About Us:
The ROC Museum is administered by the Royal Observer Corps Museum Trust and is a registered Charitable Trust (No.1012451) whose Charitable Objects include the provision of a public Museum celebrating the work and achievements of The Royal Observer Corps.
The Trust has an accommodation address in Peninsula Barracks, Winchester, is fully active in Museum affairs, and has achieved Provisional Registration of the ROC Museum with the Council for Museums Archives & Libraries.
The ROC Museum was started by Officers at the Winchester ROC Centre (14 Group) as a Collection for viewing by visitors. As the Collection grew it was moved into the disused wartime Operations Room, opening for visitors in June 1974. The Museum was developed with the aid of grants by Hampshire County Council (HCC) and opened to the public on 24 October 1987.
The building closed in March 1992 with the partial standdown of the ROC and the bulk of the Collection was moved out.
Through the generosity of HCC the Collection is housed near Winchester in leased premises. Hampshire County Museums & Archives Service provides professional advice on both Curatorial and Conservation matters to the Museum. The ROC Archive is lodged in Hampshire Record Office where it has been made available for direct access by the public. The ROC film Archive is in the care of Wessex Film & Sound Archive Trust.
Since the closure of 14 Group HQ the Trust has been very active in seeking a permanent venue for its public display. For a considerable period these efforts centred on arranging occupancy of its former home.
However, this has not proved possible and current plans include an invitation to join with the Hall of Aviation (now renamed ‘Solent Sky’) when it moves to a new location in Southampton. Thanks to the generosity also of the Custodians and Director, the ROC Museum has a permanent display at Solent Sky in Albert Road South.
The ROC Museum has an extensive and unrivalled collection of Royal Observer Corps memorabilia including photographs, documents dating back to the formation of the Observer Corps in 1925 and the creation of Winchester Group in 1926, records of members of the Corps from all parts of the UK, and equipment used by the Corps for operations and training since its inception to final standdown in 1995. It also has a collection of badges and insignia, uniforms and clothing worn by members during its 70 year history.
Members of the ROC Museum Trust mount several exhibitions and displays each year at locations in Hampshire and its environs. Photographs of local ROC Posts and lists of their members are displayed with requests for more information. One-day exhibitions are also offered to schools, now that recent history features in schools’ curricula. The Museum supports other exhibitions and events up and down the country with the loan of documents, uniforms and equipment. Relatives and friends of those in photographs displayed at exhibitions often volunteer valuable data. Using the Museum’s extensive archive, its Curator regularly supplies information about people and events to bona fide enquirers interested in discovering details of happenings in which the Royal Observer Corps may have been involved.
One of the aims of the Museum is to compile a list of all Corps members, particularly those who served during the war years. Until its re-formation in 1947 no personal numbers were issued to its personnel, and it is difficult to determine what the strength of Posts and Centre Crews in each Group were. It is here that early records, membership lists of the ROC Club, and old photographs can help. The Museum currently holds upwards of 25,000 names, and the list is still growing. Another objective is to have a photograph of every Post and Centre/Operations Room.
The ROC Museum Trust has no regular income but depends on donations and the fund-raising activities of its members.
Our Curator will be pleased to hear from anyone who has information or memorabilia which might be of interest to the Museum, particularly old documents or photographs which could be copied or borrowed.
Our Mission Statement
The Royal Observer Corps Museum is staffed entirely by volunteers, and funded entirely by voluntary contributions. Within these constraints the Museum's objectives include:
| 1 |
Collecting and preserving the heritage of
the Royal Observer Corps. |
| 2 |
Raising the profile of the Corps and the
part it played in the history of the 20th Century. |
| 3 |
Making the records, artefacts and memorabilia
available to the casual enquirer and the serious historian. |
Until the Museum finds a new permanent home it has adopted a policy of taking exhibitions to the public in a variety of venues within the old 14 Group ROC boundary, which covered Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, and parts of Surrey, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire and Dorset.
