Work to create a visitor centre at the site of the Knockaloe Internment Camp is progressing well.

A centre for First World War internment and an internee database, to collate information on enemy aliens interned in the British Isles, is due to open at Knockaloe in Patrick Village in March 2019.

The Knockaloe Charity project commenced with the launch of an introductory website in 2014, which was 100 years after the first internees arrived at Knockaloe Camp.

It was not until 2017 that the team began to turn the Patrick Old School into a visitors centre, once the Isle of Man Government confirmed that the site of the former internment camp would be protected from development.

Extension

Vicky Crellin, who has recently been appointed as the events and communications co-ordinator, said: ’It’s coming on very well and we’re very pleased with the project.

’The extension at the back of the Patrick Old School has been taken out by The Village team, who have done a brilliant job and have reused the original materials to build a new extension.’

Vicky added: ’A lot of work also went on in the background with the database, while we waited for the government’s decision about the site.’

Once open, visitors of all ages will be able to access the stories of the internees, their families, the guards, the villagers, and the island through the database and visualise what it was like for those living at the camp and the village.

The rising interest in the project has kept the new recruit, Vicky, very busy.

Educated in the island, she brings an extensive track record of marketing and events in London and the Isle of Man to the charity.

Married to a Manxman, she came back to the island in 2010 after spending 20 years in London.

Knockaloe charity coordinator and board member Alison Jones said: ’We’re absolutely delighted to have Vicky join the team.

’This project has now grown to such an extent that Vicky’s experience and assistance will be invaluable in both our launch and the other events which we have planned over the coming months and years.

’She will help us tell the world about the role our island, and our little village, played during the First World War, and encouraging the descendants of the tens of thousands of men who lived here 100 years ago to come and tell us their family’s story.’

Visit www.knockaloe.im or follow Knockaloe Internment Camp Isle of Man on Facebook or Twitter for more information.