The Dacorum Heritage Trust
 The history of Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley & Tring

Informal Education and Outreach

Remembrance Project

Would your Scout, Girl Guiding or school youth group like to take part in an intergenerational project for Remembrance Day?

The Dacorum Heritage Trust, the accredited museum of the Borough is organising a project, which will focus on the importance of Remembrance and Commemoration.

The project will discuss what we are remembering on November 11th, the importance and significance of the poppy and why medals such as the Victoria Cross are awarded.

The Dacorum Heritage Trust will run an object handling session, looking at artefacts including medals, gas masks, posters, and ration books. In a second session the scouts will meet with war veterans and discuss how war affected their lives and why the Legion is so important to them.

Each child will use the veterans' memories and objects they have seen to decorate a ceramic pot and plant poppy seeds to take home.

Community Projects

In 2007, the Dacorum Heritage Trust was successful in obtaining a grant to put together a Reminiscence box to use in local residential and care homes. Reminiscence boxes are often used in care homes to stimulate memories about the past in a fun and enjoyable way. The box is titled 'An Evening Out', with all the objects based around going out in the 1940s and '50s. Objects in the box include a CD, photographs, hats, hair curlers and dance programmes. Since its completion in early 2008, it has proved extremely popular, with many care workers enquiring about our other resources for care homes.

Plans for 2009

Due to the success of our existing Reminiscence box, we are hoping to work with a local care home to create a loan box for schools, looking at how today's toys differ from those in the past. Working closely with care workers, we will lead reminiscence workshops with objects from our collection. Memories will be recorded so that the material will be available for use in a 'Toys' loan box.