Chatham Historic Dockyard shortlisted for national museum award for family lockdown activities online
11:52, 23 July 2020
updated: 11:54, 23 July 2020
An online exhibition for children run during lockdown by the Historic Dockyard Chatham is up for a national award.
The attraction's 'Dockyard From Home' campaign gave youngsters a chance to follow weekly videos to make nautical themed discoveries, arts and crafts and various activities linked to the naval history in Chatham.
Activities included children making a pom pom octopus, Jolly Roger flag and artistic Dazzle Ship designs made of juice cartons.
Youngsters were also encouraged to keep a log book of everything they had completed.
The campaign has now been recognised by the nationwide award scheme Kids in Museums, which has been running for 15 years to acknowledge the most family friendly heritage sites in the UK.
This year, families have been asked to vote for the best online activity during lockdown.
A panel of experts have whittled down 400 nominations to a shortlist of 26.
"We have loved seeing everyone’s creations over the last few months and have our fingers crossed for the awards"
The Historic Dockyard will now battle it out against four other museums for the Best Website Activity category.
Lynnette Crisp, head of marketing and communication at Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, said: "We are thrilled to have been nominated for this prestigious award. Lockdown has been a challenge for us all and the closure of The Historic Dockyard to visitors has been difficult for both our staff and our visitors.
"Creating easy-to-follow, arts-based activities enabled us to engage with our visitors virtually, giving them the opportunity to recreate a little taste of Dockyard spirit in the comfort of their own home.
"In the absence of physical visits, the campaign also allowed us to continue fulfilling our important charitable objective of learning.
"We have loved seeing everyone’s creations over the last few months. We have our fingers crossed for the awards announcement later in the year and wish our fellow nominees luck."
The judging process will take place during the summer holidays as judges try out the activities and feedback from families will see one venue named the winner and a highly commended award for each category.
An awards ceremony is currently planned for October.
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