Our new exhibition ‘Commando Mind’ showcases stories of incredible challenges that Royal Marines faced and successfully surmounted, in non combat situations. With little more than the working title of ‘spirit’ we set about creating the exhibition…

First of all, the project team did some brain storming. We tried to nail down the attributes of the Commando mind, and to work out the different types of challenges that Royal Marines have faced. When we’d brainstormed lots of different ideas, we set about trying to think of contemporary Royal Marines stories that embodied the mindset and different types of challenges.

In early 2009 the Museum purchased a First World War medal group.  The group was unremarkable in itself; it comprised of three campaign medals popularly known as ‘Pip, Squeak and Wilfred’.  These were issued in very large numbers.  So why did we buy them?

Final blog from our guest blogger Petty Officer Hamish Burke whose photography is featured in our new exhibition ‘Shoulder2Shoulder’.

I joined A Company 1 RIFLES to deploy on Operation OMID HAFT on the 23 May 2011. A day I will never forget. I was at Patrol Base 4 (PB4) and had just returned from an operation with C Company and was preparing for an operation with A Company I RIFLES.  As darkness fell we were checking our kit, ammunition, and cleaning weapons, it was a quiet, calm night.  It hadn’t been dark for long when suddenly the lads and myself were called together into the centre of the camp.

Following the success of the recent ‘More Than a Name’ exhibition, the Museum hosted a TV shoot of a forthcoming series called ‘Hero in the Family’. The subject was Marine John Rippon, the late father of broadcaster Angela Rippon, who came to the Museum to meet Matt Little, our Archivist, to go through the papers, photographs and medals in her possession.

We’ll continue this week with our guest blogger Petty Officer Hamish Burke whose photography is featured in our new exhibition ‘Shoulder2Shoulder’.

I am a Defence Photographer for the Royal Navy and last summer I was deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan as the photographer for 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines on Operation Herrick 14, April -October 2011.  This particular tour was usual for me because although 3 Commando Brigade was the lead for the tour there were multiple Army units attached from 7 Armoured Brigade "The Desert Rats'. On this mission,  not only would I be covering marines and sailors but also soldiers too - a bit like a fish out of water for me!

The Royal Marines Museum will be hosting the 'Shoulder2Shoulder' special exhibition between 2 and 20 April. This week on our blog you'll hear from our guest blogger, photographer Petty Officer Hamish Burke whose photos are featured in the exhibition.

The Shoulder2Shoulder exhibition came about following 3 Commando Brigade's tour to Helmand last year on Op HERRICK 14. On a daily basis top-class images from highly trained service photographers arrived at the headquarters in Lashkar Gah - sent in by email from remote patrol bases or flung onto a disc and delivered by hand via a helicopter re-supply. Day in and day out, our embedded photographers who are Royal Marines, Sailors and Soldiers are deployed in the most challenging and dangerous circumstances to tell the stories of our men and women. Without them and their work, the UK public, our families and supporters would have very little idea about the realities of day to day life in Helmand.

Don't miss the second episode of 'Royal Marines: Mission Afghanistan' on tonight at 9pm on Channel 5.

Venus Fly Trap is tonight's episode.

This week has seen the return of the 13 inch Mortar to the Royal Marines Museum after a year of restoration. The restoration of the 13-inch mortar has been achieved thanks to generous financial assistance from Colin Maitland (a former Royal Marine) and the Friends of the Royal Marines Museum. The work has involved the creation of a new wooden base for the mortar – a replica of the original – and the refurbishment of the mortar’s barrel. The wood used for the base is oak and it has not been painted because this is how it would have looked originally. The cast-iron barrel has now been painted black rather than grey and this means it is back to its original appearance.

The Minstrels Gallery of the Royal Marines Museum is the perfect majestic setting for an evening of dining and mystery as you take your seat for a Victorian Dinner that Dickens’ himself would be proud of.  Enjoy a superb meal and drinks, interrogate the characters, work together to identify the murderer and decide the motive and method of the crime. Then when after dinner coffee is served you can reach your conclusions and all will be revealed.

There are two sittings for dinner, 7pm to 9.30pm or 8.30 pm to 11pm

£35 per person.

To book go to the Dark Encounters website

The Royal Marines Museum had a visit from 30 Commando today. They presented the Museum's curator Ian Maine with a commemorative plaque. The plaque has the new name that was adopted last year to reflect the increased focus on intelligence and information gathering. 80% of the Marines who visited today came back from a tour of Afghanistan last summer.

February Half Term at the Royal Marines Museum we'll be running a series of 'Combat Intelligence' activities aimed at 4-14 year olds. Sessions will run at 11am and 2pm Monday to Friday. More details can be found here

The Royal Marines Band Service Corps of Drums are at the Museum today to have new offical photographs taken.

The new photos give the band an opportunity to show off their new drums which have been specially made form them by Pearl. The drums have been a year in production and take over from a previous make and model of drum which the band have used for the last 25 years.

If you'd like to see the band in action tickets for the Mountbattern Festival of Music went on sale on 9th January and are available from

www.royalalberthall.com

For those that served in the Falklands War the kit layout picture may bring back some memories. But how does a curator, who was only just born at the time of the Falklands War, know what was used and worn in the Falklands?

New Year is a good time to dust off the cobwebs and have a good sort out of your things. Out with the old and in with the new. This year while you’re rooting around in your attic or throwing things out from your garage or garden shed, have a look and see if there is any Royal Marines memorabilia from your ancestors being stored, you might be surprised at what you find.

The Royal Marines Museum is currently running an exhibition called ‘More than a Name’ which looks at how you can research your ancestors and piece together their stories.

Over the past three years the Royal Marines Museum and the Royal Marines Historical Society in Hampshire have been recording oral history interviews with serving Royal Marines about their experiences in Afghanistan.

Oral history interviews are usually conducted after a Royal Marine has completed their full career, meaning there can be a large period of time between a conflict and when the interview is conducted.

In 2008, the museum decided to create an exhibition about Afghanistan, which now has been installed in the permanent galleries. Because there had been little written at that time on the subject, oral history interviews were needed to help the project staff with their research.

Working in the museums industry I go to a lot of museums, and I have to say that it is very rare I get blown away when visiting a new museum. Yet this happened to me on a recent trip to the US at both the National Museum of the Marine Corps (NMMC) in Quantico and the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.

As a military museum enthusiast the NMMC was epic, both in scale (it had an impressive atrium for aircraft and large vehicles in the entrance) and on the money spent on it (the building cost $60 million, and $42 million has been spent on the exhibitions). The results are a modern feeling museum that successfully combines traditional museum object displays with immersive experiences and large audio visual presentations. It has a theatrical feel to all of it, but you still feel like you are at a museum. I was also treated to a behind the scenes tour by the curators who showed me their respective object collections.