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| Friends of the Tank Museum | |
|---|---|
| Name | Friends of the Tank Museum |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Location | Bovington, Dorset, England |
| Type | Charitable organization |
| Purpose | Support for a military vehicle museum |
| Headquarters | The Tank Museum |
Friends of the Tank Museum is a volunteer-led charitable association based at Bovington in Dorset supporting The Tank Museum and its collections of armoured fighting vehicles. The group engages with enthusiasts, historians, veterans, curators, and engineers to promote preservation, research, and public access to tanks, armoured cars, and tracked vehicles from conflicts such as the Battle of El Alamein, Normandy landings, Battle of Kursk, Yom Kippur War, and the Falklands War. It liaises with institutions including the Imperial War Museums, National Army Museum, Royal Armouries, Bletchley Park Trust, and international museums like the Nationaal Militair Museum, Musée des Blindés, Hellenic Army Museum, and National Museum of the United States Army.
The origins trace to a coalition of collectors, veterans from the Royal Tank Regiment, historians associated with the Tank Corps Memorial Trust, and staff from the museum during the early 1970s alongside figures from the British Army. Early supporters included veterans of the First World War, veterans of the Second World War, and participants from campaigns such as the North African campaign, Italian Campaign (World War II), and the Western Desert Campaign. Partnerships formed with conservation specialists from the National Trust, vehicle restorers linked to the Automobile Association, and curators active at the Science Museum and Watford Museum. Over decades the Friends navigated funding shifts following policy changes in the House of Commons, engaged with heritage frameworks established after the Local Government Act, and expanded outreach to international scholars from institutions like Smithsonian Institution, Royal United Services Institute, and Council of Europe cultural programs.
Membership comprises former members of the Royal Tank Regiment, employees seconded from the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), volunteers with backgrounds in engineering from firms such as Rolls-Royce, historians affiliated with the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, King’s College London, and students from the University of Portsmouth. The committee includes trustees registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, liaison officers who have served with NATO commands including SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe), and advisors who previously worked at the Imperial War Museum Duxford and Royal Air Force Museum. Membership tiers mirror models used by societies like the National Trust and English Heritage, offering benefits tied to events at venues such as Bovington Camp and collaborations with regimental museums like the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum and Tank Museum Bovington.
The Friends organize restoration workshops featuring techniques inspired by conservators at the Victoria and Albert Museum and training drawn from NATO preservation guidelines. Public events include guided tours during D-Day commemorations, vehicle runs reminiscent of displays at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and lecture series with speakers from the Royal United Services Institute, Chatham Historic Dockyard, and veterans who served in the Gulf War. Annual gatherings coincide with anniversaries of the Battle of Britain and services at memorials such as the Menin Gate and Thiepval Memorial. Collaborative exhibitions have been staged alongside curators from the Imperial War Museum North, Canadian War Museum, and Australian War Memorial.
Financial support has funded restoration of vehicles like models linked to the Centurion tank, Churchill tank, Tiger I, T-34, and M4 Sherman. Grants and donations have been sourced from philanthropic organizations including patrons associated with the National Lottery Heritage Fund, corporate partners such as BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin UK, and private benefactors connected to families of veterans from the Royal Tank Regiment and the Royal Armoured Corps. In-kind support arrives from workshops operated by partners like Jaguar Land Rover and volunteers with expertise from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and Society of Automotive Engineers-alumni. The Friends have underwritten conservation projects coordinated with the Historic England principals and compliance with standards promulgated by the International Council of Museums.
The group publishes newsletters and journals echoing formats used by periodicals such as Journal of Military History, Armour (journal), and topical monographs comparable to works issued by the Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. Communications are distributed via bulletins to members, press releases to outlets including the BBC, The Guardian, The Times, and specialist magazines like Military Illustrated and Classic Military Vehicle. Digital outreach employs platforms analogous to those of the National Archives (United Kingdom) and archival collaborations with repositories such as the British Library and Wikimedia Commons.
Major projects include full restorations and static displays of vehicles tied historically to the North African campaign, Operation Market Garden, and the Korean War. Exhibits have drawn comparative material from collections at the Musée de l'Armée, Deutsches Panzermuseum Munster, Kubinka Tank Museum, and the Polish Army Museum. Special exhibits have explored themes around the Cold War, Operation Desert Storm, and armoured doctrine influenced by theorists studied at institutions like the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and discussed in think tanks such as the RAND Corporation. Collaborative conservation projects have been undertaken with academic partners from the University of Birmingham and University of Leeds focusing on metallurgy, corrosion science, and historical provenance.
Category:Museums in Dorset Category:Charities based in Dorset