'The Life and Death of Amy Johnson' online lecture will take place on Wednesday 10th February at 7pm. All existing bookings will be honoured and new bookings can be made via our … Click the image - or here - to read more
ONLINE LECTURES
PERMANENT ATA EXHIBITION

Grandma flew Spitfires is the only exhibition in the world dedicated solely to the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), one of the forgotten stories of World War II. Our archive of … Click the image or here to read more...
SPITFIRE SIMULATOR EXPERIENCE

Our vouchers have NO expiry date and make the perfect gift for someone special. Click here to buy a 60 or 30 minute voucher. We are currently closed due to Covid-19. To book a … Click the image or here to read more...
WE ARE RECRUITING

Maidenhead Heritage Centre seeks New Manager
Maidenhead Heritage Centre seeks New Manager Maidenhead Heritage Centre (MHC) wishes to recruit a new Manager with immediate effect. The role is part-time, 20-25 hours per week at the rate of £12.50 per hour, and involves office and volunteer … Click the image - or here - to read more
WHAT’S ON

There are typically three temporary exhibitions each year. Currently: Christmas in Stained Glass. 2020 Exhibitions Christmas in Stained Glass Thursday 3rd December onwards Get into the festive spirit by looking around our exhibition showing … Click the image or here to read more...
ONLINE EXHIBITION

War memorials
Memorials to the Fallen of the two World Wars 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 are dotted around Maidenhead and nearby villages. Some no longer survive, but we know of thirty that have existed. What was the story behind the erection of these … Click the image - or here - to read more
ONLINE EXHIBITION

Littlewick Green
Ruth Bowler, Custodian of the David Jarvis Collection, has selected a range of historical images and provided a commentary which confirms Littlewick Green as a "quintessential English village". Image: MAIHC 2007.52.78.1, Fairey Aerial Surveys … Click the image - or here - to read more
FROM THE HALL OF FAME

Battle of Britain VC learned to fly in Maidenhead
Sunday 16th August is the 80th anniversary of an aerial battle which earned Maidenhead trained pilot James Nicholson the Victoria Cross. He was the only Battle of Britain pilot and the only RAF Fighter Command pilot to win the VC during World War … Click the image - or here - to read more
ONLINE EXHIBITION

Women in Green
In 1937 Britain introduced Air Raid Precautions (ARP) because of the threat of aerial bombing. Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading, set up the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) in 1938 to recruit women to help with ARP. The role of the WVS soon … Click the image - or here - to read more
ONLINE EXHIBITION

WW2 Posters
During the Second World War (1939-1945), posters were used to get across basic messages to the public. How many of these posters do you think are relevant to the Covid-19 lockdown? Colouring in There are two slides available for colouring … Click the image - or here - to read more
ONLINE EXHIBITION

Let’s celebrate!
The people of Maidenhead like a celebration, and have been marking coronations, jubilees and royal weddings for many a year - as well as the recent VE-Day anniversary. PHOTO: Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee 1897. The Bell Hotel is in the … Click the image or here to read more...
ONLINE EXHIBITION

Maidenhead’s Inspirational Women
Inspirational women from a century of Maidenhead life were under the spotlight (July/August 2019). Nick Forder, curator at the town’s museum, put together a fascinating … Click the image - or here - to read more
ONLINE EXHIBITION

Jewel of the Thames
We've prepared a set of slides as an introduction to Maidenhead's fascinating history from the earliest times. You can view the whole exhibition (35 slides) or select the parts that interest you. There's a competition available … Click the image or here to read more...
ONLINE EXHIBITION

Memories of D-Day
Twenty local people were interviewed in 1994 (the 50th anniversary of D-Day) to share their memories, whether on the beaches, at sea with the Navy or in the air. Our exhibition is now a permanent memorial, available for you to read online. There are … Click the image or here to read more...
ONLINE EXHIBITION

All the World’s a Stage
Opened 23rd February 2020 All the World's a Stage was the exhibition running when Maidenhead Heritage Centre closed for the Covid-19 outbreak. Photographs of the exhibits and the 14 wall panels are … Click the image - or here - to read more
ONLINE EXHIBITION

Spitfire Summer 2018
The British public first saw the Spitfire at the RAF Hendon air display on Saturday 27 June 1936. Although full-scale production was supposed to begin immediately, numerous … Click the image, or here, to read more...
ONLINE EXHIBITION

ATA-girls & Ancient Airmen
The 80th anniversary of the formation of ATA was marked with special new displays which featured ATA pilots and flight engineers (including Freddie Laker) with strong connections … Click the image - or here - to read more
ONLINE EXHIBITION

Skindles
Our online exhibition tells the story of "Skindles" and the central role it has played for over 150 years in the fashionable Maidenhead … Click the image or here to read more...
ONLINE EXHIBITION

Town Centre 1964
These photographs are part of a collection believed to have been taken by Gordon Slater, Chairman of Maidenhead Civic Society, in 1964. Gordon travelled around Maidenhead and its environs on his motorbike, stopping to take pictures of whatever … Click the image or here to read more...
ONLINE EXHIBITION

Cold War Maidenhead
What did the Soviet Union know of Maidenhead? The Cold War came to an end around 1991 with the fragmentation of the USSR - and the Soviet military maps went into the public … Click the image or here to read more...
OBJECT OF THE MONTH

1963 Civil Defence Booklet No 10
In 1963 Civil Defence Booklet No 10 was issued 'Advising the Householder on Protection Against Nuclear Attack', possibly in response to public concerns about the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when America risked the outbreak of war with the USSR over the … Click the image - or here - to read more
FROM THE HALL OF FAME

Sir Nicholas Winton
SIR NICHOLAS WINTON1909 - 2015 A Maidenhead resident dubbed the ‘British Schindler’, he rescued 669 children from the hands of the Nazis. In December 1938, a 29 year old stockbroker from Hampstead called Nicholas Winton was about to set off on a … Click the image - or here - to read more
FROM THE HALL OF FAME

George Edward Wade 1853 – 1933
Sculptor of monuments at the zenith of the British Empire - and Maidenhead resident - G E Wade's work is still on display across the world and his portable pieces sell at auction for thousands of pounds. Now, vandalism and theft are threats to his … Click the image - or here - to read more
VIDEO: MAPS OF MAIDENHEAD
MAPS OF MAIDENHEAD

Try out the side-by-side map. It shows old Maidenhead alongside familiar contemporary maps - and you can change the layers displayed yourself. The maps are not available to print but you can screen-grab. Maidenhead Heritage Centre and RBWM Museums & Libraries have pooled their collections … Click the image or here to read more...
RESEARCH PROJECT

Pubs, Breweries & Maltings
Can you help Maidenhead Heritage Centre piece together some of the local history of pubs, breweries and maltings? Local knowledge could help us to fix the locations of businesses that were such a part of daily life. The internet provides many … Click the image or here to read more...
FREE BOOKS

Local books – Free to download
Project Gutenberg has digitised over 60,000 out-of-copyright books. Free-of-charge, you can download these wonderful books to read on a Kindle e-reader or on a computer/tablet in your favourite browser. Maidenhead Heritage Centre has found 25 … Click the image or here to read more...
ONLINE ARCHIVE – ATA

Visit our sister website https://atamuseum.org to access the Air Transport Auxiliary archive. Most of the 2-dimensional items have been digitised and can be viewed free-of-charge. The archive … Click the image or here to read more...
ONLINE ARCHIVE – MAIDENHEAD

The local collection, approaching 15,000 items, can be viewed online using Search tools provided. Images are available for approximately 40% of items. Register (free-of-charge) to view the images at full resolution. Search Search includes all … Click the image or here to read more...
VISIT

Maidenhead Heritage Centre will be CLOSED from 4pm on Friday 18th December until further notice due to Berkshire moving into Tier 3 Coronavirus restrictions. Our opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm. General admission is … Click the image or here to read more...
VISITOR COMMENTS

We welcome your comments, whether on TripAdvisor, Facebook, Google, email or in the visitors' book on the front desk. Please contact Flora, our Museum Manager, directly if there's anything we need to … Click the image or here to read more...
SCHOOLS & GROUPS

We offer a range of workshops for KS1 and KS2 that can be delivered at the museum or in your classroom. Workshop KS1 KS2 Pre-History Yes Yes The Romans Yes Yes The Tudors Yes The Victorians & … Click the image or here to read more...
SHOP

Support the Heritage Centre by purchasing your local history books and Air Transport Auxiliary-related aviation books from our online shop. Gifts, cards and calendars are available for purchase at the … Click the image or here to read more...