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I Grew Up 80s

Sat 15 June - Sat 7 Sept 2024
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I Grew Up 80s

Sat 15th Jun 2024 to Sat 7th Sep 2024 - All Day

Exhibitions

An entire generation has a chance to wallow in nostalgia with the fantastic exhibition, I Grew Up 80s (as seen on TV, BBC Breakfast).

Maidstone residents and visitors are invited to take a trip back in time with the nostalgia-filled exhibition, I Grew Up 80s. You’ll explore the cultural landscape of 1980’s Britain through the eyes of a child – revisiting the colourful vibrancy and innovation that defined the decade. From Betamax to BMX, Dirty Dancing to Donkey Kong, the Thompson Twins to Transformers.

I Grew Up 80s is a lovingly curated time capsule of over two-hundred treasures that showcase the youthful exuberance of the much-loved decade. Collector and cultural commentator Matt Fox has devoted himself to exploring a 1980s childhood through the iconic objects of a decade in which so much changed.

“Those that grew up 30-40 years ago pre-internet, in the 1980s, can genuinely state that life was very different then. “ Fox says,  “In my view, the 80’s were a remarkable time to be a child. We can explore that through the objects that kids either owned or perhaps desperately wanted to! For example, you’ll see Dunlop Green Flash trainers alongside some achingly cool Adidas High Tops. Toys and electronic games that you once dreamed about on shop shelves or in the Argos catalogue. Iconic albums you played to death on vinyl and cassette. Chocolate bars and food items, like Sweet Cigarettes and Peanut Treets, that are no longer with us. Plus, some great examples of 80s design like boomboxes, swatch watches, and, ahem, purple shell suits!”

So pull up your leg warmers and unscramble your Rubik’s cubes, because like Bill and Ted in their phone booth or Marty McFly in his Delorean, Maidstone Museum is ready to take you on a most excellent adventure to revisit the greatest decade in the history of history – the Eighties!

Admission: £4 adults, £2 children (under 5’s free), £10 family (two adults and up to three children). 

Tickets available at the museum reception.