OUR CAFÉ & GIFT SHOP
Our welcoming café and gift shop is open throughout your visit, and you can pick up some snacks, drinks, and some amazing hovercraft themed souvenirs.
Our History
In the 1980’s, hovercrafts used early on for the development and testing of hovercrafts started to be decommissioned. In addition, hovercraft in active service started to be retired. With no new home or apparent use they began to be disposed of. The Hovercraft Society noticed this and a number of key people got together in 1986 to start scoping out the idea of creating a museum that would allow these craft to be saved and preserved. In 1988, The Hovercraft Museum Trust (registered charity no. 1003689) was formed and registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales.
Over the next twelve years numerous hovercraft were added to the collection, being stored in many dierent areas of the UK. As the collection grew, the museum needed a place to keep the collection together and exhibit them to the public. In the year 2000, The Museum was able to secure a premises in two defunct seaplane hangars on the HMS Daedalus site within “Seaplane Square” – an area within the former Fleet Air Arm air base being decommissioned at the time. This lease that had been secured allowed the museum to store the majority of the collection in one place and open on a limited number of days in the year leading to large yearly “Hovershows” being held to help fund the upkeep of the buildings and care for the collection.
In 2016, a lease variation was obtained from the landlord to allow regular opening to the public. From January 2016 the Hovercraft Museum opened regularly to the public every Saturday. Starting in 2020, the land in which The Museum’s premises is on was put out to tender to be redeveloped. As part of this process The Museum was able to work with its landlord and potential developers to agree a way forward for The Museum to be a permanent resident of Seaplane Square. A winner of the tender was announced as Murray Twohig who aim to revitalise the derelict ex military base under the project “Daedalus Waterfront”.
In 2023, The Museum successfully gained full accreditation which allows the museum to grow into the future and obtain support and recognition previously inaccessible to it. The product of a number of years work, and as part of the accreditation process, The Hovercraft Museum Trust embarked on the process of incorporating the Trust into a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. This culminated in January 2024 in the charities merging and continuing as The Hovercraft Museum CIO (registered charity no. 1198896).
From April 2024 The Museum was able to expand its opening hours to incorporate Sunday opening in addition to regular Saturdays.
Our Future
The Hovercraft Museum CIO has undergone a large amount of change in recent years with many accomplishments which can be read about above. Building on this progress towards being a bigger and more mature museum, there are a number of key things the organisation is focussing on.
Daedalus Waterfront
We are currently in the early stages of an ambitious project working with Homes England, Daedalus Development Company and Gosport Borough Council among other partners to regenerate the historical HMS Daedalus site which in part remains derelict since its closure in 2000.
This is because the site and buildings which the museum occupies sit within this derelict area and are in desperate need of rejuvenation. You can read more about our hangars and why they are important on our Our Hangars & HMS Daedalus page. You can also visit Daedalus Development Company’s Daedalus Waterfront project website which talks more in detail about the whole of the project.
Seaplane Square, and the two WW1 hangars we occupy within it, serve as an important home to hovercraft development and is key to the current museum operation. As such Daedalus Development Company has committed £250k of funding, and their support to put towards museum development to be used in achieving major external funding to do the following:
• Restore the two listed hangars we occupy into buildings suitable for running a modern museum
• Complete a major enhancement to the existing museum experience by making it more accessible and engaging
• Reposition the large hovercraft within the square to allow for work to be completed around them
Currently we’re working on a feasibility and vision setting part of the project with announcements to follow once this work has been completed and the next steps have been finalised.
Visitor Numbers & Visitor Experience
In 2024 we were able to open our doors to guests on Sundays in addition to the Saturdays which we had started with. This means we’re now open every weekend throughout the year from the start of our season to the end.
Moving into 2025 and beyond we’re focussing on building those visitor numbers up so that we can reach more audiences both local and from afar. By building up our visitorship at weekends we’ll be able to increase our yearly budgets and accelerate our progress in the many areas we are working on.
Expanding the Team
As an ambitious and growing museum we’re making a lot of improvements and enhancements to how we do things. As a result we’re needing more help.
We’re constantly looking to bring more people into the volunteering team to cover everything from day-to-day operations to allow us to expand our opening, to back office to allow us to make our operation more efficient and do more amazing things.
Educational Programmes
Our key charitable purpose is education. We’re doing a great job of reaching the general public during our open days but we’re looking at ways we can expand our offering to be able to offer a more options for learning about hovercraft.
These include:
- School/College visits
- Youth Group visits
- Summer activities
- Apprenticeships and work experience
Some of these programmes will take many years until we’re ready to roll them out. With that said, the goal-setting and planning for these programmes need to start now so that we can ensure that we’re recruiting for the right team members to help and fundraising in the right ways to achieve our financial needs.
The Trustees
The Hovercraft Museum Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) is guided by a dedicated team of trustees who bring a wealth of experience and expertise from various fields. Their passion for preserving the history and heritage of hovercraft technology ensures the museum’s continued growth and success.
Louise Jenkins
Chair of Trustees
Louise Jenkins serves as the Chair of Trustees, bringing a diverse background in the airline industry with a focus on operations and dispatch, as well as experience in education as Year Leader. Louise also manages our volunteers and oversees the museum’s archives. Her leadership and organisational skills help steer the museum towards achieving its strategic goals while ensuring a high-quality visitor experience.
Alex Wheeler
Trustee
Alex Wheeler, our Treasurer, has a deep background in data, analytics, AI, finance, and technology/IT. He oversees the museum’s finance, IT, business administration, and development. Alex ensures efficient management of resources and maintains financial stability, which is crucial for the museum’s sustainable growth and development.
George Holloway
Trustee
George Holloway has a strong background in electronics and works as a test engineer in the aerospace industry. George handles restoration and site management, as well as operations. His technical expertise ensures that the museum’s interactive displays and hovercraft exhibits are well-maintained and in excellent condition for visitors.
David Kerr
Trustee
David comes with an accountancy and business management background. He has been interested in Hovercraft from a young age felt that The Hovercraft Museum was the ideal place to lend a hand. His expertise lay in insolvency management which from the oset might seem ominous, however, with this background it enables the board to ensure that they continue operations in a sustainable way benefitting from his many years of experience.
Support us or get involved
There are many fantastic ways that you could help support the Museum, get involved with event, or simply donate to help keep our heritage alive! We can’t thank everyone enough for their support!