The Paddock Board hosted a community listening session with the British Flying Training School (BFTS) museum’s strategic-plan committee to collect public input on goals and outreach for the museum’s next three to five years.

The committee said it circulated five prompting questions to civic groups and organizations and spent about 45 minutes soliciting ideas from board members, volunteers and residents. Raylan, a member of the BFTS strategic-plan committee, told the meeting that “there's just basically 5 questions trying to get a little bit of input from the community about the museum as a whole as they set forth their goals for the next 3 to 5 years.”

Why it matters: speakers said the museum represents a distinctive part of Terrell’s local history — the town’s World War II British flying training program — and committee members framed the plan as a way to protect artifacts, increase visitation and expand educational programming. The committee and several attendees urged a mix of in-person and digital strategies to reach families, students and out-of-town visitors.

Discussion highlights

- Outreach and marketing: Participants recommended more active social-media posting (especially short video “reels”), partnerships with local Facebook/Instagram pages, and improved search-engine visibility. Several said a clear link from a social post to the museum website is essential to convert interest into visits.

- Youth engagement: Board members suggested building stronger ties with local schools. One idea raised repeatedly was offering lifetime or youth memberships (for example, a membership gifted to kindergarten students) and working with theater and AV programs at the high school to produce period dramatizations or recorded narratives that would draw families.

- Digital presence and virtual tours: Several speakers recommended short, interactive virtual tours and weekly multimedia posts so remote audiences can experience exhibits and then be encouraged to visit in person. A representative noted other Texas museums have expanded reach through virtual offerings.

- Storytelling and exhibits: Attendees urged the museum to emphasize the local angle of the BFTS story (Terrell’s wartime role and the cadets who trained there), preserve oral histories, and add more experiential displays (for example, period barracks layouts or opportunities for visitors to try on a flight suit for photographs).

- Cemetery and QR codes: Committee members discussed adding QR codes at memorials so visitors can scan to hear or read the life story of specific cadets buried locally. Speakers emphasized preserving voices of living veterans and relatives in audio/video archives before those firsthand witnesses are lost.

- Wayfinding and signage: The committee noted constraints with state-right-of-way signage (TxDOT) for directional signs and discussed pursuing follow-up with TxDOT contacts and local partners about paid signage opportunities.

What they did not decide: The session was explicitly a listening exercise — the committee collected suggestions but did not approve new programs, funding or policy changes during the meeting.

Next steps: Committee members said they expect to finish the strategic plan in the spring and will return with a draft for board feedback and implementation planning.