roller. A) She is back on display, B) people know her name and recall the tagline part of her story, C) public institutions like Fanshawe College threw their weight behind the project, and D) Holy Roller has had some of the TLC she's been missing over the years. Sure, everyone would have done it differently but complaining here didn't seem to change much after the project was underway.

Terry, frankly I am not sure there is anything to rejoice about. Good money, 8000 hours and original parts were needlessly wasted on a four-year project only to return the vehicle back outside were it will once again be ravaged by the elements and as we have just seen, also vandalized. I suspect the average person in London has no idea what Holy Roller is, unless of course they know something about the current vandalism charges. It is great that Fanshawe College threw their weight behind the project; but judging from the minimal amount of internet content, no-one seemed interested to document their work. From what I have read, there appeared to be more interest in some coins found in the hull then in the tank itself.

I agree that complaining on this forum did not change anything although I suspect that the posted comments are known within the project team.

Too bad really, as four years ago the team started with the clean slate and could have achieved something more then just returning the tank back to the park. Sadly, no-one could see past the same ol' play-book of sticking military vehicles in a park.

[Ed Storey]

That was Legion Magazine's title not mine in their July/August Artifacts story about Holy Roller. Apparently I am one of the people who just does not understand how spending $227,928, providing 8000 hours of work and completely replacing the original wartime running gear and tracks for a new set and then plunking the tank back out in a park to continue to be ravaged by the weather is somehow a cost effective and pratical way to encourage rememberance. It was news to me that the original wartime track was turned into 60 iron models, I wonder who they went to?

Too bad the gatekeepers of this artifact were too wrapped up in their own hubris to see beyond the trees in the park to envision the value of placing this historic vehicle on some form of permanent indoor display. Mind you, what can you expect from people who think that preservation is replacing the original tracks and running gear and then turning them into models.

The Little Tank That Could.jpg