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BEAULIEU NEWS
There's always something new at Beaulieu and Buckler's Hard. News items will be posted here as soon as they happen, so keep up to date by checking this page often or by joining our free mailing list.

 Putting the Muse into Museums

Museums and Galleries Month is the UK-wide celebration of museums and galleries which takes place in May. Each year has a specific theme that venues base their activities on. This year's theme is Ideas and Innovation. In response to Museums and Galleries Month 2008 The National Motor Museum, The New Forest Centre and St. Barbe Museum & Art Gallery have worked in partnership to provide a series of outreach and museum based fun educational activities.

During May you will be able to read a selection of poems, in each museum, created by the New Forest Poetry Society, who took inspiration from the museums' exhibits. Several local schools will also be participating in a series of creative writing workshops during May, in each museum, run by local poet and writer, Keith Bennett. A final exhibition of all the poems will be exhibited at The New Forest Centre in June.

If you visit The National Motor Museum during May, you will also have a chance to do a fun 'Ideas and Innovations' themed quiz in the Museum.

Museum Mayhem
Across Hampshire 50 museums, including The National Motor Museum are taking part in Museum Mayhem, a Hampshire and Isle of Wight campaign to celebrate Museums and Galleries Month 2008. You can join in the following activities:

Top That! Museums Game Cards 100 objects from the 50 museums have been selected to produce a series of Top Trump style playing cards to collect. Each pack will contain 5 cards and different cards can be collected from each museum to build up your set. Don't worry if you don't manage to collect a full set, after May the Top That! Cards will be available to download for free from the 'Museum Mayhem' website.

Trails
Nine themed trails, covering different areas of Hampshire and a variety of museum collections, are downloadable from the Museum Mayhem website, listed below. The trails will have a map of the area they cover and basic information and contact details about each museum on that trail. For further information about Museum Mayhem and Museums and Galleries Month 2008 and all the activities that are running across the UK go to the following websites.

www.museummayhem.co.uk
www.mgm.org.uk
www.24hourmuseum.org.uk

 Record Breaking Collection

On a recent visit to the National Motor Museum, at Beaulieu current World Land Speed Record holder Andy Green was one of the first to see a recently acquired collection of approximately 120 toy cars, all depicting vehicles that broke the World Land Speed Record. The magnificent collection was offered for sale directly to the Museum by a private collector from Pennsylvania, USA, who personally set speed records on the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah and Dry Lakes of California, then made his next goal the gathering of land speed toys and related land speed memorabilia.

This highly emotive collection, which evokes the thrill of those record-breaking attempts by heroes of the day, also reminds us that the models provided endless hours of fun for the children who played with them over the years. Toy manufacturers represented include Mettoy, Sutcliffe and Tri-ang of Great Britain, Günthermann of Germany, Rico of Spain, Kingsbury, Hubley and Tootsietoy of the United States. The collection includes three pedal cars; a Golden Arrow which is an excellent scaled-down replica of the real thing and the only example known to exist, and two Lines Brothers Tri-ang Sunbeam Tigers, purchased by a grandfather in Birmingham, England for his twin grandsons. Both Tigers still carry the Hamley's Toy Store of London nameplate. Other items with record-breaking connections include the personal letters and photographs of famous drivers, postcards, puzzles, advertising posters and even cigarette lighters.

Many thanks go to the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council V&A Purchase Grant Fund, who provided £15,000 towards the purchase of this collection. The purchase was further supported by a significant private donation, and we would like to thank the family of Mr Effingham Aylott, a keen car and motorcycle enthusiast to whose memory the collection is now dedicated. We would also like to thank the family of Mr Alastair Joyce of West Mersea, for their kind contribution.

 Beaulieu Goes Green Fuels

Visitors will experience the latest in biodiesel technology as they seek out the sights on an open-topped London bus, following the installation of a newly launched Green Fuels' FuelPod2 biodiesel processor at the attraction. One of the units will also feature in a forthcoming alternative fuels display area being planned for the Motor Museum.

The FuelPod2 will be in operation, converting waste cooking oil into sufficient biodiesel to fuel the replica veteran bus that transports people around the Beaulieu attraction. It can produce up to 50 litres of biodiesel every day at a cost of around 50 pence - less than half the current average pump price. As well as the cost savings, it is also very 'green' because it uses waste oil from the attraction catering facility and reduces carbon emissions compared to traditional fossil fuels.

National Motor Museum Manager, Doug Hill said: "We are excited to be actively involved in the next stage of motoring history and the use of alternative, greener fuels. This initiative will further increase Beaulieu's green credentials as well as providing an excellent fuel for one of the attraction's most popular features."