The Background

In 2005, Their Past Your Future UK commemorated the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII by bringing together communities, veterans and young people throughout the UK. The programme was supported by the Big Lottery Fund and was based around a touring exhibition curated by the Imperial War Museum.

In Scotland, the programme was led by Museums Galleries Scotland in partnership with Learning and Teaching Scotland and the Scottish Library and Information Council, and involved six lead partners in areas throughout the country (namely Argyll & Bute Council, Clackmannanshire Council, Gordon Highlanders Museum, Grantown Museum, South Lanarkshire Council, and West Dunbartonshire Council).

The Scottish programme involved the touring exhibition from the Imperial War Museum, with a complementary local exhibition and events programme organised by each partner. There was also an additional e-learning strand, War Detectives, which was developed by the Scottish Library and Information Council.

The evaluation of Their Past Your Future in Scotland found that:

• There were 75,933 exhibition visits or engagement in projects and events in total
• IWM's touring exhibition was displayed for 203 days and visited by 26,000 people across six diverse areas of Scotland
• The six regional partners (all Museums Galleries Scotland members) each exhibited their own complementary exhibitions, which were displayed for 1,076 days and visited by just under 34,000 people
• The partners delivered 59 different projects or events between them in which over 16,000 people participated
• 76% of participants increased their knowledge or understanding
• 69% of participants experienced enjoyment, inspiration of creativity
• 25% of all participants interacted with other generations
• 49% of participants would like to know more about the Second World War
• Over half of all visitors (52%) to Their Past Your Future in Scotland came because they wanted to learn more about the subject matter.

Download the Project Evaluation Report of Their Past Your Future in Scotland.

In August 2006, Gordon Brown, then Chancellor for the Exchequer, announced an additional stream of funding for Their Past Your Future.

Towards 'Remembering Scotland At War'

Following the evaluation of the Their Past Your Future programme in Scotland, Museums Galleries Scotland commissioned two extensive scoping exercises, investigating various potentials for a second phase of activity. The studies found that there was a great enthusiasm amongst member museums and galleries to focus on the collection of oral histories, and to collect copies of illustrative items to set this narrative in context (newspaper articles, old photographs, archival film, objects etc).

In 2008, the Scottish Their Past Your Future programme was renamed 'Remembering Scotland At War', reflecting the emphasis on the collection of living memories.