Operation Varsity: Crossing Time

Exhibition Open: 7 June – 27 July 2025

Landing Gallery, Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, Park Street, Woodstock, OX20 1SN

This June we’ll be hosting a brand-new exhibition, Operation Varsity: Crossing Time, in partnership with Outside In, a charity that provides a platform for artists who encounter significant barriers to the art world.

This exhibition is result of the award-winning charity running a Step Up: Curating Exhibitions course with us, which commenced in February 2025.

Outside In artists participating in the course used our collection as the starting point to develop their own exhibition. As their theme, they chose to honour Operation Varsity, the largest allied airborne operation in history to take place in one day and in one location, involving over 16,000 paratroopers and several thousand aircraft, as part of push to cross the Rhine towards the end of World War II. 2nd Battalion of The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, one of the county regiments, took part in the operation, and though they were successful, they took heavy casualties.

The resulting exhibition will include displays of clothing and equipment, a new portrait in oils and a clay portrait sculpture of Phillip Aucott, a veteran who celebrated his 100^th birthday on 12th April this year, and who spoke of his experiences in the military to members of the team.

Sketch of General ‘Windy’ Gale, by Tom Stimpson, course participant.

Throughout the course, which was generously supported by the Veterans’ Foundation, participants Thomas Stimpson, Karran Collings and James Wilkins learned about practical and conceptual considerations around developing and realising an exhibition – from storytelling to writing wall labels and programming events. The course has provided a great opportunity for the participants to gain new curatorial skills within a safe and supportive environment.

The Veterans’ Foundation allowed the course to be opened up further to serving members of the armed forces, reservists and veterans.

Exhibition poster, designed by course participants

‘This course has been exceptional it has provided a thorough in-depth course on curating exhibitions culminating in an exhibition at Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum.’

-Tom Stimpson

‘It has been a great pleasure to work with our enthusiastic Step Up artists, veterans and military participants Karran, James and Thomas and Step Up Course Assistant and artist Tincy.’

-Jackie Sarafopoulos, Course Tutor

‘The Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum is always enthusiastic to see projects that bring in new friends and use the collections in innovative ways. These workshops and resulting exhibition have been a fantastic addition to our program and a real enhancement to our work with veterans. We are extremely grateful to both Outside In and the Veterans Foundation for joining us on this creative journey.’

-Ursula Corcoran, Director of Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum.

Operation Varsity: Crossing Time will open with a launch event on Saturday 7 June and run until 27 July and will include a special workshop and Share Art event on 16 July.

Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum would also like to thank Museum Development South East who kindly supported the creation of this exhibition through grant funding.

Display of equipment of the kind used by airborne forces during Operation Varsity (James Wilkins)