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EastEnders At 40 - W. I. P. : Stage One

We've started the process of preparing for the next Exhibition - everything is stripped out. Our little Nipper plane is in two pieces and has gone off to the De Havilland Museum, while all the other items from the Elstree Aerodrome story have flown back from whence they came.

Now we begin the new build - some items have arrived from the BBC.  More details to follow soon...

Our New Exhibition : EastEnders At 40

The Museum is now closed for a couple of weeks. Thanks to everyone who came to visit our Elstree Aerodrome story and to fly the plane around the aerodrome.

We are now preparing our next exciting Exhibition : EastEnders At 40. The BBC are giving us lots of iconic props, lots of photos of the dramatic stories, and even some plastic fruit and veg! Why?  You'll have to come and find out.

We will have a full-size model of the Queen Vic bar, complete with the bust of Vic herself, and there will be many opportunites for selfies behind the bar.

Opening on Thursday 4th September, we will be updating you on what's happened in Albert Square in the ten years since our last EastEnders At 30 Exhibition. 

And updating you here on the Blog as the Exhibition comes together, so please check in as the opening gets closer!

Summertime Fun!

We've added some fun to our current Exhibition for the holidays!  So now you can still fly our plane from Elstree down to the Thames and under Tower Bridge, and you can now play a few of those games you remember from your youth as well.  Have a go at Simon, Bagatelle, Rubricks, Nintendo and that buzzer thingie that no one can do. Show the kids how simple life was BP (Before Phones) and how easily pleased we were!  Seriously folks, it's holiday fun time so take a selfie with the cutout couple and pretend you're at the beach.

Biggles Arrives

On #MemoriesMonday we find Biggles coming in to land at Elstree Aerodrome in 1947. Having dropped Ginger off at Lympne, Biggles decided to fly into Elstree to catch up with some friends at Home Farm.  You too can dress like Biggles and fly our Nipper in and out of Elstree. Just come up to the Museum and have a go!  And we are open this Sunday afternoon when the Christmas Lights are turned on from 3pm to 5pm. PS - get your Christmas Cards at the same time.

Up Up And Away Takes Off

We've launched our new Exhibition, Up Up And Away at the Museum. Present were mayors, councillors, pilots, ground crew, and others involved in creating the Exhibition.  Star of the show was Alan Kirtly's reproduction of the Tipsy Nipper 2 which used to fly from Elstree as a training plane. Small enough to fit into our tiny space, but if it had an engine it could have flown away. Visitors will be able to sit in it and fly out of Elstree and back. Here we see Richard Butler, Mayor of Hertsmere, trying the Nipper for size, and Dan Ozarow, Deputy Mayor of Borehamwood, waiting his turn.

Our photo below shows Humphrey Gibb, the CEO of Elstree Aerodrome looking at a display with Elaine Butchins of the Trustees.

Up Up And Away Nearly Lands

Our plane has arrived and is waiting to fly. The panels are going up on the walls. The plane taxis to the runway. Curator Dave waits for the go-ahead to fly out of Elstree.  Still lots to do though for next week's opening....

Up Up and Away Commences Flight

The aeroplane arrived today. After all you can't have an exhibition about Elstree Aerodrome without an aeroplane, can you? Ours is an exact copy of the real thing. Photo next week, promise. Alan and Derek have built this from scratch and Alan is getting ready to join the parts together. As you can see we've cleared everything out to make room. More to follow.

Up Up And Away Starts Here

First job preparing for a new exhibition is to remove the old one. This morning we removed the Six Of The Best panels amd stripped the museum back to basics. Next job is to clear the cabinets and get ready for the aeroplane. Yes, you read that right - there is an aeroplane on the way.

Dave Explains All

Now the long hot summer holidays are here, you probably don't want to think about schools and schooldays.  But our current exhibition Six Of The Best is still running, and there is plenty of information and fun for pupils of all ages.  Our curator, Dave Armitage, has made three short videos explaining what you will find when you visit us. So pop into our air conditioned Museum and relive those golden schooldays.

Please click on the links below :

The Map

The Blackboard Cabinet & Local Books

The British Schools Museum Desk

Parkside School Photos

On #MemoriesMonday we have some new photos of Parkside School from the sixties that we have received. They are so typical of school life back then that we have used the 'School Milk' photo on our poster, and we have blown them up to hang in the Cafe at 96 Shenley Road.  So when having a cuppa you can either reminisce about your schooldays, or give thanks that your time learning was not as serious as these look!  And then visit us on the third floor and find out all about schooldays in Elstree and Borehamwood.