Delight as Kent museum secures six sets of rare war medals

BBC News

09-03-2025

A museum now owns six sets of rare Battle of Britain medals after the director successfully negotiated with the owner in New Zealand. Dave Brocklehurst, who manages Kent Battle of Britain Museum in Folkestone, launched a fundraising campaign last month in an attempt to raise £58,000 within three weeks before the seller arrived in the UK. The museum had managed to raise £29,000 and Mr Brocklehurst said he was "absolutely delighted" when the owner agreed to sell the medals and give the museum more time to raise the remaining funds."Since he had travelled half way round the world to meet us, we knew he was very keen to reach an agreement," he said.
"Once he had toured the museum he was hooked on what we do."If we had not been able to purchase the medals, which belonged to six New Zealand pilots, they would have gone to auction and disappeared into private collections around the world."Mr Brocklehurst added he was "extremely grateful" for supporters' help with the fundraising.
To honour one of the soldiers, pilot officer Howard Hill, Mr Brocklehurst said he and his team travelled to Hawkinge Cemetery in Kent with one of the medal sets which was awarded to the pilot posthumously. The pilot was shot down by Werner Mölders, one of the top Luftwaffe pilots during the Battle of Britain."We also took the tailwheel from the Spitfire he was killed in which crashed a few miles from the museum and RAF Hawkinge," Mr Brocklehurst added. Mr Brocklehurst says the museum is hoping to raise the remaining £29,000 in the next three months. "We've only received one grant since the museum first opened in 1971, so we're not really hopeful of receiving any more grants. But we are confident we can do this, and so is the seller," he added.