Bentley Priory Museum

Friday Morning Talks: From the Battlefield to the Big Screen - With Melody Foreman
2024-02-23 11:00 - 12:00 (Europe/London) | Bentley Priory Museum, Mansion House Drive, Stanmore, HA7 3FB, United Kingdom
Join us for our Friday morning talk, where Melody Foreman will be talking to us about the research into the film stars behind her book, ‘From the Battlefield to the Big Screen’.
Melody will look closely behind the lives of the stars who appeared in a host of legendary war films and discover how memories of their real-life experiences in the armed forces were haunted with heartbreak and yet filled with extraordinary heroism. Focusing on
Audie Murphy, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, and Dirk Bogarde.

This talk will take place onsite in the Museum’s Learning Centre and is included in Museum admission or Annual Membership.
Advance booking required – please reserve your seat via the link below.
Reserve Your Place

Remembrances of War
2024-02-24 10:00 - 16:00, 2024-02-28 10:00 - 16:00, 2024-03-01 10:00 - 16:00, 2024-03-02 10:00 - 16:00, 2024-03-06 10:00 - 16:00, 2024-03-08 10:00 - 17:00, 2024-03-08 16:31, 2024-03-09 10:00 - 17:00 and 10 more dates
Paul Joyce has provided the opportunity for Bentley Priory Museum to present, for the first time, his unique collection of pictures inspired by his memories of The Second World War. His paintings combine personal impressions of earth-shattering events with received images, which we have scarcely recovered from eight decades on. His claim to be the sole remaining artist still dealing with the emotional and psychological effects of a conflict which ended with the only time nuclear weapons have been used in battle, is probably accurate. We are pleased to present these unforgettable events, honed by his particular vision, to the public as a premiere event.
Paul Joyce’s work is held in many private and public collections, including: The Royal Collection of Queen Elizabeth the Second; The Department of the Environment, The Arts Council of Great Britain, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The National Portrait Gallery, London, The Tate Gallery, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, The National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, The American Film Institute and The Library of Congress, as well as a number of institutions and universities in the UK, Europe and the United States.
LUCIDA PRODUCTIONS HOMEPAGE

Friday Morning Talks: Nine from One: The true story of 9 RAF pilots from 1 family in 106 years - With Anthony Inglis
2024-03-08 11:00 - 12:00
Join us for our Friday morning talk, where renowned Music Director Anthony Inglis Howard-Williams ARCM will talk about his family’s incredible RAF service.
This presentation, given by an ambassador for the Royal Air Forces Association, is the story of his own family sending nine members to war. Incredibly, all survived. All except one served in the 2nd World War, and two were in the RFC/RNAS. They number an Air Marshal who came up with the idea of the Dunkirk little ships and was CAS for the RNZAF, to a Flight Lieutenant in 18 Sqn currently flying Chinooks out of Odiham. There was also an Air Commodore who was number 2 to Dowding at Bentley Priory when Keith Park was absent, later becoming executive chairman of RAFA, founding Airmail. A Battle of Britain pilot with Douglas Bader in 19 Sqn at Duxford from the start. An Air-Vice Marshal who after Pearl Harbour persuaded Roosevelt against the advice of his own service chiefs, that Churchill’s request for the “Germany First” policy was agreed, ensuring the success of the Arcadia Conference. A Flt Lt who joined the RAF at the age of 66. A Group Captain who is credited with the joint highest number of pathfinder operations in WW2 and a Sqn Ldr who flew a ME410 in 1944 out of Farnborough.

About the speaker:
For 25 years, he was Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra and for 33 years from 1987 until 2020, Music Director/Supervisor/Consultant of Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London. Since 2017 he has been Music Director of the London Concert Orchestra and since 2004 Music Director for the Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins. He is equally at home in the world of opera.

This talk will take place onsite in the Museum’s Learning Centre and is included in Museum admission or Annual Membership.
Advance booking required – please reserve your seat via the link below.
Reserve Your Place

National Lottery Open Week: Free Tea/Coffee to ticket holders
2024-03-09, 2024-03-13, 2024-03-15, 2024-03-16
This National Lottery Open Week, we’re saying Thanks To You with a free tea or coffee in our Museum café.
Every week National Lottery players raise over £30 million for good cause projects, like ours. That’s why we’re pleased to be taking part in National Lottery Open Week, which celebrates the contribution of National Lottery players in supporting good causes over the past 28 years.
To thank National Lottery players for their support, we will be offering a free tea or coffee in our Museum café on our open days between Saturday 09 – Saturday 16 March 2024.
Anyone who presents any National Lottery ticket (digital or physical), scratchcard, or Instant Win Game, on these dates will be able to take up this special offer. Please check our full terms and conditions below.
As a recipient of National Lottery funding, Bentley Priory Museum has been able to recently deliver our Clerk Special Duties project, through which we have uncovered and shared the stories of women in the WAAF who played a vital role within the Dowding System during the Second World War. Our research was featured in temporary exhibition and the legacy of this project will be an interactive Battle of Britain timeline and WAAF database added to our permanent displays.
NEW PROJECT: ‘RNLI 200: Remembering the Rescue of The Few’
Monday 4 March marked the 200th Anniversary of the RNLI. We are pleased to have secured a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to curate a temporary exhibition in 2024 to mark the bicentenary and explore the RNLI’s role in rescuing Battle of Britain aircrew.
The National Lottery supports good cause projects in the areas of arts, education, environment, health, heritage, sport and community. Over the past 28 years, National Lottery players have raised more than £46 billion for projects which are making a huge difference to lives of people and communities throughout the whole of the UK.
Terms and Conditions:

Admission to the Museum’s café is available to Museum visitors only. Purchase of Museum admission applies.
This offer will run on Saturday 9, Wednesday 13, Friday 15 and Saturday 16 March 2024.
Booking in advance is not required.
One National Lottery ticket (physical or digital), scratchcard, or Instant Win Game will give access for one person to this offer.
All National Lottery games, including National Lottery draw-based games, Instant Win Games, and National Lottery scratchcards, purchased in-store and online / via app, qualify to redeem this offer.
Proof of purchase of a National Lottery game can be either hard copy ticket or digital.
The date of draw / purchase is not relevant.
All offers are subject to availability.
Bentley Priory Museum has the right to refuse entry in the unlikely event of venue / offer reaching capacity, as well as unforeseen circumstances.
In the event of queries on the day, the organisation’s decision is final.
This offer is not exchangeable.

Mother's Day Afternoon Tea
2024-03-09 10:00 - 15:00
Available on Saturday 9 March 2024. Please note this event is not on Mothering Sunday.

Pre-booking required by 5pm on Thursday 7 March
Bookings include a gift for all Mums in each group.

Treat a loved one this Mother’s Day weekend with a sumptuous afternoon tea served on dainty vintage crockery in the Museum’s beautiful café.
Indulge in a variety of delicious sandwiches, scones served with fresh clotted cream and strawberry jam and a mouthwatering selection of decadent desserts!
Why not add on Museum admission too, and make the most of your day with us!
The Museum is open from 10am – 5pm.
Afternoon tea only: £21 per adult, £12 per child. Option to upgrade to a glass of fizz on the day and museum admission.
Please contact groupbookings@bentleypriorymuseum.org.uk via email to make a booking or call Jackie on 020 8950 5526 selecting the Group Bookings option, for any queries/dietary requirements. In the email, please state: Your name, preferred booking time, number of adults and children and the types of booking from the list below. We will also a telephone number in order to call and take pre-payment.

Friday Morning Talks: Forgotten Air VC's of The Great War - With Jim Nicolson
2024-03-22 11:00 - 12:00
Join us for our Friday morning talk, where Jim Nicolson will talk us through the stories of four of the lesser known flying Victoria Cross recipients during The Great War.
628 Victoria Crosses were awarded during the great war, but only nineteen went to airmen. Of these nineteen awards, four were posthumous and all but one was awarded to officers.
They came from a wide range of backgrounds; some very wealthy some not, but in the words of one senior air force officer they all had in one thing in common, which was that they each had “the guts of a lion.”
Some of these men are still quite well known by people with even a passing interest in the great war, men like Leefe-Robinson, Billy Bishop, and Albert Ball. As for the others, despite their amazing stories, they have almost completely slipped from people’s memory. So in this talk, Jim Nicolson will focus on just four of them, including William Barker, described as “the heroes’ hero” and the most decorated serviceman in Canadian military history.

About the speaker:
Jim served for thirty years as a police officer; working for most of that time in Soho and London’s East End, before moving to Hertfordshire from where he retired in 2002, as the Assistant Chief Constable. He has been a keen student of military history for many years, particularly focusing on aviation and the Great War.

Jim is the Nephew of James Brindley Eric Nicolson, VC, DFC, the only Fighter Command recipient of the VC and the only one won during the Battle of Britain. Jim will be returning to talk about his Uncle later this year, last given at Bentley Priory Museum in 2019.
This talk will take place onsite in the Museum’s Learning Centre and is included in Museum admission or Annual Membership.
Advance booking required – please reserve your seat via the link below.
Reserve Your Place

Easter Holidays: RNLI 200 Stained Glass Windows
2024-03-29 10:00 - 16:00, 2024-03-30 10:00 - 16:00, 2024-04-01 10:00 - 16:00, 2024-04-03 10:00 - 16:00
Easter Holidays: RNLI 200 Stained Glass Windows
Create your own stained glass window to take home and add to our commemorative window marking the 200th anniversary of the RNLI and their role in rescuing Battle of Britain aircrew.
Friday 29 March – Saturday 13 April, all day.
Museum Open Days – Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays + Good Friday and Easter Monday.
Included in Admission or Membership.
