OPEN DAY AT BURNHAM FIRST SINCE THE WAR

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29368, 22 November 1960, Page 16

OPEN DAY AT BURNHAM FIRST SINCE THE WAR

Burnham Military Camp will be open to the public on Sunday for the first time since the Second World War.

Workshops, stores and other buildings will be opened and the public given the opportunity of seeing and being told by a guide of some of the Army’s activities at the camp. Demonstrations of air dropping, infantry and artillery work have been organised for the afternoon.

In the past civilians have only been allowed into the camp on visitors’ days and for special parades. They have rarely had the opportunity to look inside the buildings. Machinery in the vehicle and gunnery workshops will be in operation on Sunday and commentators will direct the visitors’ attention to activities of interest. The full range of vehicles will be on display in another part of the camp, and drivers and operators will explain the various purposes for which the vehicles are used.

Films will be shown throughout the day in the camp cinema some photographs displayed in the library, a small cooking demonstration arranged in one of the kitchens, and the medical training depot will be open for inspection With the assistance of an R.N.Z.A.F Bristol Freighter an air-drop of weapons, rations, and equipment will be performed on one of the training areas. A detachment from the Ist New Zea-

land Regiment and members of the 163rd Battery will give demonstrations.

Burnham camp had its beginnings as an industrial school in 1873. Many of the original buildings, mainly in the D block area, are still in use today. In 1920 it was handed over to the Defence Department for use as a training camp.

At the stari of the Second World War, Burnham was expanded and since then nearly 70,000 soldiers have been trained in the camp.