During the Hot Weather
Due to the continuing excessively hot weather conditions and the dry grass conditions on and around the museum site, the trustees have taken the decision to introduce a ban on smoking across the whole museum site.
This will start from 10am on Saturday 16th July 2022 and will apply, to all visitors to the museum and to staff and volunteers working at the museum. The ban expands the already existing smoking ban in all museum buildings to all areas of the fenced museum site.
It will not apply to the concrete car parking areas on the old taxiway approach to the museum.
The site conditions will continue to be monitored and we expect that the ban will not be lifted until there has been prolonged rainfall across the museum site.
Also during the extremely hot weather we will be restricting the access to some aircraft cockpits, this particularly relates to the aircraft that are displayed outside. If the temperature is too hot we will limit the access to aircraft that can be ventilated by removing escape hatches etc. and we may stop access all together.
One such casualty is likely to be the Vulcan, which due to the confined/cramped conditions and difficulty in providing ventilation it can become unbearably hot for both visitors and the volunteers who normally open this particular aircraft – sadly this will not be opened on a regular basis until the temperatures drop to more acceptable levels.
We apologise for any disappointment and inconvenience that these decisions may cause but we need to do as much as possible to protect the exhibits, visitors, volunteers and our infrastructure at this time. We hope that everyone will comply and understand why we have made these decisions. If you have any questions about these decisions please call us on 01636 707170 (10am to 4.45pm).