On July 13, four sea cadets and one officer from HMCS Quadra heard a call for help and they stepped up to plate to assist in the sudden need to move the HMCS Alberni Museum after a flood earlier in the week.
There was a social media message posted, and HMCS Quadra immediately started the process to get personnel out to help with the move. LCdr Jason Finkbeiner assembled the team. The next day, cadet PO1 Myles O’Reilly, PO1 Kaelin Lapell, CPO2 Morgan Laverdure and PO2 Jacob Dunham eagerly volunteered their Saturday morning to assist. During the move, they had a bit of a history lesson and met two of the museum members trying to save the artefacts.
“This was the second time we’ve been flooded in the past two years, but this one was much worse,” said Lewis Bartholomew, founder and executive director of the museum. “Currently, the extent of the damage is unknown as the flooding came from under the floor. Thankfully, no damage was sustained to any of the artefacts. Once the floor has been cleared of museum pieces, there will have to be an assessment made and possibly dig to see the cause of the problem to have the floor re-built before they can move back in. All damage should be covered by insurance.”
The museum rents the location, which was built during the Second World War. This is still a fairly new site to the museum as it was previously located at Driftwood Mall, where they were getting twice the number of visitors than the location at Cliffe and Sixth.
FMI: www.alberniproject.org