Showing Deborah Milligan from HLF our lovely new showcases
Our new Heritage Lottery Fund officer, Deborah Milligan, came over to Hitchin yesterday to see the new museum. She was amazed by the size of the whole site, and really impressed by the Mather & Co. designs for the museum. She also praised the way that the architects Buttress have blended the old and the new buildings together. It is thanks to the generous HLF grant that the museum has been able to afford top-of-the-range showcases, and we’re really grateful. Alan and Ian from Armour Systems have almost finished installing the showcases in the main first floor gallery, and once the external cladding is fitted, we’ll be able to start moving objects over from the old museums. Many of the pieces on display require purpose-made mounts, so these will be produced next; the mount-maker Roy Mandeville is coming over for the first time this Thursday. Meanwhile all our hundreds of carefully-written labels – each one no more than 30 well-chosen words – have been sent to local societies for fact-checking, then sent to the the graphic designer, back to us for proof-reading or occasional re-writing, back to James the designer, back to us for re-proofing, and at last are ready for production.
The old and the new; the outside wall of the old Workman’s Hall is now inside the new building
Heritage event at Hitchin Library
Letchworth Festival – a rainy but busy day!
Part of our Hitchin Festival stall in Church House
This summer we have taken the pop-up museum panels on the road to various events in Letchworth and Hitchin. Our reception has been overwhelmingly positive; the main question is always ‘When can we come and see the new museum?’. We spoke to around 200 people, and although some are still sad about losing the old museums, everyone said that they understood the reasons for change, and told us that in fact they are now looking forward to having a bright and modern new museum to visit. Parents were keen to hear about the new Learning Centre, which will be ideal for holiday and after-school activities, and family historians were interested to hear about the Local Studies Centre. Everyone was happy that there will be easy access, with a lift to all floors, lots of loos (it’s amazing to remember that Hitchin Museum didn’t even have one public WC) and a café. The fact that we are telling the stories of the District through objects which have been hidden in store for years adds to the sense of anticipation. The newest pop-up panel, showing images from some of next year’s exhibitions, caused the most interest, particularly next Spring’s Arts Council Matisse exhibition; next summer’s sci-fi extravaganza, ‘Invasion’, and next winter’s show of Nick Sharratt children’s illustrations. Nick is best known for illustrating the Jacqueline Wilson books, as well as many of his own. We hope to open the new museum at the same time as the beautifully restored Hitchin Town Hall; watch this space for updates.
Thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund and to SHARE Museums East for funding all the pop-up panels, and the matching free flyers.
Hooks Green Farm, Clothall by Alfred J Bamford (c) North Hertfordshire Museum
One of our many tasks while preparing for the new North Hertfordshire Museum is to understand the collections we hold and where they came from. This often helps to tell us more about the objects, and it is why, when people donate items, we collect as much information about the person giving the item as we do about the object itself.
The Bamford family were one of the families involved in setting up Letchworth Museum and providing items for the collection. We were in correspondence with current members of the family about some of these items shortly after Letchworth Museum closed, and this has led to helping them with an interesting Art Exhibition, The Artful Gene, currently at the Letchworth Arts Centre until the end of August.
This is an exhibition of paintings and drawings by A.J. Bamford (1849 to 1929) and his great grandson M.J. Bamford (b. 1959) who lives in Australia. 100 years after the first exhibition of Alfred’s work this new exhibition explores the Bamford family tree and features sketches, drawings and more by both artists comparing the similarities in style and subject between the two artists, and exploring whether artistic talent and style exist in the genes.
Reverend Alfred J Bamford was born in Folkestone in 1849 and although he was interested in the study of animals and a talented artist and illustrator, he trained in Christian ministry. His first church was in Kent after which he served abroad for six years in India and China. He returned to England and became minister of a church in Lancashire for twenty years, but retired early, and moved to the new Garden City of Letchworth in 1907.
The Hidden Stream on Norton Common by Alfred J Bamford (c) North Hertfordshire Museum
One of Letchworth’s earliest residents, he took an active role in many of the town’s organisations. He was a member of the Literary and Debating Society and became Chairman of the Naturalist Society in 1916 during the period when the Society ran Letchworth Museum. He was a member of the Brotherhood Church, he lived on Hillshott and was known locally for his art work. Some of his paintings were shown in an exhibition of local Arts and Crafts mounted for the newly extended museum in 1920. He died in September 1929. Seven of his paintings were donated to Letchworth Museum, and can be seen on the BBC Your Paintings website and copies of them form part of the current exhibition.
Do visit the exhibition, particularly as there are sketches on show of local scenes that the family have not been able to identify and they are hoping to make use of local knowledge to fill in the gaps. Look out too for the workshops run in connection with the exhibition over the coming weeks.