Royal Marines museum, Portsmouth

[Matt Dixon]

I recently visited this musuem and was fairly disappointed. Rude staff, terrible refreshment facilities, and some of the displays looking fairly dated. I was also surprised that there was nothing about the training of the Royal Marines.

That said however the medal room completely blew me away. Not only are there 9 VC's won by the RM, but it is without a doubt the best collection of medals I have ever seen in a museum anywhere in the world.

Have any of the Pals visited this museum, and if so have any of you ever seen a more impressive medal collection?

I should ppoint out I have nothing to do with the museum, and don't know anyone connected with it.

[Guest Hill 60]

That said however the medal room completely blew me away. Not only are there 9 VC's won by the RM, but it is without a doubt the best collection of medals I have ever seen in a museum anywhere in the world.

I have visited this museum a number of times over the years, and I've been impressed.

The best visit I had was with my father. Unfortunately there was a refurbishment in progress and the vast majority of the exhibits had been moth-balled. However, we spent 5 hours in the medal room, with two members of staff, being shown every single medal they had and getting a history lesson on various recipients!

[Jonathan Saunders]

It is probably 12 yrs since I last went to the museum at Eastney Barracks but I seem to remember it had either just won or been shortlisted for a national or European museum award!! This was on the basis of the museum introducing images (faces on models) that told you the history of the Corp, which I guess was then state of the art - I expect the prohibitive cost of constantly updating the educational exhibits is why it looks dated now. It is disappointing, however, to hear you found the staff rude.

[Guest Jeff Floyd]

I was there a year ago, just as they were changing over to winter hours. Three of us arrived practically as they were closing the doors. We pleaded our case with one of the staff as misguided Yanks who read the wrong opening hours. It helped that I was with two former US Marines.

They were setting up for a function in the museum, so they weren't actually closed, so we wound up with a guided tour, including about an hour in the Medal Room. It was a superb collection, very well displayed. Because we were all medal collectors, and the staff member (a retired Marine and QGM recipient) was interested, we got special handling I'm sure, but I'd go back in a heartbeat to spend a little more time in the rest of the museum.