Latest News The Trust's April 2022 Newsletter 7th April 2022 An Update from NPHT We’re thrilled to announce that our Heritage Centre has officially become a nationally styled accredited museum! The nationally styled status recognises our collection as one of national and international interest. As part of the Accredited Museum Scheme it sets out nationally agreed standards, ensuring and promising that our visitors can access and engage with our collections whilst protecting this level of standard for future generations to come, and helping to continue our work to protect and preserve Paralympic Heritage. It's been a busy few months in and out of the office. Over 1600 students joined our virtual Meet the Paralympian schools event with Mike Brace CBE DL. Our box-listing volunteers have been working hard and have now completed a further 24 boxes from the WheelPower collection since January totalling in the region of 1,247 items. We've been successful in funding bids supporting oral history and an event ‘Sing for the Queen’ linked to the Platinum Jubilee, where we shall create a song that celebrates the Queen and other Royal contributions to the development of the Paralympic Games. This is in collaboration with ‘I Have a Voice Too!’ a local adults with learning needs Theatre group. It is going to be a demanding few months ahead with some big funding applications for 2023-2028, and looking into rescuing one of the original huts with Chiltern Open Air Museum, an exciting project really beginning to take shape. A Spotlight On ... Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Exhibition For this month’s newsletter we wanted to draw attention to our up and coming exhibition at the QEOP, tying in with the 10th Anniversary of the London 2012 Games. It's hard to believe that 10 years have gone!! In the exhibition we feature items from our 2012 Paralympic collections, including the Declaration of Human Rights Jacket worn in the opening ceremony and the lovely set models produced whilst designing the event. We also feature Para-cycling given that we are in the Velopark. The exhibition runs from 11th April through to the end of September, though there will be no access in July when the Commonwealth Games take place. Click here to view the complete online catalogue What's On... Following on from the success of the Beijing Winter Paralympics we have created Winter Games themed activities for the Easter holidays. We have a Q&A with Mike Brace CBE DL who was the guest speaker at our latest virtual Meet the Paralympian event, a Winter Paralympics quiz, Widgit spelling sheet and video shorts with Marie Biswell, our BSL interpreter, who will teach us how to sign Winter Paralympic sports words. We now have some great TikTok videos. Check them out here! Join in with our holiday activities here How it began... Para-cycling is our feature this month following on from the fabulous Meet the Paralympian event with Lora and Neil Fachie.Para-cycling came in as a demonstration sport at the 1984 Games in New York, but it was not until Atlanta 1996 that it was integrated as a sport at the Paralympics. It has been a hugely successful sport for Team GB with Sarah Storey holding multiple gold medals for this sport and the recent success of Neil and Lora who achieved gold medals at Tokyo 2020, within an hour of each other! Click here to find out more about the history of Para-cycling and how it became a Paralympic sport. Sam Brady discusses... Language, Names and Acronyms in the WheelPower archives For this month’s blog, PhD Student Sam Brady outlines the different names and acronyms he’s wrestled with whilst undertaking archival work with the NPHT. Click here! We are also pleased to share that Sam successfully published his first academic journal article this month, based on his PhD research. The article is available to read in Sport in History, and is Open Access – meaning it is free to view. Click here! The Rothschild Project We have reached our project target, of 3D scanning nearly 50 objects from the collection including items from the London 2012 Paralympics. Our focus is now on editing these 3D models, completing historical research and writing museum labels so that they can be published on our website, all of this will be done by the project participants. Take a look at how our 3D gallery is developing here Stories from Buckinghamshire Project Three of the communities in Buckinghamshire have been working with artists and meeting Paralympians. Blind footballer, Darren Harris, cyclists Lora and Neil Fachie and fencer, Sally Haynes, have enchanted audiences with their sporting stories. Art workshops have used the sculptural and tactile to reflect upon key moments in the Paralympic Games with the blind braille artist Clarke Reynolds and sculptor Tony Heaton delivering captivating learning opportunities. Click here for our latest project updates! Volunteers needed Thank you.... Thank you to our primary funders, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Rothschild Foundation and HS2 for their support and flexibility to our changing delivery needs. Thank you to Anna Scott Marshall, London Chinatown Association, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE and Christy, one of our valued volunteers, for their recent donations to the NPHT collections.Thank you to our volunteers who have continued to support our work and given us so many hours of face-to-face work over the last four months. Thank you to all who follow what we are doing and to those who have generously donated. Support our ongoing work by donating here Manage Cookie Preferences