Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life’s, Learning and Events Assistant, Rachel Brodie, shares her experience engaging younger people in the community with their local military history.
Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life tells the story of Cumbria’s County Infantry Regiments and their soldiers, past and present. As Learning and Events Assistant, I lead the museum’s learning programmes for both formal and informal audiences. Since starting in this role in May 2023, I have developed a variety of new and existing initiatives to help children and young people in Cumbria connect with military history.
For years, the museum has hosted creative drop-in workshops for families every Wednesday during school holidays. The workshops provide the perfect opportunity to engage children in local military history through arts and crafts. We link familiar themes, such as animals, to military concepts, like camouflage, through creative methods. In one of our most popular workshops, the children made chocolate boxes inspired by the Queen Victoria Chocolate Box and Princess Mary Christmas Gift Box. The family feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with one parent commenting ‘The underlying theme was also important and develops interest in history and military areas. Please keep these bits going!’. By providing children with these opportunities, we’re generating an early interest in history whilst encouraging creativity.
Building on our success with family workshops, I recently delivered an Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) outreach session at Carlisle Library. The aim was to raise the museum’s profile by bringing it into a comfortable space for families who may not have otherwise visited. I designed the session around the museum’s mascots (a lion and a dragon), using them as characters to introduce our collections to a younger audience. To support children’s holistic development, creativity and imagination, I carefully considered the key principles from the EYFS framework and incorporated them into the session where appropriate. Activities included themed songs and nursery rhymes, storytelling, interactive props, free play and a simple craft, all chosen to capture children’s interest and connect with the museum’s themes. The session proved highly popular, with approximately 30 attendees and full bookings within a short time. Following its success, Carlisle Library staff and attending families have invited us to return, and we’ve received additional requests to bring the session to other libraries across Cumbria
When it comes to schools, we offer a range of visit types for both primary and secondary groups that use objects from the museum’s collection whilst maintaining links to the National Curriculum. Our workshops aim to develop understanding through object-handling activities, supported by discussions. Schools can also visit the museum galleries as part of a self-guided visit, where we have a range of displays, interactives and a reconstructed trench. Teacher feedback has highlighted the value of using objects to ‘bring the learning to life’. Teachers also commented that they appreciate how the workshops allowed for a more in-depth exploration of women’s wartime roles, an aspect which is often overlooked within schools due to curriculum constraints. Our formal learning programme has enabled us to develop strong partnerships with local schools and provide pupils with hands-on experiences that connect classroom concepts to real contexts.
During the winter, we see a decline in family and school visits. To make the most of this quieter period, we promote after-hours visits for uniformed youth groups, such as Scouts and Guides. These evening sessions are both fun and educational and session content varies depending on the group’s needs. We receive requests to focus on badgework and incorporate activities that build on skills such as teamwork and communication. Feedback from group leaders has been encouraging. One Scout leader shared, ‘It’s great to see a young person share their passion for history with other young people.’ News travels fast, and we’re seeing a steady increase in bookings from uniformed youth groups.
More recently, we have focused on expanding our engagement with young people aged 14-19. Data from Kids in Museums’ 2023 conference, The Future is Now: Museum Youth, revealed that 90% of 16-25-year-olds didn’t feel museums were relevant to them. In my role at the museum, I draw on my personal experiences and insights as a young person to address this challenge. As a result, we now offer both short-term and long-term opportunities for young people to actively engage with the museum.
For instance, we offer week-long work experience placements for secondary school, sixth form and college students to gain practical experience in the heritage sector. We host eight placements per year, with opportunities to experience several areas of museum work, including front-of-house, curatorial, learning, events programming and even marketing. We also incorporate Kids in Museums Takeover Days as part of the programme, where the young people ‘take over’ an aspect of museum work for the day. There has been some lovely feedback from past students who shared that they gained new knowledge about the Regiment and transferable skills in research and data collection. After last year’s programme, we welcomed a few new additions to our museum Youth Panel.
The Youth Panel is our year-long programme for young people to engage with the museum actively. As part of the Panel, members contribute to consultations and collaborate on various projects, playing a vital role in shaping the museum’s work. They also have opportunities to connect with like-minded peers while participating in exclusive activities such as object-handling sessions, exhibition installations and behind-the-scenes tours. Feedback from last year highlights some of the many benefits of participation. One member reflected, ‘I learned the importance of a museum in a community.’ Another has since returned to the museum as a volunteer, aspiring to pursue a career in the heritage sector.
Through increased engagement with younger audiences, we’ve strengthened connections within the local community and are working to ensure that the stories of Cumbria’s military past are preserved for future generations. Reflecting on the progress we’ve made fills me with optimism for what lies ahead. If you’d like to follow our work or connect with me, you can find me on LinkedIn. I’m always happy to chat and share ideas with others, both within and beyond the sector!
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