It’s been a couple of very busy weeks at the Museum with lots of different projects happening.

Volunteers and staff have continued packing the collection. We are now surrounded by boxes, the displays are starting to look empty and there is an echo in some of the corridors. As well as the thousands of smaller items, volunteers and staff have begun dismantling our Armourer’s Hall display.

The display showcased over a hundred weapons from different periods to demonstrate the development of firearms. It was one of the most popular displays with visitors, and we hope to make it even better in the new location.

Another of our key displays was dismantled at the beginning of this week. The Phoenix Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was brought down off its stand with help from the Aviation team at Arborfield.

As you can see from the photos, the Curator was also hard at work making sure the moment was captured on film!

The Phoenix has now been put into storage ready for transfer to Lyneham. When it arrives it will need some TLC after its years of being on display outside. Once it is ready it will become part of the permanent display inside the main Museum where the intention is to suspend it from the ceiling. 

The Museum had more good news in that a site has also been secured for our historic vehicle collection. This collection is currently located in Bordon. Due to restricted access it is difficult for the public to gain entry to see these vehicles, but this will all change in our new home where they will be much more accessible.

Work continues on the new displays, and there have been more focus groups with the eight different trades of the Corps to get feedback on layout, subjects and interactives. We are now moving into the final stages of the design process.

And finally, we were happy to receive photos of our 25 Pounder Field Guns and Morris Commercial on display outside the Mess of 7 Air Assault Battalion. Readers will remember that we loaned these items out as part of their VE themed Summer Ball. We’re really glad that they helped to set the scene and make the evening a success.