Spring 2026 Community Update

Welcome to our Spring update on all things ‘community outreach and engagement’. Over the past few months, we have been delighted to meet with so many interesting and inspiring people of all ages from our local and wider communities. From motoring themed reminiscence and creative activities to exciting new projects there is plenty to tell you about.

We have continued to share our ‘Motoring Memories and Shared Stories’ reminiscence sessions with residents at Ashley Lodge, Freegrove Care Home, Sway Place and Portchester Dementia Hub. Together we have enjoyed looking through photos and images of motoring day trips from the past, alongside a treasure box of car related objects and memorabilia. The sessions have prompted questions about the museum and significantly conversations about individual experiences.

Some of the residents who live with dementia have shared some special memories. One of the car brochures especially excited one of the residents who joyfully recalled learning to drive when she was younger in her family’s Morris Minor, along with a clear recollection of the letters and numbers on the vehicle registration plate! The outreach visits have proved popular and subsequent follow-on creative activities themed around motoring memories and heritage have been shared at these homes and community hubs.

Reminiscence outreach

Reminiscence outreach activities at Sway Place, Hartwood House, Ashley Lodge care homes and Portchester Dementia Hub.

Minstead Trust Community Project 5 Blurred

Staying with a creative theme, our ‘Minstead Minibus Stories’ project with the Minstead Trust has been progressing well. With regular visits for creative sessions at Minstead, people have been invited to be part of the project. With a focus upon the importance of transport to the daily lives of local adults with learning disabilities, this community collaboration showcases their interpretations of journeys made to and from Minstead.

Informed and inspired by their experiences of travelling to attend day opportunities, the project highlights their experiences and responses. Sharing stories, funny memories and ideas it has been a meaningful experience to learn from everyone. The importance of transport to enable them to access development opportunities and friendships is crucial. Our collaboration will culminate in a community exhibition in the museum later this Spring. It will be an insightful and colourful interpretation!

Finally, we are delighted to be working again with Brockenhurst College on two new projects for 2026 with first year students from the Level 3 Creative Media course. The first of these is an animation project inspired by some of our oral history recordings of peoples’ stories of significant journeys or motoring memories. Like the animations created last year for our ‘Youth Views and Voices’ project, the final productions will be shared via our social channels.

The second project is a creative photography brief titled ‘Volunteers in Focus’. Using studio lighting, professional cameras and photoshop technology, the students have been tasked to create meaningful photo portraits of twelve of our brilliant volunteers, along with their favourite objects and artefacts from the museum collections.

For this, the students came on to site to meet with our volunteers and find out a little more about them and the museum. Tentative questions from the students soon gave way to relaxed conversations and collaboration. Our experienced volunteers shared insights about their roles, the museum collections and hidden stories about some of our vehicles and objects. Bringing everyone together for the production days has been an enjoyable opportunity to support the learning outcomes for the students and for them to learn about our work. A big thank you to all who have been involved.