Blog

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.

Six Of The Best Opens

Our new Exhibition Six Of The Best is now open!  If you went to school in Borehamwood and Elstree we're sure you'll want to see the story of your school, find it on our interactive map, find yourself in our photos on the TV and sit at the school desk and write your memories for our website.  The new Our History pages on our website feature all the schools from the map, not just the six of the best. We include all the history, photos and memories we don't have room for in the Museum for you to read at your leisure.

Looking forward to seeing you at Six Of The Best.

Memories of Schooldays

The National School in Theobald Street

For #MemoriesMonday we go back to school, again. As previously mentioned our next Exhibition opening in April will be called Six Of The Best and is covering every school in our area from the original National School - just about still surviving in Theobald Street - to the brand new Hertswood Academy on Cowley Hill. We are looking for your input - photos, uniforms and, certainly, memories. Please contact us via this website or pop in for a chat.

Hertswood Academy

A VIP Visit To Our New Exhibition

We had our own Exhibition launch recently and were joined by Cllr Parveen Rani who is the Hersmere Culture portfolio holder and so responsible for our 'compact' Museum. Manager Dave Armitage showed her around the new Exhibition which features the highlights from our last ten years since we moved to 96 Shenley Road.  We've concentrated on such delights as the model of Elstree Station in 1900 and Hanson's shop, so you can see the trains and weigh out and eat your own sweets in 'old' money.  (Sorry, there is no 'Hanson's ice cream' available!).  Cllr Rani was very impressed by the hard work our volunteers have put in over the years, and here's a photo of us during her visit.