'The Stories Just Flow': Scottish Museum Promotes Veterans' Comradeship

A museum in Scotland is helping to promote comradeship among former service personnel.

Military Museum Scotland hosts drop-in centres for veterans to get together and reminisce about their days in the military.

The museum’s curator, Ian Inglis, said the gatherings are one of the most important things they do:

“It’s about reminiscing and it brings back a lot of memories. Sitting and listening to some of their stories that they’re coming out with – I think that’s invaluable.

“A lot of them don’t talk about what happened to them but when they’re here in this environment, the stories just flow.”

The museum in Wilkieston, West Lothian, has a hands-on approach - visitors can handle artefacts in the museum’s indoor and outdoor displays, which cover Scottish military history from the First World War to the present day.

Recently members of the Lothians Veterans Centre visited the museum. 

Alex Galloway, the centre’s Employability Project Manager, said: “Reminiscing is good.

People sharing memories, people comparing memories, people strengthening the feeling that whether serving has been overall good for them or not so good... that they do have something in common with other human beings.”