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"https://cdn-01.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/migration_catalog/article25633678.ece/7a5aa/AUTOCROP/w300square/b3", "https://cdn-01.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/9e4a1/38824848.ece/AUTOCROP/w65square/pjimage%202.jpg", "https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=221345138391096&ev=PageView&noscript=1", "https://cdn-01.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article29221760.ece/0bd8a/AUTOCROP/w300square/BELFAST%20400%20NMNI%20309.jpg"], "movies": [], "text": "Shoes reputedly owned by Gaddafi feature in the collection (Niall Carson/PA)\n\nRepublican society hopes to secure museum status for Troubles collection BelfastTelegraph.co.uk A collection of Troubles-era artefacts that includes shoes reputedly owned by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is attempting to secure official museum status ahead of a major expansion. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/republican-society-hopes-to-secure-museum-status-for-troubles-collection-38826551.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/972ef/38826548.ece/AUTOCROP/h342/bpanews_98b6d520-c28d-4c7f-b221-35c3c08667b4_1\n\nEmail\n\nA collection of Troubles-era artefacts that includes shoes reputedly owned by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is attempting to secure official museum status ahead of a major expansion.\n\nOver the last five decades, the Roddy McCorley Society in west Belfast has amassed a large number of items related to the conflict and associated with the republican tradition.\n\nIt includes decorative shoes the Libyan dictator apparently gifted to IRA leader Joe Cahill during a visit to his North African regime to secure arms for the Provisionals.\n\nAmong the weaponry the IRA obtained from Gaddafi\u2019s Libya were tonnes of Semtex explosive used in some of the most notorious bomb attacks of the conflict.\n\nNine years on from Gaddafi\u2019s death, relatives of those killed continue to campaign for compensation from the current Libyan authorities.\n\nKevin Carson curator of Roddy McCorley Society living history museum in Belfast holds a pair of Col Muammar Gaddafi\u2019s shoes (Niall Carson/PA)\n\nAs well as the dictator\u2019s shoes, the Troubles collection also includes a bed and blanket from Long Kesh/Maze prison and a badly damaged Army issue rifle a member of the public apparently found close to the site of the Narrow Water bombings which killed 18 soldiers in 1979.\n\nThe society has already secured Belfast City Council backing to transform the collection\u2019s present home, in three rooms above the Roddy McCorley Social Club on the Glen Road, into a purpose-built museum facility.\n\nAs part of the process it is hoping to achieve museum accreditation. The society recently met with officials from National Museums NI to discuss its ambitions.\n\nSociety committee member Kevin Carson said the official status would enable it to loan and swap artefacts with other museums throughout Ireland.\n\n\u201cWe started in one room and then we took over a second room and now we have a third room and, even at that, we haven\u2019t enough space to put on show all the stuff we have,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWe do look forward to getting museum status. Me and other members of the committee have travelled the length and breadth of Ireland to tie up with other groups and museums and collectors to hope in the future to actually exchange parts of our exhibitions back and forward, so stuff from Belfast could be on show in Cork or Mayo or Derry or Donegal, but we need to have proper museum status.\n\n\u201cWe are going through the process at the moment with meeting all the groups that would be great assistance to us to turn ourselves into a museum.\u201d\n\nA rifle found near the site of the Narrow Water bombing in 1979 (Liam McBurney/PA)\n\nThe Roddy McCorley Society was formed in 1972 as a vehicle to raise funds for the families of republican prisoners.\n\nThe collection of artefacts began with art crafted by those prisoners, such as Celtic crosses and leather wallets.\n\nWhile the society tells the story of the Troubles very much through a republican prism, the collection also includes several loyalist items, donated by ex-prisoners from the other tradition who have visited as part of peace process reconciliation initiatives.\n\nMr Carson said Gaddafi\u2019s shoes were \u201cvery valuable\u201d and continued to generate significant interest among visitors. A TV crew from the Middle East visited during the summer to film Mr Carson recounting the story of the shoes.\n\n\u201cJoe Cahill, one of our major republican personalities over the years, had been in Libya on a number of occasions to meet Gaddafi and on one of the occasions he met Muammar Gaddafi in the desert after a great long journey in the sun and heat and dryness, because Gaddafi in those days could never stay in one spot,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cJoe on that occasion was presented by Muammar Gaddafi with these slippers as a souvenir of this visit.\u201d\n\nThe director of National Museums NI, Kathryn Thomson, said: \u201cThe story of our recent past is one that is distributed through a network of museums, visitor attractions, and tours across Northern Ireland.\n\n\u201cAt National Museums NI we work with this network as part of the development and programming of important exhibitions such as the Troubles & Beyond at the Ulster Museum.\n\n\u201cWhere relevant we are always willing to offer curatorial and other expert advice and support to community led initiatives.\n\n\u201cWithin this context we welcomed the opportunity to visit the Roddy McCorley Museum recently and look forward to seeing their project develop.\u201d\n\nPA", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": ["belfasttelegraph"], "tags": [], "authors": [], "publish_date": null, "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "A collection of Troubles-era artefacts that includes shoes reputedly owned by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is attempting to secure official museum status ahead of a major expansion.", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "https://cdn-02.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/static/65878e062b4890b48f61c325264e809c8a5eee53/img/favicon-belfasttelegraph.ico", "meta_data": {"keywords": "belfasttelegraph", "description": "A collection of Troubles-era artefacts that includes shoes reputedly owned by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is attempting to secure official museum status ahead of a major expansion.", "news_keywords": "Republican society hopes to secure museum status for Troubles collection - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk", "og": {"title": "Republican society hopes to secure museum status for Troubles collection - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk", "site_name": "BelfastTelegraph.co.uk", "description": "A collection of Troubles-era artefacts that includes shoes reputedly owned by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is attempting to secure official museum status ahead of a major expansion.", "url": "https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/republican-society-hopes-to-secure-museum-status-for-troubles-collection-38826551.html", "type": "article", "image": {"identifier": "https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/972ef/38826548.ece/ALTERNATES/h342/bpanews_98b6d520-c28d-4c7f-b221-35c3c08667b4_1", "width": 608, "height": 342}}, "twitter": {"card": "summary", "site": "@BelTel", "url": "https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/republican-society-hopes-to-secure-museum-status-for-troubles-collection-38826551.html", "title": "Republican society hopes to secure museum status for Troubles collection", "description": "A collection of Troubles-era artefacts that includes shoes reputedly owned by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is attempting to secure official museum status ahead of a major expansion.", "image": {"src": "https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/972ef/38826548.ece/ALTERNATES/w135square/bpanews_98b6d520-c28d-4c7f-b221-35c3c08667b4_1"}, "domain": "BelfastTelegraph.co.uk"}, "published-date": "Wed, 01 Jan 2020 11:05:33 GMT", "fb": {"app_id": 321217294648139}, "apple-itunes-app": "app-id=1229633020, app-argument=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/republican-society-hopes-to-secure-museum-status-for-troubles-collection-38826551.html"}, "canonical_link": "https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/republican-society-hopes-to-secure-museum-status-for-troubles-collection-38826551.html"}