Free entry to air museums.

RE: Free entry to air museums.

Thanks Ashley,

Your a gem.

Merlin

RE: Free entry to air museums.

Merlin…I’ll see what I can do 🙂

RE: Free entry to air museums.

Hi Ashley,

Sorry to ask but after reading your post on the Moxey topic I was wondering if you would be able to help this guy or not. Here is his message.

To whom ever can help

My grandfather(Robin Goodfellow) was in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force no.603 squadron(Turnhouse) from 1934 to 1938(I believe, flying Hawker Harts).

I am searching for specific details(his rank/position,who he flew with, where he flew, training schedules and so on) of his air force career.

If anyone can provide this information or direct me to sites which will help me in my search that would be greatly appreciated.

regards
Alec Harris

any ideas. There are of course the usual sources such as innsworth and the RAF museum etc etc. But reading the other post I was wondering if you can help.

Regards Merlin.

RE: Free entry to air museums.

Thanks everyone for their information. I find Duxford a strange case but I can understand why they can and are charging for entry.

On a similar note Scottish Museum of Flight still charge as well and I think I am right in saying that this is a National Museums of Scotland site. So why do they still have charges.

In the passing and I probably shouldnt say this here but what the hell.I have heard ,nd it is showing,that the M of F are getting less and less money to run every year. And only operate the main hangar in winter as it is too cold in the jet hangar. But all credit to the staff they make the effort to open the jet hangar for at least 45 minutes so the public can get round and have a quick look. I seriously dont mind paying to get into the museum and I would go so far to say that even if the museum were to turn free entry I would still pay to get in as I want to see them get more money for what they do. And in turn it would create a better museum and better exibits in the long run. I also heard from someone, but I cant confirm the story, that the M of F are to close during the winter for 6 months as the visitor number drop dramatically and the dont turn a profit. Surely this should not effect a museum of such importance. The funding should be there for these conditions. I will try and get a statement from the museum about this but dont know if I will get a reply.

I will post more when I know more.

Merlin

RE: Free entry to air museums.

gbwez1…thank you for replying and supplying the link…according to the Department’s website, charges apply to some categories of visitors to “specialist” branches such as Duxford – now as I understand it, Duxford is regarded by the Department of Culture as a specialist Museum, not a national one (although it is of course part of the Imperial War Museum, which is confusing)…therefore Duxford is allowed to charge entry…

Although the Imperial War Museum has five branches, these branches pretty much operate independently of each other, operating under the Imperial War Museum “brand name” as such (hope that makes sense) Therefore the branches should be/are considered as separate Museums in themselves, and as Duxford, HMS Belfast and Cabinet War Rooms more specific in their content, are not neccessarily regarded as national museums and are therefore exempt from the Government’s Free Admissions Scheme.

Again, my own opinions/views.

Ashley

RE: Free entry to air museums.

From the Department of Culture, Media & Sport website:

“Access is the keystone of the Government’s policy on the arts. With funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the national museums and galleries in England which it supports now offer free entry to their permanent collections to all visitors.

Free admission for children has been in place from 1 April 1999, and for those aged 60 and over from 1 April 2000. The removal of entry charges for all adults from 1 December 2001 will mean that people of all ages and backgrounds will be able to visit our most important permanent collections and see them free of charge.

Not only will this represent a considerable financial saving for the average family, it will also open up our national museums to a potentially far greater number of visitors.”

(That is pretty clear, and is laudable.)

This link http://www.culture.gov.uk/PDF/museum_charges.pdf takes you to a list of which DCMS sponsored museums currently charge and which do not.

(Some of this is clearly at odds with the statement above. The point I am making is that neither goverment nor museum management seems to be doing anything about it.)

RE: Free entry to air museums.

With regards to free admission concerning IWM sites, IWM North in Manchester is also free…

With regards to free entrance at Duxford, gbwez1, can you give me a link to evidence of when the government “has very clearly promised to remove admission charges at IWM Duxford” please? Duxford, the Cabinet War Rooms and HMS Belfast are set up differently from Lambeth Road and IWM North and are pretty much self-funded, generally relying on the money raised from admission charges, airshows, and retail (our on-site shops and mail order)

I know that Duxford is not the cheapest of days out, but time and time again our visitors tell us “what great value for money”…if you want to visit Duxford on a regular basis how about a “Friends of Duxford” pass? For under £30 you can visit Duxford as many times in a year, and judging by the ever growing number of F.O.D. members, many enthusiasts are doing exactly this…

I know we are not all flush (I’m certainly not!) and the Museum does offer concessions to students/OAPs/disabled visitors etc…

As always, these are my opinions, not to be taken as the “official Museum line”…

Ashley, Duxford Correspondent

RE: Free entry to air museums.

I’m sure I read a bit by a “Big Noise” at Duxford in a recent Flypast or Aeroplane.
The general gist of it was that Duxford couldn’t survive or wouldn’t work without admission charges.
I didn’t think anything of it at the time but, why?

RE: Free entry to air museums.

Scott

This is quite a complex one so bear with me…

It was a manifesto pledge of the Labour Party to remove admission charges at UK National Museums – that is, those museums funded by national government. It took them a little time to get going, but, by and large, the government have delivered on that promise – charges have been removed at most of the big national museums. These include the National History Museum, the Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Imperial War Museum (Lambeth), the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Armouries in Leeds, the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, the National Railway Museum in York, the NMS Royal Museum of Scotland and the NMS Museum of Scotland.

The government provided extra funding to the Museums to make up for lost visitor revenues. As expected, visitor figures have rocketed across this part of the Museum sector. Wonderful!

So far, so good – Government delivers on promise; Museums happy; punters happy.

So you may ask (and, Scott, I think you are asking) why does it still cost me to get into IWM Duxford and the NMS Museum of Flight? Are these not government funded museums like those listed above? Has our government not made a pledge to allow free admission to such museums?

It looks like someone is being duped somewhere. Either the Government is failing to deliver on its manifesto pledge, or the museums concerned have pocketed the extra funding and are continuing to charge. It is clear that neither party is doing much about this issue, and this leads me to think that maybe both parties are happy for things to breeze along as they currently are. Certainly the government has “fixed” the big high profile museums, but is happy to turn a blind eye to fixing the smaller and less controversial ones. The government will definitely not fork out extra money if it thinks it can avoid so doing. And I do sometimes wonder if the museum administrations themselves are not overly concerned to mention the inconsistency because they can make a few extra bob charging at their outstations.

So could it be that the tax-paying public is being duped? You have a government that has very clearly promised to remove admission charges at IWM Duxford, and has very clearly promised to remove admission charges at NMS Museum of Flight. But you are still paying to get in these places (and there are others, this is not JUST aviation museums).

By the way, the RAF Museum is a slightly different situation as they are funded through military budgets. It is to the lasting credit of all involved at the RAFM that the extra money was found to remove charges in line with government policy. Let’s hope the Fleet Air Arm Museum can do the same some day.

RE: Free entry to air museums.

Hi, Scott.

As far as I know it is the Government funded national Museums such as Cosford, Hendon and the IWM at Lambeth. I know Cosford is free as I am a regular visitor.

Regards,

kev35