Well said Tony. I could not have said it better.TonyC wrote: ↑Fri 09 May 2025, 4:09 pmMuseums, regardless of what is being displayed, aren't of any interest to the vast majority of kids, most are dragged to there, either by the schools or by their parents, during weekends or school holidays!
If its a school outing, most more interested in the fact that they are not at school, are more interested in running around squealing, hanging around the play areas or huddling around in groups, staring at their phones and if they do use an interactive display, it eventually becomes broken, due to the heavy handedness of the kids!
If its a day out with their parents, it's most likely that the kids have been taken to a particular museum because its 'cheap day out', have free or discounted tickets and as such, neither parent nor child have any interest in the subject matter, beyond the mistaken belief by the parent, that the day out is quality family time together!
Therefore most kids would rather be at home, are more interested in running around squealing, hanging around the play areas or huddling around in groups, staring at their phones or playing computer games and as a result, sulk and/or become argumentative, until the parent gets fed up and takes the kids home!
Now I accept that a few kids that visit a museum, will become spellbound by the subject matter of a particular museum, be it ceramics, jewellery, militaria, etc, that grows into a lifetime interest, but I feel that number would be extremely small, with most having forgotten by the following day, what they had been to see!
Therefore museums are really the Realm of adults, who as they become older, gain an interest in a particular subject, or learn that 'Grandpa' was in the War, become nostalgic for the past and want to learn more and would actually engage with the interactive display but can't because a group of uninterested and bored kids, have broken the damn thing, which the museum then, do not have the funds available to repair!
Until museum management understand this, we will continue to see artifacts moved outside to decay or removed from display and placed into storage and rarely, if ever, seen again or even disposed off, in the mistaken view that is really needed is more interactive displays!
Interactive Display do not work, if you want the kids to become interested, let them have a day whereby they can work with, climb on/in, or fix something
With regards to the IWM and RAF Museum, I would say that the main issue is the subject matter and their location!
The subject matter due to the 'snowflake environment' we live in, while the locations are not exactly right, for the following reasons. Although RAF Museum is within the London catchment area, Hendon isn't exactly easy to get to and doesn't have any other sites of interest, close by, so visitors need to have a specific interest in the subject matter, to be bothered to visit!
As I have mentioned before, RAF Hendon should be closed, the land sold and money raised, spent on moving the collection to Cosford!
Museums like the National Portrait Gallery, the V&A, the Tate, the British Museum, the Natural History Museum or the Science Museum are more or less in the centre of London, reasonably close together, allowing tourists to visit multiple sites in a day or over a longer period, if staying locally and therefore providing a higher footfall of visitors, with money to spend, than Hendon & Lambeth can achieve.
Similar to Hendon, the location of IWM Lambeth is possibly an issue, being south of the river, isn't that easy to get to, unless using public transport and has no parking onsite! HMS Belfast works because although its moored south of the river, it's located next to Tower Bridge and possibly attracts visitor as an afterthought to visiting the bridge. I assume that the same could be said, for the Churchill War Rooms but have never been, so cannot really comment!
With regard to the IWM, the reason that Duxford did once work, was the fact that there were large number of companies operating active aircraft, there was usually some movement and flying taking place during the warmer months! While there are still air movements at Duxford, the site had Flying Legends as its show piece, along side 4 or 5 other airshows throughout the year but since the management shot themselves in the foot, Legends has gone, I believe that firm restoring the military vehicles has gone or in the process of moving out, while several companies have moved out or closed and those in charge, have shown that they have no interest in the history of the site or the artifacts and as such, I feel that the site will continue to become of even less interest to the public and possibly will even close, at some point in the next 20 or 30 years!
As for the Landware Museum at Duxford, while the building may not be suitable/safe anymore, a new larger building should have been built, so that the exhibits could have remained there, with the engineering school/conference centre/hotel/or whatever is the current folly is, included within the new building!
Finally, the RAF Museum and IWM Duxford need to be run by a management with a genuine interest in the subject matter, a realisation the kids are not interested, for the reasons mentioned above! Also there needs to be an understanding, that the artifacts contained within, tell a far better story themselves, rather than an interactive display, which may or may not be working!
As for the redistribution of airframes/artifacts, from both sites, don't get me started
The above is my own thoughts, others will no doubt disagree!
Todd
and what relevence does a P-51D or B-17G, in USAAF colours, have to the RAF?
