One feature of the History degree at Northampton is a recurring opportunity to engage with optional field trips.
Students posing in front of historical military hardware at the Imperial War Museum!
Last Thursday sixteen second-year students took a break from their normal classes to visit the Imperial War Museum. Most were studying the optional module HIS2014 First World War and they were accompanied by their lecturer, Dr Jim Beach. Exploring the recently-upgraded First World War galleries they encountered a multitude of items relevant to the module’s content. The artefacts helped to reinforce their previous learning and some displays offered fresh insights. Elbowing younger competitors aside, the students were also able to rediscover their inner child by trying on helmets and uniforms!
This field trip is now in its fourth-year and, as is now customary, everyone adjourned afterwards to a nearby pub to reflect upon the afternoon’s meandering. And, in a similar vein to previous years, the discussion also turned into an initial planning conference for the History Society trip to Vienna at the end of the students’ third year. That trip also includes First World War galleries but, being in an Austrian military museum, they tell the story of the conflict from a very different perspective.
Dr Jim Beach
HISTORY AT NORTHAMPTON 