The Renegades say ‘Tanks for the memories!’

The Renegades Youth Club stuck to its guns and delivered – by request – a special day out to London’s Imperial War Museum to kick start the Easter school holidays.

“It’s an unwritten rule that the members just have to say where they would like to go or what they would like to do and we’ll do our best to make it happen,” says Group Leader Gareth Miller.

“The Imperial War Museum was particularly popular, and our visit was timed to coincide with an exhibition called ‘War Games’, which was about cyber technology and how video game technology is used to shape real wars. It looked at the similarities between an Xbox console and a main battle tank gun control system. The kids – and their dads – were fascinated.

“The same with the replica nuclear weapons – the Little Boy bomb, which was dropped on Hiroshima and had a uranium core, and the Fat Man bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki and had a plutonium core. Their jaws dropped just standing next to the first weapon of mass destruction, even though it was a replica.”

Having been dwarfed by the battleship guns outside the museum, the kids then loved seeing the front of a Lancaster bomber, learning the difference between a rocket and a missile, between a tank and an armoured car, and between a Hotchkiss and a Willys jeep.

“Thanks to grants and donations we have been able to increase our camera inventory and so the kids were able to use DSLR cameras to record what interested them most. I gave them the challenge of taking photos of ten things that most floated their boats and they will present those images to the rest of the club over the coming weeks,” says Gareth.

“If anyone has a DSLR camera they no longer use and would like to find a good home for it, we’d be immensely grateful. It’s such a good creative exercise for the kids and grows their confidence in sharing the photos with the rest of the club.”

The next trips will be to the Tate Gallery and the Science Museum.

The Renegades is a Registered Charity. Membership is free or a voluntary contribution of £10 a month. Please contact Gareth Miller on 07801 862550 or Damian Dixon on 07484 130189 for further information.

Vanda Rumney