Milestones Museum welcomes 100,000th visitor

Friday, 22 March 2013

The 100,000th visitor for 2012/13 has been welcomed to Hampshire County Council's Milestones Museum thanks to the hugely popular LEGO®Mania event.

Victoria Hanks from Fleet, visited the Basingstoke based attraction this month (March) with her three children and friends, bringing the site's visitor numbers to over 100,000, to win a Hampshire County Council Culture-all pass worth £75.

The Culture-all Passport gives up to two adults and two children (aged 16 years or under) 12 months' unlimited access to some of Hampshire's best attractions, as well as free parking at several visitor sites, plus access to exclusive offers and discounts.

Mum of three Victoria certainly has a lucky streak. While applying for a Hampshire County Council Gateway Card for her youngest son Seb, aged two, who has a condition called Nemaline Myopathy, similar to Muscular Dystrophy, she found out that she was the 2,000th applicant and won a Culture-all pass.

The Gateway Card is for children and young people who have a disability and/or additional needs and may require support to participate in leisure and recreation activities, are between 0 to 19 years old, live in Hampshire and/or attend a school in Hampshire (excluding Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight as they have similar schemes) and it gives people access to range of short break activities.

Victoria has donated a Culture-all pass to a friend, whose daughter has Down's Syndrome and is due to undergo a major operation.

Victoria said of her win: "It was so lovely because it genuinely added a bit of excitement and a feel-good factor that we needed. It was a lovely distraction for all of us when we had all had a difficult couple of weeks."

Councillor Keith Chapman, Hampshire County Council's Executive Member for Culture and Recreation, said: "Congratulations to Victoria and what a wonderful gesture to give her newest Culture All pass to her friend to enjoy with her family. I hope they all come back to Milestones to enjoy LEGO® Mania 2013 and use their passes to explore all the other wonderful attractions Hampshire County Council has to offer."

The highlight of the LEGO® Mania 2013 event at Milestones is the building of a four metre long Thornycroft truck between Tuesday 26 February and Sunday 31st March 2013 from around 150,000 Lego bricks by Duncan Titmarsh of Bright Bricks, the only certified LEGO® builder in the UK. This will complement the museum's collection of vintage Thornycroft vehicles. LEGO® Mania 2013 continues throughout the Easter holidays until Sunday 14th April.

Milestones has seen an increase in visitor numbers by 11 per cent compared to the same time last year and it is not the only Hampshire County Council venue to set this trend.

During January visitor numbers were up by 47% at Aldershot Military Museum and 99% at Gosport Gallery compared to January last year.

Councillor Chapman added: "These increases are due to popular exhibitions and numerous school visits to Milestones. We are recording that around 35,000 are visiting Hampshire's museums each month."

• Milestones Museum

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