The Tank Museum, Dorset, England, UK

The 4th April 2009 marks the 70th anniversary of the formation of The Royal Armoured Corps and The Tank Museum will be hosting a special event to celebrate the date that brought the British armoured regiments together.

Normal admission fees will apply and pre-booking will not be necessary – allowing annual ticket holders to re-visit for free.

For more details please visit The Tank Musuem website: http://www.tankmuseum.org

In the arena, there will be free displays of selected historic armour from the Royal Armoured Corps past and the British Army will also be displaying the vehicles it uses on operations today. From the Valentine and Sherman to the Challenger 2 and Warrior, there will be over 20 tanks showing their paces in the Museum’s impressive new arena. The highlight of the arena displays will be the British Army demonstration of a section attack – complete with blank firing weapons and pyrotechnics.

On the Museum floor there will be a range of free talks, tours, drill demonstrations and family activity trails to enjoy – including a free performance by the Light Cavalry Band. The Royal Armoured Corps Parachute Display Team are scheduled to make a special entrance (weather permitting).

Serving Royal Armoured Corps soldiers, many who have returned from active service in Iraq & Afghanistan will be displaying their kit – visitors will be able to handle modern equipment and chat with them about their experiences on the front line.

The changing face of warfare will be demonstrated in handling sessions of equipment used over the last 70 years and beyond – including an opportunity to climb into a first world war tank and the chance to meet `Tommy` in the Trenches.
Those interested in finding out about relatives who have served in the Royal Tank Regiment & Royal Armoured Corps will also be able to visit the Museum’s Archive and Library free of charge.

Significantly, visitors will have the chance to see the brand new exhibition “The Tank Story” in our new display hall, which will be admitting the public for the very first time. This exciting new exhibition tells the story of the tank from its World War One origin to the future, and is the key element of a £16m Heritage Lottery Fund sponsored redevelopment of The Museum.

Work is still ongoing to complete the Museum’s new keystone exhibition in time for this special event. The 33 key vehicles are all in place, and new exhibitions are currently being constructed around them to tell their story. New graphics have been produced that better place the story and development of the tank in context with global events and impressive panels display images sourced from the Tank Museum’s and other archives.

The story of the tank crew takes on new significance in this exhibition, with specially created audio visual displays that feature veteran’s interviews and historic footage of the vehicles in action. To support these, our Supporting Collections will be given a new prominence with uniforms, small arms and memorabilia integrated into the storyline to better illustrate the life of tank crew within the greater narrative of conflict.

The completion of the exhibition will represent the conclusion of the At Close Quarters redevelopment project, which has cost £16m and taken almost 10 years from initial planning and scoping to completion. Other features of the project were completed last year; the new arena made its debut for Tankfest and the new building, which includes a new restaurant, shop, front of house and the new display hall itself, have been open since October.

If you can’t make our 4th April spectacular, there is still plenty to see and do at The Tank Museum for the rest of the Easter holidays.

The new exhibition will remain available from the 4th April until it is officially opened later this year and there will be new Tank Action displays taking place weekdays only at 1pm from Monday 6th – Friday 17th April.

We look forward to seeing you in 2009!

Issued by:
Nik Wyness - PR & Marketing Officer
pr@tankmuseum.org - 01929 405096 ext 234