Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum (SOF O) Looking Forward 2015- 2016

Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum (SOFO) Looking Forward 2015-2016

Now the museum has opened its doors to the public, our main focus will be to review and improve the visitor experience, from the littlest tot, with under-fi ves storytelling sessions to family fun events which can also showcase our research facility with its unique archive of the two county regiments, The Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars and the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

To mark the anniversary of the end of the Second World War, SOFO is pleased to announce free entry to the museum for Second World War veterans through 2015.

The free entrance to the museum is offered to anyone who served between 1939-45 in the Army, Royal Navy, RAF, ATS, WRNS, WAAF and members of organisations that supported the war effort including the Merchant Navy, Women’s Land Army, Civil Defence, Bevin Boys and others.

The museum is also carrying out a project to record the memories of Oxfordshire residents who lived through the Second World War - both veterans and civilians. Any veterans who visit the museum will be encouraged to share their memories, and the Museum would like to hear from any residents of Oxfordshire who are interested in having their memories recorded for posterity. The Museum is also interested in receiving copies of written memoirs or personal stories relating to experiences during the Second World War. Recent interviewees have shared their recollections of service with the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, as a navigator fl ying with Bomber Command, a schoolgirl in Oxford during the war, and a seaman serving on Royal Navy ships in the Mediterranean. Find out more at www.sofo.org.uk/ oralhistory

Our volunteer team continues to grow and with training pr ovided for support to create and curate on-line exhibitions, the Museum’s programme will expand even more with their research and enthusiasm reaching our on-line visitors. SOFO is increasingly busy behind the scenes as we plan for temporary exhibitions and provide opportunities for independent researchers and guest curators. In keeping with the modern museum experience, SOFO has introduced various inter actives as fundraising efforts have been focused on improving the visitor experience by capturing all visitors attention using innovative and immersive exhibits. Our fi rst foray into this was when the local Oxfordshire cadet force offered to recreate a Great War Trench, complete with fi lm, sound, rations and rats! With the arrival of the Afghan Alley, cleverly designed and installed by the ,Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Munitions and Search (DEMS) Training Regiment (Oxfordshire’s newest regiment), we now offer two totally different views of life on the front line as visitors can use our detectors to look for replica IED’s and hear recorded instructions through specially designed helmets.

Within our ‘Battles’ area we have a recreated section of a Horsa Glider where visitors can watch fi lm extracts depicting D Day and listen to an interview with Major Howard as he recounts the experiences of the airborne regiment. Next door to the glider we continue to recount the experiences for Oxfordshire during the Second World War with ‘Secret War’ where fi lm depicts the training around being an SOE and hands on activities around code breaking and sending messages.

‘Above the Dreaming Spires’ Oxfordshire’s Great War Aviation Story will open in September 2015 and is being curated by Peter Dye, from RAF Museum Hendon and gives SOFO a unique opportunity to showcase objects and stories never before seen by the public. A public appeal has again led to many fascinating and personal family histories being bought to SOFO for us to develop into an intriguing look into the heroic and glamorous pilots who fought above the trenches.‘Crossing The Line’, a short fi lm, not widely distributed, by Sir Peter Jackson will be shown throughout the exhibition, providing an evocative backdrop to our county’s fl ying story during a remarkable period of aviation history.

Our education and outreach programme has been launched fantastically by Vicki Wood, our Education Offi cer and this work will continue to increase as we learn more about the collection and how it can be