Research Trip to Liverpool & Western Approaches Museum

On Saturday 8th October I went on a research trip to Liverpool to visit Western Approaches WW2 museum, which is a museum in an old bunker from which the Battle of the Atlantic was commanded. While conducting research for my first MA project (a 3D scene of the inside of an Anderson bomb shelter) I came across the website for Western Approaches WW2 museum in Liverpool and discovered that they have a real Anderson shelter there! So I decided that I would visit the museum and also take a walk around Liverpool and the docks and take some pictures for my blog.

Aswell as the museum, I also checked out several monuments and landmarks in the city and went to Merseyside Maritime Museum and the Slavery Museum. The trip was great and it was inspiring to see a real Anderson shelter in the bunker and I now feel much more prepared to crack on with my project.

I took over a hundred pictures so I won't be posting them all on here, but I have created an image gallery on Imgur containing all the pictures of the day. Here's a few highlights.

Liverpool Town Hall

Nelson Monument in Exchange Flags

Exterior of the museum

The museum is full of info and items
from the Battle of the Atlantic

An unexploded bomb of the same variety that civilians would take cover
from in Anderson shelters.

Story of the unexploded bomb.

The main ops room of the bunker.

The main ops room of the bunker.

This phone was used by the most important staff to get direct contact with
the war cabinet. Only two of these phones still exist in the UK.

The HQ commanders desk.

The bunker contains a large projector that was used to show war footage to
Winston Churchill.

The Anderson shelter.

The Anderson shelter.

Wearing WW2 headwear in front of the Anderson shelter.

Scale model of the whole bunker. It housed 400 people and is 55,000sq ft.

Exhibition on Canada's part in the Battle of the Atlantic.

Back outside of the bunker onto the Liverpool streets. A 1955 Chevrolet.

An educational game in the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

Taking research trips is quickly becoming a favourite activity of mine and I plan to go on as many trips as I can throughout the year, to keep myself inspired and open to new places, ideas and information! Seeing a real Anderson shelter allowed me to get a real feel of what it must have been like inside one and what sort of things one might see.

Click here to see the full album of pictures from the trip to Liverpool!