The Tank Museum in Bovington, in association with the BBC, is holding a free event on Saturday November 8th to commemorate 90 years since the end of World War 1.

As well as free entrance to the Museum, there will be an opportunity for visitors to connect with, and commemorate, the events of WW1. The day’s events will include:

• A special remembrance family activity trail.
• Demonstrations of WW1 equipment.
• Take part in WW1 era drill sessions.
• A series of WW1 themed talks and lectures from experts.
• Research your family tree and find out more about service records, and your own family members contribution to WW1.
• Share family artefacts, photographs and memories with others on the on-line BBC Remembrance Wall.
• Learn more from experts about your WW1 family artefacts.
• Screening of the final poignant episode of the BBC Comedy Blackadder Goes Forth.

The Tank Museum will also be hosting the official remembrance service on behalf of Bovington Camp on Sunday 9th November. Visitors are welcome to join the service which commences at 10am. Entry to the Tank Museum will be free all day.

The Tank Musuem: Sat 8 Nov 10.30am-4pm, FREE

BBC TV’s Antiques Roadshow presenter and long-standing expert, Paul Atterbury, talks about his personal favourite artefacts from Dorset County Museum’s huge collection this Friday (10th October, 7pm).

During the interval there will be an opportunity to explore the Museum and take a closer look at Paul’s chosen ‘treasures’; many of them previously unseen items from the reserve collections.

Tickets for this event are available from the Museum Reception (and on the door) and cost £7.00. For further information, please telephone 01305 262735.

Dorset County Museum: Fri 10 Oct, 7pm, £7

Enjoy the Ford classics of yesteryear at this Ford car rally at Lulworth Castle on Sunday 8 June.

Normal castle admission applies.

Lulworth Castle: Sunday 8 June

Get out of a rut and visit the Tank Museum over the May Half Term holiday.

There will be a variety of family activities including:

• Tank Action Display. (Weekdays only, starting at 1pm). A variety of historic armoured vehicles put through their paces in a thirty minute demonstration of tank mobility.
• Tracked Vehicle Rides. (Monday 26th - Friday 30th from 11 am - 4pm) Feel the thrill of riding in a tracked vehicle for yourself in our specially converted M548, converted to hold 16 people at a time. (Small extra charge applies).

Tank Museum: 26-30 May

The current exhibition at Dorset County Museum is by Peter Thursby, the distinguished RWA Academician

The show includes sculptures, paintings and drawings dating from 1950 to 1990 and this is a unique opportunity to see and purchase his work, some of which has not been shown since the 1960s.

Dorset County Museum:  Until 15 March: Free

John Hubbard’s ’Near The Sea Exhibition’ at Dorset County Museum runs for just another 10 days.

John is an American-born artist who has lived and worked in Dorset for over 40 years. His unconventional landscape paintings fuse “elements of Chinese painting and contemporary abstraction within the tradition of late 19th century European landscape sensibility.”

Dorset County Museum: until 24 November

Swanage Railway’s Annual Grand Steam Gala and Vintage Transport Rally takes place this weekend (7-9 September).

Passenger steam trains will be running every 40 minutes between Norden and Swanage, with bar facilities on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Bournemouth and Poole Preservation Club is holding a vintage transport rally and model railway display at Harmans Cross on Saturday and Sunday.

Day Rover tickets for unlimited day and evening travel are £15, with Evening Rover tickets for unlimited travel after 5pm a mere snip at £4.

Heritage Open Days runs from 6-9 September and celebrates Britain’s architectural and cultural heritage by offering free access to properties that usually charge an entrance fee or are not open to the public.

Open days in Purbeck include:

• Corfe Castle: 8 Sept 11am-4pm
• Clouds Hill: 8 Sept 12pm-5pm
• Lulworth Castle House: 6-7 Sept 11am-4pm

Step back in history to Medieval times at Lulworth Castle on 8-9 September.

Activities include a Grand Knight’s Tourney with jousting, foot combat, skilled hunting games and a full-scale medieval battle from the Hundred Years War period 

There will also be a falconry display, music and dance and a medieval market place.

Lulworth Castle:  Adults £10, Children £4.50

The Dorset County Museum in Dorchester is currently holding an exhibition on Lawrence of Arabia.

The exhibition, entitled ‘The Man and The Myth: Lawrence of Arabia’, explores his life through photographs, letters and personal effects.

T.E. Lawrence took up residence at Clouds Hill near Bovington after leaving the RAF and he was killed in a motorbike accident nearby.

The exhibition runs until 29 September 2007 and the entrance fee of £6 entitles you to free entry to this fascinating museum for 1 year.

With the Easter holidays upon us, The Tank Museum in Bovington starts its series of ‘Tanks in Action’ days. Watch as a selection of tanks that have seen warfare, including some dating back to WWII, battle it out with one another. 

Armoured vehicle rides are also available at £3 a go, but for the ultimate tank ride experience you will have to dig a bit deeper into your pockets (£150).

Tank Museum: Tuesday 3rd, Thursday 5th, Tuesday 10th, Thursday 12th April at 1.00pm