The D-Day Story

Merry Christmas from all the team at The D-Day Story. 🎄🎄🎄

Yesterday was the launch of 'The lucky ones grow old', we were honoured to welcome two of the veterans featured - John Dennett and Stan Ford. Thank you to all the guests who attended the private view, it was great to see so many familiar and new faces. The veterans also signed the museum's guest book. The exhibition is now open to the public, and runs until 18 January.

Today (Thursday 19 December) our exhibition 'The lucky ones grow old' opens to the public. The exhibition is free and features stunning portraits of Normandy and Second World War veterans taken by photographer Matt Sills. Alongside the portraits we share the stories of the men from their war time service to what they did post-war. The museum is open 10:00 to 17:00 daily, except 24, 25, and 26 December. Last admission is 15:30 to LCT 7074 and 16:00 to the museum.

The museum's curator Andrew Whitmarsh talks to Hampshire Archive Trust podcast about The D-Day Story's collection, and the role of Hampshire in D-Day. You can listen to the podcast below: https://lnkd.in/eqjUdvYB

Today is #InternationalVolunteerDay! Our volunteers are a vital part of the team which welcomes visitors to The D-Day Story, and they enable us to open LCT 7074 to the public. Thank you to all our amazing volunteers for the work they do. You can find out more about what it is like to volunteer at the museum in the blog post below, you can also find details on how to apply to become a volunteer on LCT 7074. https://lnkd.in/erKmPPQu

2025 marks 80 years since VE Day (Victory in Europe) on 8 May and VJ Day (Victory over Japan) on 15 August. To mark the anniversary we are looking for corporate partners to sponsor a range of activities from continuing our education programme, to more pop-up museums to a VE Day party. The full list of opportunities is below but if you, or your company, has ideas for a bespoke project to suit your corporate social responsibility aims and objectives please get in touch.

In December the museum will be showcasing 'The lucky ones grow old' photography exhibition featuring stunning portraits of Normandy veterans by local photographer Matt Sills. The exhibition will be free and visitors will be able to find out the stories behind the veterans featured.

Earlier in the year the Royal British Legion and National Literacy Trust visited the museum to film items from our collection for the Remembrance Assembly, which was shown in schools yesterday. Presenter Iszi Lawrence got to explore the Overlord Embroidery, LCT 7074 and found out more about biscuit tin radios and Rupert dummies. The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Band also filmed a couple of weeks ago on LCT 7074. You can see the full assembly below, The D-Day Story is at 5 minutes, and LCT 7074 makes an appearance at 27 minutes. https://lnkd.in/e5V3Xgbj

It was great to welcome so many of our sponsors to the museum last week. We reflected on our D-Day 80 projects and they were able to talk to our curator Andrew about items from our collection, which were on display. Thank you to all our sponsors who have contributed to our D-Day 80 activities, it has been a fantastic year for the museum, and we look forward to seeing what the future may bring. Gunwharf Quays, Sirius Analysis Limited, Stagecoach (South) Limited, Airbus, BAE Systems, National Express LLC, Lockheed Martin, Solent Sky Services™, South Western Railway, Portsmouth Grammar School, Victorious Festival, Wightlink | Isle of Wight Ferries

Today we mark Armistice Day and pause to remember all those who have suffered and died as a result of conflict. The museum will be open as usual with a two-minute silence at 11am today.