With the successful completion of the Passing the Torch Campaign, the Friends of the Canadian War Museum have now begun raising funds in support of specific projects proposed by the Canadian War Museum. One of the first of these concerns the resotration of particular First World War works of art currently on display in the Museum.

There are 12 large paintings located in Commissionaire's Way and the Thomas Fuller Passage - the main access route to the Lebreton Gallery (large equipment display area). These paintings were executed as part of the official World War I War Art Programme. Eight of these paintings require major restoration work with the cost estimated at $ 250,000, and the Friends have undertaken to raise the necessary funds to complete the work.

To date funding for the restoration of the painting "Canada's Grand Armada" by Frederick Challener (1919) has been provided by the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. William P. Wilder. Work has been completed on this painting. The Wilders also have provided funding for the work on "Canadians in the Snow."

A donor who wishes to remain anonymous has provided funding for "Return to Mons" by Inglis Sheldon-Williams (1920) and "Physical Training at Whitley Camp" Laura Knight. The work on these last three paintings will be completed May and June 2006 and visitors will be able to view the work in progress.

The remaining paintings for which restoration work is required include:

• "No Man's Land" by Maurice Cullen
• "Battlefields of Ypres" by D.Y. Cameron
• "Canadians Arriving on the Rhine" by Inglis Sheldon-Williams, and
• "Canadian Foresters in Windsor Park" by Gerald Moira.

- the estimated cost for work on these paintings is $74,000.00. They will be completed over the fall and winter of 2006/07, as funds become available.

Donations for the restorations of this last group of paintings would be greatly appreciated by the Friends.