Posts Tagged ‘RAF Bircham Newton Heritage Centre’

RAF Bircham Newton Heritage Centre 2024 Open Days

Sunday, January 21st, 2024

RAF Bircham Newton Heritage Centre

2024 Open Day Schedule:

The 2024 schedule of Heritage Centre openings, which begins on Easter Sunday, is included below:

First Open day – March 31st Easter Sunday

Sunday, 14th of April

Sunday, 28th of April

Sunday, 12th of May

Sunday, 26th of May

Sunday, 9th of June

Sunday, 23rd of June

Sunday, 14th of July

Sunday, 28th of July

Sunday, 11th of August

Sunday, 25th of August

Bank Holiday Monday 26th of August

Sunday, 15th of September

Sunday 29th of September

Sunday 13th of October

Sunday 27th of October

Final Open day November 10th Remembrance Sunday
Note that the Centre will be open from 10am until 4pm on each of these days. Parking and entrance will be Free, and disabled access and toilets will be available.

www.facebook.com/groups/455568478629653

RAF Bircham Newton Heritage Centre Opening Schedule for 2023

Tuesday, January 10th, 2023

RAF Bircham Newton

We will open on the following dates in 2023:

First open day – Easter Sunday April 9th

Sunday April 30th

Sunday May 28th

Sunday June 11th

Sunday June 25th

Sunday July 16th

Sunday July 30th

Sunday August 13th

Sunday August 27th

Bank Holiday Monday August 28th

Sunday September 10th

Sunday September 24th

Sunday October 15th

Sunday October 29th

Last open day – Sunday 12th of November Remembrance Sunday

As usual we will be open from 10am until 4pm. Entrance and parking will be free, and disabled access and toilets will be available.

https://rafbnmp.org.uk/

RAF Bircham Newton Heritage Centre 60th Anniversary Event

Friday, July 1st, 2022

RAF Bircham Newton Heritage Centre

On Sunday 31st July, we are holding a special event to remember the 60th Anniversary of the closure of RAF Bircham Newton in 1962.

Featuring Tony Nelson’s amazing model aircraft, Docking Heritage Group and Dreamy Hollow Woodland Campsite and WW1 Trenches.

Open 10.00 am to 5.00 pm, refreshments available, free entry and parking.

We’re also open on Sunday 17th July, as normal.

www.rafbnmp.org.uk

Royal Air Force Bircham Newton Heritage Centre OPEN DAYS 2022

Sunday, April 17th, 2022

RAF Bircham Newton Heritage Centre

The Heritage Centre at Bircham Newton has a unique collection of memorabilia from the former Royal Air Force station’s past service, which spanned more than 44 years, including two world wars and the Cold War. On display are photographs and personal memories of service personnel who served there and other related items from its fascinating history. The Centre is staffed and run entirely by volunteers, many of whom are ex-service or children of service personnel. Close by there are two stone memorials to remember those who served at Bircham Newton and its main satellite airfield near Docking.

Easter Sunday 17th April
Sunday 1st May
Sunday 29th May
Sunday 12th June
Sunday 26th June
Sunday 17th July
Sunday 31st July
Sunday 14th August
Sunday 28th August
Sunday 11th September
Sunday 25th September
Sunday 30th October
Sunday 13th November (Remembrance Sunday)

Opening times are from 10am to 4pm

Disabled access & toilets will be available, and car parking and entrance will be free.

www.rafbnmp.org.uk

RAF Bircham Newton Heritage Centre Open Days 2021

Sunday, March 21st, 2021

RAF Bircham Newton Heritage Centre

Providing that government plans do not change before the summer, we are planning to re-open our Heritage Centre on 6 days this year from June to November taking into account all the safety measures required.

The Heritage Centre at Bircham Newton has a unique collection of memorabilia from the former Royal Air Force station’s past service, which spanned more than 44 years, including two world wars and the Cold War. On display are photographs and personal memories of servicemen who served there and other related items from its fascinating history. The Centre is manned and run entirely by volunteers, many of whom are ex-servicemen or children of service personnel. Close by there are two stone memorials to remember those who served at Bircham Newton and its main satellite airfield near Docking.

Sunday, 27th of June
Sunday, 25th of July
Sunday, 29th of August
Sunday, 26th of September
Sunday, 31st of October
Sunday, 14th of November (Remembrance Sunday)
Opening times are from 10am to 4pm

Disabled access & toilets will be available, and car parking and entrance will be free.

www.rafbnmp.org.uk

Trial re-opening of RAF Bircham Newton Heritage Centre

Sunday, July 26th, 2020

RAF Bircham Newton Heritage Centre re-opening

Sunday 30th of August
Open from 10am until 4pm.

We have now received approval from our hosts at the National Construction College to conduct a trial re-opening of the RAF Heritage Centre on Sunday, 30th of August. www.rafbnmp.org.uk

The centre will be opened in compliance with current covid 19 guidance. Hand sanitisation will be required and face masks or some form of face covering will be recommended when you are inside the Centre. We are going to implement a one-way system with social distance markers similar to that found in shops and supermarkets. We are also going to limit the number of family groups inside the centre at any one time to a maximum of three. In addition, there will be a welcome desk outside where you can sit down and meet the staff in the open air to discuss any specific items of interest or to ask questions. Strict social distancing will also apply here.

Disabled access & toilets will be available, and car parking and entrance will be free. Please don’t all turn up at exactly 10am, which would result in queueing to enter the Centre. Staggered arrival times would be more convenient for us all. DO VISIT IF YOU ARE ABLE!

If this trial opening is successful, and our hosts agree, we hope to conduct further openings in September, October and on Remembrance Sunday in November.

2020 Open Days at RAF Bircham Newton Heritage Centre

Monday, February 10th, 2020

Avro Anson

Anson VX-B (K6183) was the first of Bircham Newton’s aircraft to be shot down in World War 2 on September 5th 1939, just two days after Britain declared war on Germany. The story of this plane and its fortunate New Zealand pilot, who survived to become one of the first prisoners of the war, can be read in the RAF Heritage Centre. The Heritage Centre at Bircham Newton has a unique collection of memorabilia from the former Royal Air Force station’s past service, which spanned more than 44 years, including two world wars and the Cold War. On display are photographs and personal memories of servicemen who served there and other related items from its fascinating history.

The 2020 Season of OPEN DAYS will begin on Easter Sunday

Easter: Sunday, 12th and Monday, 13th April
Early May Bank Holiday Weekend: Friday, 8th and Sunday, 10th May
Spring Bank Holiday Weekend: Sunday, 24th and Monday, 25th May.
Sunday, 14th June/ Last Sunday in June: 28th June
Sunday, 12th July/Last Sunday in July: 26th July
Summer Bank Holiday Weekend: Sunday, 30th and Monday, 31st August
Last Sunday in September: 27th September/Last Sunday in October: 25th
Remembrance Sunday: 8th November

The Centre is open from 10am until 4pm. FREE ENTRANCE and CAR PARKING Disabled access and toilets are available. Tea, coffee and biscuits are available.
www.rafbnmp.org.uk

Royal Air Force Bircham Newton Veterans’ Day on 19th May 2018

Monday, February 5th, 2018

Bircham Newton Veterans Day

In addition to being the centenary of the birth of the Royal Air Force, 2018 will also be the 100th anniversary of the birth of the former RAF station at Bircham Newton. The first unit to fly from its airfield, No. 3 Fighting School, arrived in May 1918, just one month after the birth of the Royal Air Force. The Fighting School was soon joined by a second unit flying giant Handley Page bombers, designed to bomb Germany from this Norfolk airfield. Flying continued beyond the Armistice and throughout the inter-war years, increasing dramatically during the second World War. The station was finally closed in the early 1960s, during the height of the Cold War, but flying briefly returned in the mid-1960s, when trials of the Kestrel jump jet were conducted on the airfield.

The event will be open to all former servicemen, who served or were trained at Bircham Newton, and their close families. The largest group of visitors is expected to be former RAF administrative apprentices, who trained at Bircham Newton in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but many other veterans are also expected to attend, such as former national servicemen, former members of the Women’s Royal Air Force and officers who were trained at the Officers’ Advanced Training School (OATS) or its successor the Junior Command and Staff School (JCSS).

There will be many attractions for the veterans and their families to enjoy: the RAF Heritage Centre will be open for guided tours; an illustrated talk will be given on the role of Bircham Newton during the Great War; local history groups and service associations have been invited along to exhibit their material; military vehicles and large-scale model aircraft should be on display; local ATC squadrons and the Royal British Legion have also been invited to participate in a brief end-of-day ceremony, when the RAF ensign will be lowered to the sound of the Last Post. Tea, coffee and other refreshments will be available throughout the afternoon. It is also hoped to organise a short flypast, if possible.

Entrance will be free and free car parking will be provided. Disabled access and toilets will also be available, and help will be given to those with mobility problems.

www.rafbnmp.org

Royal Air Force Bircham Newton Veterans’ Day 2018

Thursday, August 10th, 2017

RAF Bircham Newton

We would like to draw your attention to a special event to be held at Bircham Newton in May 2018. In addition to being the centenary of the birth of the Royal Air Force, 2018 will also be the 100th anniversary of the birth of the former RAF station at Bircham Newton. The first unit to fly from its airfield, No. 3 Fighting School, arrived in May 1918, just one month after the birth of the Royal Air Force. The Fighting School was soon joined by a second unit flying giant Handley Page bombers, designed to bomb Germany from this Norfolk airfield. Flying continued beyond the Armistice and throughout the inter-war years, increasing dramatically during the second World War. The station was finally closed in the early 1960s, during the height of the Cold War, but flying briefly returned in the mid-1960s, when trials of the Kestrel jump jet were conducted on the airfield.

To mark the centenary of the birth of RAF Bircham Newton as a flying station, it is planned to hold a Veterans’ Day event at Bircham Newton on the afternoon of Saturday, 19th of May 2018. The event will be open to all former servicemen, who served or were trained at Bircham Newton, and their close families. The largest group of visitors is expected to be former RAF administrative apprentices, who trained at Bircham Newton in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but many other veterans are also expected to attend, such as former national servicemen, former members of the Women’s Royal Air Force and officers who were trained at the Officers’ Advanced Training School (OATS) or its successor the Junior Command and Staff School (JCSS).

There will be many attractions for the veterans and their families to enjoy: the RAF Heritage Centre will be open for guided tours; an illustrated talk will be given on the role of Bircham Newton during the Great War; local history groups and service associations have been invited along to exhibit their material; military vehicles and large-scale model aircraft should be on display; local ATC squadrons and the Royal British Legion have also been invited to participate in a brief end-of-day ceremony, when the RAF ensign will be lowered to the sound of the Last Post. Tea, coffee and other refreshments will be available throughout the afternoon. It is also hoped to organise a short flypast, if possible.

Entrance will be free and free car parking will be provided. Disabled access and toilets will also be available, and help will be given to those with mobility problems. Further details regarding location etc can be found on our website:- http://www.rafbnmp.org.uk Our postcode is PE31 6RB.