Community Friends
The RAF Museum is in the unique position of being a national museum in an area with a focused local community, who live on part of the former RAF Hendon airfield site and the surrounding area. Colindale and the wider Barnet area are home to lots of excellent resources, groups and community organisations, many of which the RAF Museum works with in partnership.
Age UK Barnet
Age UK Barnet an independent local charity working with and for older people across the borough to serve and promote the interests of all older people in Barnet, from all walks of life and ethnic communities. The charity’s Men’s Group has been meeting fortnightly at the Museum for sessions focusing on getting hands on with heritage and learning more about all aspects of the RAF. Sessions have included medical evacuation, local history and the Blitz artwork. We are looking to work further with Age UK on sessions involving the collection and getting people moving.
Barnet Council
Over Easter and Summer 2022 the Museum ran a series of sessions in partnership with Barnet Council's BACE Holiday scheme. BACE holidays supports children and young people aged 5-16 who receive benefit related free school meals in the borough of Barnet. We ran fun afternoon sessions focusing on Health, Food and Fitness which saw groups exploring the Museum with a special trail, designing and creating their own squadron badges and learning more about different roles in the RAF by getting hands-on with uniforms.
Barnet Libraries
We’ve worked with Barnet Libraries to run sessions at a number of local libraries including Burnt Oak, East Finchley and Finchley Church End. These have been fun and informal storytelling and object handling for families as well as more lifelong learning talks including Jewish RAF History and our Pilots of the Caribbean session. In 2022 the Museum hosted Barnet Libraries launch event for their Summer Reading Challenge, inviting local families to sign up to the challenge as well as designing and launching their own mini aircraft.
Barnet & Southgate College
The Museum and Barnet and Southgate College are currently working together on several projects. The ESOL Conversation Café takes place at the RAF Museum weekly during college term time and is an informal space for local people to practise their English speaking and listening skills. A Barnet and Southgate College tutor oversees the sessions which are aided by Museum volunteers.
Barnet and Southgate College have also partnered with the Museum to run an Art for Wellbeing course focused on Museum collections. This is part of the Art and Culture Pilot Scheme also in partnership with Notting Hill Genesis and Colindale Communities Trust.
Colindale Communities Trust
The Colindale Communities Trust is a charity committed to developing sustainable services and projects that improve the economic and social wellbeing of people who live in and around Colindale. They work together with local people and a range of partners to support and empower the local community. They currently manage the One Stop Shop community hub on Grahame Park.
We work very closely with CCT to help address gaps in provisions locally. We partnered on the local Arts and Culture Programme and local history walks. The Museum is a member of both the Colindale Consortium and Grahame Park Strategy Group which are run by CCT.
FUSE
The FUSE Youth Project aims to teach young people life skills through the use of cooking, creative art, group discussions around youth centred topics and team sports. They also make it a priority to take young people on exciting offsite trips to encourage them to explore and get to know the world outside of their estate.
FUSE have taken part in several sessions at the Museum looking at a range of themes and topics from our collection. These have ranged from a performance of ‘Pilots of the Caribbean’ examining the contribution of African and Caribbean RAF personnel and a session looking at RAF roles and uniforms.
Home Start Barnet
Home-Start Barnet, Brent, Enfield and Harrow is an independent charity that helps families with children through their challenging times.
We have worked with Home Start Barnet’s Thursday and Friday family groups for a variety of sessions at the Museum and Grahame Park Community Centre. These have involved the families trying on RAF uniforms and creating their own RAF hats and badges as well has the Museum hosting their summer sports day and getting the children involved in the Museum for Takeover Day.
Notting Hill Genesis
We’ve partnered with Notting Hill Genesis on an Art and Culture Scheme to improve the free cultural offer for local residents. This has included Art for Wellbeing sessions, a holiday film club, a photography course and local history walks.
Young Barnet Foundation
Young Barnet Foundation was set up to help bring local solutions to local issues, they work strategically to bring charities and organisations together to support and build capacity in the CYP voluntary sector across Barnet. Their vision is for young people to grow up healthy, safe and happy with the best opportunities to secure brighter futures. Young Barnet Foundation help us to connect with local organisations working with children and families to partner up and address gaps in provision.