Spring 2025

Spring is in the air once again and the museum reopened its doors this weekend (April 5), returning to our usual schedule of Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays, 11am-5pm.

 The collection has been thoroughly checked over, the new storerooms and work room shelved and filled, the cabinets polished, the bookshop amply stocked, and the garden brought to a pitch of Spring perfection. Please come to see what's new!

  Our promised exhibition on Production Design has been delayed -- but for the happiest of reasons, to allow us to incorporate both some unexpected and wonderful loans and highlights of the Tony Rimmington collection, donated by his sister Jean Chase.  (above,  Rimmington during the filming of A Bridge Too Far.) 

The exhibition will go ahead a little later in the year. In the meantime, the next couple of months really will be the last opportunity to catch our popular Ealing exhibition in its entirety.

The Ealing Exhibition now includes an audio tour of key Ealing posters, written by the Curator, and read by some of Deal's finest actors and voices.  Guy Scantlebury provides a commentary on The Cruel Sea, which can be accessed by scanning a QR code with your smart phone.

What's new also includes our consolidated exhibition, "Peeping v. Projecting", bringing together peepshow images of far-flung and exotic places, designed for private viewing, in a box, and magic-lantern "Dissolving Views", designed for large-scale projection to public audiences. See original views in an authentic replica of an 18th-century peepshow! No other museum in Britain brings you as close to the visual pleasures of the pre-cinema era.  

Screenings return, with a 6-week series curated by Dr. Natasha: "Out of the Past -- Women, Myth, Power and Desire".  Some favourites, in unfamiliar films, and some complete revelations. Watch this space, or the Events page of our website.  Any guesses as to the image above..?

What's new also includes a unique resource: our comprehensive moving-image survey of the entire history of World War One on Film, from the first documentaries to the latest blockbusters, created over several years, with help from numerous brilliant and generous  interns and volunteers. Nothing like this has been seen in Britain or elsewhere: it's a Kent MOMI special. 

A NOTE ON YEARLY TICKETS

Tickets for entry remain valid for a year, and all tickets previously purchased will be honoured to account for the period of the museum's closure.

Finally, to keep pace with the times and keep the lights on, we have been obliged to raise the price of a standard adult ticket to £7.50. 

Concessions, over 65s and children under 16 stay at £6 and £4, respectively.