Thinking upon the 3 months we have been back in the office, I think there are a lot of positives. Moreover, in these challenging times I think it is important to look to some of the good things they have brought.

We have seen a rise in donations, both pecuniary, archives and objects. I believe that with people having the time to clear and reflect they have had a chance to be more giving and perhaps support local museums and think about the impact Coronavirus has had on them. It has also allowed time to clean one’s loft or house, and as a result the Museum has received many donations of objects or archival items that are very useful additions to our collection.

From a visitor standpoint the IWM as a whole has seen more visitors this summer than it had the previous year, as people seem to be more keen to get out and do activities and the airfield provides an open space to be while in between hangers and our Museum. More importantly we have seen a lot of group visits! Over the past couple of months I have had the opportunity to host a large UOTC group, two groups of Poachers and three groups of Vikings. I am pleased to be seeing so many Regimental faces, and hopefully to be giving them something they may not have known about our Regimental history.