VE VJ Day logoFollowing the announcement of a responsive grant scheme from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, supported using public funding from the UK Government through Arts Council England, we can now confirm that five museums from the South West have received £100,000 in total as part of the Victory 80 – Victory in Europe and Victory in Japan Commemoration Programme.   

National Maritime Museum Cornwall (NMMC), Aerospace Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Royal Logistic Corps Museum (RLC Museum) Hampshire, The Keep Military Museum (Dorset) and The D-Day Story Portsmouth, were each awarded £20,000 to support creative and cultural activity in response to 80 years of Victory in Europe (VE) and Victory in Japan (VJ) day. The aim of these funded projects is to deliver extensive grass roots creative and cultural engagement, with an emphasis on economically excluded households. They will enable museums to engage with local communities and commemorate, celebrate and reflect on the 80th anniversary of Victory Europe and Victory Japan. 

Through this funding, NMMC will raise awareness of a little-known story of World War 2 (WW2) by using the construction of a replica S.N.2 surf boat as the centrepiece of a legacy project, highlighting the work of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and celebrating several key anniversaries. NMMC will engage locals and visitors through open public display and at local festivals.  

Their Special Projects Curator will carry out an oral history project to collect family memories of the SOE operations in the local area, which will underpin the development of a touring exhibition about SOE operations.  

An old plane in a museum

Image credit: Aerospace Bristol

Aerospace Bristol already tells the story of 100 years of aviation innovation through both world wars. They are using VE and VJ day to tell lesser-known local stories specific to WW2, such as that of RAF Filton.  

They will use their VE and VJ Day celebrations as a call out for local people to share their stories and capture them through an interactive web platform and physical feedback station. From this a community outreach project will be developed, a permanent legacy from this funded activity in the form of an improved permanent WW2 exhibition and learning workshops. 

The RLC Museum will work with a triptych of education communities to create, and then recreate, textile art through the ‘Make do and Mend’ project. Activities funded through the grant will include creating bunting with primary school children. A large event at the museum over the Summer Holidays will welcome every child who has taken part in the project, and members of the public, to see the completed bunting installation.   

A photo of an old car outside a modern museum

Credit: Royal Logistic Corps Museum

RLC Museum will build on their work with secondary schools and college students to reuse the bunting to create two new pieces of textile art. The first will be flags to be flown in tandem – one at the museum and the other with serving members of the Royal Logistics Corps in Estonia. A second textile art piece recreating a Second World War uniform based on an original pattern will be created by students at a local college. For the outreach project, museum staff will create a handling collection of WW2 logistics objects, using it to engage teenagers at two local secondary schools with history outreach sessions around the theme of remembrance.  

Due to The Keep’s current closure for redevelopment work, their project will focus on outreach opportunities throughout Devon and Dorset. A touring exhibition will be developed giving an overview of the relevant county regiment during 1945, with a focus on the final weeks culminating in the VE and VJ days.  

A pop-up museum will attend external events throughout Dorset, with a mix of original objects for display and replica objects for handling. The project offers a personalised VE and VJ day outreach session to community groups, schools and others including facilitation and reproduction handling material.  

In Portsmouth this funding will be used to amplify and extend the impact of The D-Day Story’s “Victory in 80 Objects”, which delivers grassroots community outreach and provides a source of inspiration for creative and cultural activity. The online collection will be used to spark creativity using art, poetry, film, sculpture, social media content which will engage people with the stories of the VE and VJ days.    

They will invite participants to view and work with some of the objects up close and they will also take some of the Victory in 80 objects directly into schools. The results of these activities will be displayed in exhibitions online, on social media and at the D-Day Story and the Portsmouth Museum. 

Working in 20 towns, cities and villages across the country, with an emphasis on economically excluded communities outside of London, this £415,000 national fund will enable museums across the country to create impactful and creative events that reflect on VE/VJ Day. Congratulations to all of the successful museums and we look forward to sharing the outputs of your projects!