A Great Piece by CTV News on our Vimy Ridge Cannon!

In case you missed the news last night, CTV News did a great piece on the large K14 Cannon which was captured at Vimy Ridge. The cannon has sat in the square in Hopewell Cape since March 4, 1920! Here is the VIdeo link http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1073720

The large 10.5 Cm K14 German Cannon was captured at Vimy Ridge, April 9, 1917, and was won by the Citizens of Albert County during the Victory Loans Campaign of 1919 for raising the greatest percentage of monies over their set goal. They raised $347,600.00 tripling their goal of $110,000.00. Pretty impressive for a county of only 8700 people!

Now that's a story worth saving!

The Victory Cannon Campaign is raising funds to restore the two captured World War One cannons situated in the square in Hopewell Cape. These cannons were captured by Canadians during the Great War, and were awarded to the people of Albert County. You can donate online to the Victory Cannon Campaign here, and best of all you'll be sent a tax receipt!  Click Here to Donate!

The 2016 Victory Cannon Campaign Fundraiser

We are very pleased to introduce our 2016 fundraising effort for the Victory Cannon Campaign. Our goal is to raise the remaining $5000.00 of the total goal of $15,000.00. The Victory Cannon Campaign is raising funds to restore the First World War cannons located in the Square in Hopewell Cape. The two cannons were captured by Canadians during the First World War and awarded to the people of Albert County. The large cannon was won in the Victory Loans Campaign of 1919, for raising the greatest percentage over our set goal. The second cannon was awarded for Albert County having the largest number of men per capita enlist in the CEF in Canada. 

We were fortunate to have noted local artist, Norm Bradford agree to paint an original painting depicting our cannons, which we will be raffling off. Tickets will be $10.00 each with a limit of 600 tickets sold, and will go on sale Opening Day at the Museum (May 21), with sales continuing until all are sold or the draw date at our at our Annual General Meeting in October. The odds of winning are fantastic! (1 in 600 if all the tickets sell). 

Here is Norm's amazing painting, and below it are his comments on it. Please be generous and buy tickets!

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“The Spoils of War

As an artist who needs to convey a message and emotion through his art, I had to take my time to study how we got to have these cannons, why they’re here in Hopewell Cape Museum and how much it cost us. I was overwhelmed by the cost and the bravery of our local boys who captured these cannons. Below is a description of some of the symbolism in my creation. It took me a long time to plan this painting. I took lots of pictures, visits and composition planning to bring this painting to fruition.

The Cannons: As a realist, the cannons are recognizable, detailed and are central to this work. They are angled in such a way that your eye is drawn to the ghostly young WW1 soldier leaning on a strong maple tree, blowing taps in recognition of the of brave Albert County boys who gave their lives in the First World War, where these German Cannons were captured. The cannons were given to Albert County by Canada in recognition of those who fought, and from the 1919 Victory Loans Campaign.

The ghost: The young man is depicted as half ghost and half solid. He casts a shadow and the light reflects off his clothing. His uniform is what he would have worn at the time of the capture of these cannons. He is gone, but he is still here “lest we forget” the cost in human lives it took to have these “spoils”. He is standing straight and proud against a straight and proud maple tree (a symbolism for Canada).

The dramatic sky: The dark purple, threatening, ominous clouds of war are broken by a ray of hope lighting up the landscape and separating the foreground from the darker background. This ray in a small patch of blue sky signifies victory, hope, pride, freedom, and a brighter future thanks to our young men’s sacrificed and triumph. This light is of utmost importance in this painting. This sky was captured in a picture taken by Doran Milton recently just after a terrible downpour that flooded roads and fields. The light that it cast on the foreground (cows) helped me bring this whole painting together. It was central to bringing the emotion, the drama and the story together.

The background: Although the background is dark and treed, the buildings of the shire are recognizable although not to scale, not in the proper disposition. This an artist can do and no photographer can. The buildings have the light of the illusive sun also separating them from the dark green background. Bennett’s monument and plaques are also in view and centrally located.

The red poppies: although, there are no poppies in reality, they are in the painting to again remind the visitors that these cannons were not easy spoil, but won by many sacrifices.

Respectfully,

Norm Bradford”

You can purchase a ticket online here. 

Prepare to be Be-dazzled.

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Did you know the cannons in Hopewell Cape were not always painted the drab grey they are now, but multi-coloured in bright greens, browns and even orange? Quite often the camouflage used in World War One was not solely used to hide something, but to make it more difficult to determine its true distance and range for artillery bombardment. The term was Dazzle Camouflage, and it was developed to counter the newly devised optical (coincidence) range finder. 

In 1890, US Navy Rear Admiral Bradley Fiske was granted a patent for an optical device that was to have enormous implications for both naval and land-based warfare in the next several decades: the range-finder.

Prior to the advent of the coincidence range-finder, deciding how high or low to elevate your guns in order to hit a distant target usually meant having to guess how far away it was. But thanks to Fiske's range-finder device, you could now determine precisely how far away an enemy ship was before wasting your first salvo. So how did the Coincidence Range Finder work and how did Dazzle Camouflage counter it? Come back  next week for the answer. 

Now that's a story worth exploring!

The Victory Cannon Campaign is raising funds to restore the two captured World War One cannons situated in the square in Hopewell Cape. These cannons were captured by Canadians during the Great War, and were awarded to the people of Albert County. You can donate online to the Victory Cannon Campaign here, and best of all you'll be sent a tax receipt!  Click Here to Donate!

Victory Cannon Campaign Makes the News Again

The Victory Cannon Campaign has made the news again, this time in thanks to the wonderful people at the CrossRoads Military Heritage Collectors Show (held November 1) who kindly donated a table to the museum. The Military Antiques Show located in Moncton, at the heart of Atlantic Canada, features Militaria, Pre-1945 Arms, Vehicles & Collectibles and can be found online on Facebook here. 

Our museum Manager/Curator Donald Alward was fortunate to get interviewed by Jonathan MacInnis of CTV news and you can watch the whole episode here. Although Jonathan stated in the article the people of Albert County raised $117000.00 during the Victory Loans Campaign of 1919, they really raised $317000.00 which is equivalent to ~3.92 million dollars today. The $117000.00 Jonathan quotes in the article is the amount the Government set as a goal for Albert County. The Cannon prize was given to Albert County for surpassing the goal by such a large amount, the most over their goal in all of New Brunswick . You can learn more about the Victory Loans Campaign here.

Over $140.00 was raised on Saturday, which brings us ever closer to the grand total of $15000.00. A special thanks is extended to The Rocks Provincial Park for kindly donating a jacket and passes to use as promotional prizes at the show. Thanks Rocks! Thanks also to our volunteers who manned the booth and the the show for giving us the booth!

If you have not donated to the Victory Cannon Campaign to restore the WW1 Cannons in Hopewell Cape then please do so here. DONATE.