At the end of November 2024, The Hockey Museum (THM) welcomed board members of the National Badminton Museum (NBM) for a fact-finding visit to see how we had approached the task of gaining Museum Accreditation and to learn how we had benefitted as a museum from going through the process.

The NBM is based at the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes and has been in existence since 2003. Over these 21 years their volunteers have acquired and catalogued a wide collection of badminton shuttles, rackets, clothing, magazines, archive material and other memorabilia, much of which is displayed in the corridors and offices of the National Badminton Centre. While they now have one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of badminton heritage material in the world, their trustees have recognised that the time is right for them to pursue Museum Accreditation from Arts Council England. They have been receiving support from their regional museum development team but felt that THM’s journey and insight would bring additional value to their ambitions.

While at THM, the NBM team were given a full behind the scenes tour and access to the documentation and processes that became so important in progressing along the path to achieving full accredited status. During discussions, the two museums recognised that they shared many of the same challenges in locating and preserving old records, storing modern fabrics and raising funds. Hopefully, this will be just the start of a positive collaboration.

Jim Mann, Chairperson of the NBM, commented:

“We took away lots of things to get sorted out as we continue to improve our Museum in Milton Keynes. We were very impressed with The Hockey Museum displays and with the organisation of the storerooms. This level of detail is something we need to address in ours, particularly regarding clothing and related quarantining of new collection arrivals.”

Back in 2011, when THM was taking its first steps towards becoming a museum, our then Chairperson, Katie Dodd, visited the NBM. Geoff Hinder, Secretary of the NBM, and his colleagues were very generous in giving their time and suggestions around good practice for where THM should go next – such helpful advice all those years ago. So, it was very gratifying to be able to return the favour and offer what help we could about our experiences of taking that step up to becoming an Accredited Museum. We wish our friends at the NBM our best in this task.

The National Badminton Museum visit to The Hockey Museum. From left to right: Shane Smith (THM Curator), Mel Wyatt (NBM), Katie Dodd (THM), Geoff Hinder (NBM), Kevin Andrews (NBM), Jim Mann (Chairperson NBM).