Down Memory Lane at Milestones Museum
Run by Hampshire Cultural Trust, Milestones Museum is a
huge, cavernous immersive space, which houses under its cover a re-created Victorian
streetscape complete with a working/serving pub and a hugely popular sweet
shop, among other things.
Descending the stairs our group dispersed to try out
the different displays and activities – exploring the shops, warehouses and businesses
from a bygone era, checking out the Thornycrofts collection of vehicles, sharing
reminiscences in the roomsets of past decades, or queuing up to stock up on
favourite sweets or pints.
The museum is a great introduction to the industrial and
economic history of the Basingstoke and Hampshire areas: vehicles made by
Thornycrofts and vans delivering goods to shops, the woodworking mills and
mechanics workshops, to hardware and grocery stores selling everyday items,
newly emerging time-saving domestic appliances and radios and cameras.
The room sets – the Way We Used to Live – are a fascinating
re-creation of home interiors in the different decades from 1930s to 1970s.
Spartan and intensely practical kitchens and living rooms of the pre- and
post-war years give way to the more indulgent and luxurious décor of the 1960s
and 1970s.
Eavesdropping on other visitors’ conversations one could take a trip
down memory lane as older visitors reminisced about memories of their own homes.
One young girl excitedly proclaimed to her mother that she would “love to
live” in a house with the 1960s décor. Our group congregated on the 1950s sofa
to exchange notes on what they had seen.
The wonderfully nostalgic and fun Penny Arcade was packed
with families trying out their luck on the pinball machines, What the Butler
Saw, Fortune Telling and other gizmos than went click, clunk, crash. Some of
our team were not pleased when they got the results from a machine that
revealed their personalities from their palm impressions!
A quick whizz through the nostalgia-fest that is the shop
and it was time to clamber back on board for the return journey home. One young
mum told us how delighted she and her son were to have had the freedom to explore
the museum at their own pace and enjoy the sections they were particularly
interested in.
As another phase of our project came to an end, we were
delighted to get some really good feedback from all those who had participated
in our museum trips over the summer. The trips – fully organised and paid for
by the project – offered affordable, informative and enjoyable days out for the
young families and older people from the Swaythling area. Travelling to and
from the venues together with family, friends and neighbours offered everyone a
chance to get to know each other and participate in our TRANSITion project.
Written by Padmini Broomfield
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