FRANCE: MUSEUM OF BEACH DEBRIS OPENS IN NORMANDY

(17 Aug 1996) Eng/French/Nat A museum with a difference has opened on the Normandy coast in France. On display is debris picked up from the beaches of the area - from objects left by English and Canadian soldiers in World War Two, to the latest models of flippers and other items left nowadays by the tourists. Visitors to the museum might not be contemplating a masterpiece, but an environmental message is getting across; after visiting, tourists seem ready to change their behaviour on the beach. Only a few hundred people live in Pourville, a village on the Normandy coast. But Pourville might become famous thanks to the increasing success of its tiny and rather unusual museum. Here you might not discover a work of art, but you will find everything that can be found on the beaches of Normandy. The museum was created when people from Pourville started collecting objects left by the English and the Canadians during World War II. For two years before D-Day, in the summer of 1942, the Allies tried to land near Dieppe, a few miles from Pourville. But the museum has considerably enlarged its collection. Only last year nearly 100-thousand items were found on the beaches of the Albatre coast -130 km from the Somme bay (North) to Le Havre (South). The museum holds 1-thousand-100 pairs of shoes, dozens of dummies, bathing suits, coins, watches, tooth brushes and much more. Most of the items were found by this man, Philippe Danger. He has spent all his life in Pourville and loves walking for hours along the coast. He has now become an expert researcher. SOUNDBITE: (French) In fact, one has to learn how to search. It took me years to understand the way streams work, the way winds blow. Items I pick up are always in sight on the beach, but one has to be patient so that the sea does the job for us. There is no point in digging, one has to know when, where and how to search. SUPER CAPTION : Philippe Danger, museum curator] The museum draws over 200 people everyday in the summer. Tourists find it funny until they discover the amount of things the sea has returned to the beaches and that should have never been there in the first place, such as nitric acid bottles. SOUNDBITE: (English) Very interesting. Frightening as to what we actually land on beaches throughout Europe, but it's interesting. SUPERCAPTION : Oliver Ray, English tourist After visiting, some tourists are so concerned with the environment that they come back the next day with objects they find on the beach to "donate" them to the museum. But there are already so many items there that Philippe Danger has to be selective. SOUNDBITE: (French) I select the objects according to what I don't have yet. For instance, concerning packages, I tried to find some coming from countries which are not yet on my list of conquests. I already have a lot of objects, so, as a matter of fact, I am getting more and more selective. SUPER CAPTION : Philippe Danger, museum curator] Philippe Danger might not have a E-Mail address on the Internet yet, but if you want to contact him, you can always throw a message in a bottle into the Channel. No doubt he will pick it up some day on one of Normandy beaches. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...