It’s not in my nature to miss any opportunity – I have a reputation to live up to you know!! 😀

I’ve been a bit slow of late; pleased to say I’ve been a bit busy with other things to spend a lot of time around these parts!!

Shame about the Harvard Tom – back to the drawing board on that idea!

NAM’s original President was Air Commodore David Bonham-Carter, who amongst other postings was involved in helping establish some of the Canadian elements of the Empire Air Training Plan. This is an important part of the Training theme that NAM is planning to feature as part of its revised Interpretation Plans and I hope this is something that can be developed in an engaging way.

G-APDK – I will call you as suggested in your PM!

I would thank jack russell (JR) for her comments and I know that she won’t be too embarrassed if I shed a little more light on her ‘Canadian connections!’

JR has been involved in the research into and establishing a memorial at Staunton in the Vale to the crew of a Lancaster and she has put on displays about the crew and the project at the last couple of Cockpit-Fests.

To illustrate a small part of her work the following text is what is being included in the soon to be published airfields and memorials booklet ‘Aviation in Nottinghamshire’.

“This memorial commemorates the crew of 61 Squadron Lancaster W4270 that crashed 1 mile north west of St Marys Church on 18th February 1943. The aircraft was operating from RAF Syerston and was returning there when it got into difficulties.

All of the crewmembers were killed in the crash and most were returned for burial in their home towns. However the Canadian pilot “Herb” Warne is buried in Newark Cemetery (No 307 Section P). A research team has investigated the nearby crash site and have found a lot of new information, including the fact that the crew trained with 1661 HCU at RAF Winthorpe.

The memorial was rededicated on 3rd July 2010 when new plaques were unveiled, and at the same time contact was made with the last of the crewmans relatives, so all are now aware of the memorial.”

I know that Peter has also assisted JR so it’s nice to know that this aviation hobby knows no boundaries and long may the exchange of ideas continue!

G-APDK I’d be willing to try and investigate common areas; we’ve been working with Renaissance East Midlands on a number of strands in these areas most notably the Volunteer Providers strand that’s mentioned here! This draws to a close at the end of March 2011, but is very much museum related – although some of the good practices that are encouraged could be applied elsewhere!

The Interpretation work being undertaken by a graduate is another of the Renaissance strands connected to widening participation and audience development that specifically relates to NAM’s new Visitor Centre project.

PM me an email address and we can communicate off board!

Good luck to you as well Bruce – glad the PDF might have helped! 🙂

Tom,

As you know everyone at Newark Air Museum is extremely proud of their Canadian connections through the personnel that trained with 1661 HCU at RAF Winthorpe; as indeed am I at a personal level.

I would welcome the opportunity of exploring possible joint projects and co-operative arrangements. 🙂

I guess that no one has taken up the offers covered in here http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=105441&highlight=MRA4 🙁

The term “casual enthusiast” is an interesting one! As was mentioned on the Briefing Thread Newark has been doing some ‘Non User’ research as part of its South Field Site Visitor Centre Project; an essential exercise if the project is to attract significant grant funding.

This work is being overseen by a graduate who is undertaking a 6 month placement at the museum, funded by a grant from Renaissance. She is a “casual enthusiast” and she has offered guidance for the museum from a totally new perspective. She used emails and Facebook to seek views about what ‘Non Users’ would like to see in the displays at the museum.

As part of this process their views have been taken into account to allow some new displays to be developed for the museum. As an incentive to respond free museum tickets were offered to people that participated, which entitled them to visit the museum to participate in some ‘focus-group’ type consultation to comment on some new display themes / graphics.

These sessions take place this weekend and the next; it will be interesting to see what people think about the museum when they visit it for the first time. This further feedback will be used to develop the ‘new ideas’ into new interpretive displays at Newark!

On a slightly lighter note my favourite description of an ‘enthusiast’ came from our Shop Manager, who famously described them as “Men let out alone!”