Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews
Join the Celebration: Thursday 11 – Sunday 14 September www.heritageopendays.org.uk
2014 is the 20th anniversary of Heritage Open Days, the event that enables people to visit buildings and places normally closed to the public. So don’t forget to book your place on our Heritage Open Days Behind the Scenes tours at Letchworth and Hitchin museums. See how staff are preparing for the new North Hertfordshire Museum. Find out about the history of the buildings and the museums. Have a look at objects as they are cleaned and packed.
Tours are free, start at 10am and last approximately 45mins to 1 hour. Spaces are limited and tours must be booked in advance (tours without sufficient bookings may be rescheduled). You can book onto a tour at Letchworth Museum or Hitchin Museum (or one of each!).
Letchworth Museum Heritage Open Day tour, Thursday 11th September 2014, 10am. To book telephone: 01462 685647.
Hitchin Museum Heritage Open Day tour, Friday 12th September 2014, 10am. To book telephone: 01462 434476 or email:hitchin.museum@north-herts.gov.uk
We had a good turn out for our latest summer Behind the Scenes Tour.
Last week visitors were guided around Hitchin Museum to see the latest progress on the big museum move. Our Visitor Service Assistants, trained in conservation cleaning, were busy cleaning the last few objects for display. These included a typewriter and Victorian children’s cloths. The tour was shown how these are carefully photographed and packed to protect them for the move.
Look out for our next Tour on Friday 12th September for Heritage Open Day.
An album dating from around a hundred years ago, containing 50 watercolour pictures by local artists Alice and Matilda Lucas, has been purchased by North Hertfordshire Museum Service.
This has been made possible by the Hertfordshire Heritage Fund, who generously funded much of the purchase cost.
The album of beautifully executed paintings, from the Lucas’ travels, from Lake Superior to Newquay; from Barnsley to Gaping Hill. Alice and Matilda were members of the well known Lucas family of Hitchin, many of whom were accomplished artists, the best known being Samuel Lucas Sr and Alice Lucas. David Hodges, Curator at Hitchin Museum said, “we are very excited that this wonderful Collection can stay in Hitchin, and look forward to being able to show it at the new North Herts. Museum. We are very grateful to the Hertfordshire Heritage Fund for making this possible”.
