D-Day exhibitions planned in Portsmouth ahead of its 80 year anniversary

In a recent economic development, culture and leisure scrutiny panel, members heard from different witnesses working for different cultural institutions owned and managed by Portsmouth City Council. Cathy Hakes, museums head of service, added that in the lead-up to D-Day 80 there will be small pop-up museums placed in Libraries across the city with the first in Cosham in the following weeks. We’ve also received £21,000 sponsorship money to fund education visits to D-Day so we can fund schoolchildren, their coaches and everything to go to the museum,” she said.

The anniversary, on June 6, is 80 years since the historic operation which saw the Allied Forces mount a large-scale invasion of Nazi-occupied France.

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Speaking to the panel, Ross Fairbrother, the museum’s general manager, said there are opportunities for engaging new audiences “who may not normally come to museums by using different sites across the city to have smaller pop-ups”. “We will often go out with pop-up stands whether it’s Armed Forces Day or around Victorious festival,” he said. “When we start talking to people they want to talk about their connections to D-Day, their relatives, and that’s what engages people. We ran a temporary exhibition last year called Sewing Memories which was all about the history of sewing and embroidery but the artist that we worked with was able to run extra workshops with LGBT+ groups, young carers and vulnerable adults.”

Eastney and Craneswater councillor John Smith asked officers about discounts and other incentives to get people into the museum. In response, Cathy Hakes said vouchers can be sent to community centres “where there are a lot more low-income families so they can have a free trial around the museum or they can participate in one of our craft sessions”.

The chairman of the panel, Cllr Russell Simpson, asked about whether the museum engages with schools to generate engagement. It was noted that primary school students have taken part in writing competitions and textile and fashion students from South Downs College display garments they have made inspired by the D-Day collection.