Behind closed doors…

While the museum is officially ‘closed’ during late December and January, there’s lots going on behind the scenes.

For a start, it’s an opportunity to have a really good deep clean.  We don’t actually use big scrubbing brushes and bottles of bleach, as pictured here.  We use rather more finesse than that, especially when we’re anywhere near items in the collection.  But the museum does get a proper ‘going over’!

At the same time, volunteers are photographing collection items, bringing the documentation up to date, preparing for new exhibitions, drafting publicity, writing reports, planning walks and talks… and having the occasional cuppa…

It’s a sociable place, the museum… and people look out for one another.  Added to that, there’s a real interest in researching and discovering more about the history of our local communities.

If you have information or pictures you think might interest the museum, email us at any time, or pop in once we-re-open and have a chat with us.  We love to find out what you know!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

As we come to the end of another very busy museum year, we’d like to send very warm wishes to all our friends, visitors (from near and far), online visitors, correspondents and, of course, the very many people who volunteer in the museum and keep all those plates spinning merrily!

We wish you a joyful festive period and we hope to see you when we re-open on 4th February.

(We’ll have been beavering away behind the scenes in the meantime…)

Happy holidays, everyone!

Castle book out now!

The Museum’s latest book – Thornbury Castle Revisited – by Tony Cherry (in association with Meg Wise) – has just been launched in the Tudor Hall at Thornbury Castle.  We volunteers here at the Museum have been snapping up copies fast.

The museum first produced a book about the castle in 2013. It very quickly sold out.  Now, a revised book has been produced.

New stories have come to light, more beheadings have been discovered and unpublished pictures have been revealed, all of which appear in the new book.

Thornbury Castle was built by Edward Stafford, third Duke of Buckingham.

Stafford led an extraordinary life.

At the age of six, he was a fugitive hunted by King Richard III (who had killed his father). At the age of 12 he was married and, at the age of 20, he was living at the manor house in Thornbury. At the age of 32, he was building his new castle and, at the age of 43, he was dead.

So many good stories in this book…

The book is now on sale in the museum for £20 – buy your copies now!  (They make great birthday and Christmas presents…) 

Artists take up residence in the museum

Great excitement here today, as three artists install their artwork in the museum, ready for the opening of the Art Trail tomorrow at 10am.

Rosemary Millar is setting out her stunning pieces of jewellery (sterling silver and semi-precious stones) in our display cabinets.  The display is an artwork in itself – you’ll want to see how beautifully the pieces are arranged!

Colin Wise is hanging his pictures – all kinds of subjects in different media – watercolours, acrylics and oils.

And Annalisa Thompson, displaying at the museum for the first time, is arranging her beautiful threadwork pictures – really intricate and skilful works of art.

Our wonderful volunteers are pulling out all the stops and are opening the museum every day of the Art Trail, from 10am to 4pm (Sundays included).  We hope to see lots of you coming in to browse the artworks, chatting to the friendly artists – and having a roam through the rest of our small museum.  It’s all free (and there are even things for the children to do while you’re here).

The artists will be here from Friday 3 May to Sunday 12 May, 10am to 4pm each day.

Roll up, roll up!

Beautiful prints for sale

Unique Views of Early Victorian Thornbury

Recently a number of watercolour paintings came up for sale online.  They had been taken from an album created by an unknown artist in 1845. Most were West Country locations and the artist is likely to have been based in the Bristol area.  He or she painted a number of views in and around Thornbury, probably while staying in the town.

Some of these paintings were purchased by local residents and they have been made available to the museum for research purposes.

One is a sensitive and colourful portrayal of the historic Thornbury Castle, before its major restoration by the Howard family.

Another depicts the charming Old Market Hall and its adjoining toll house in the High Street.

High quality Giclée prints, using archival paper and ink, of both these pictures have been produced, by kind permission of their owners. They are only available from the museum shop and would make wonderful presents – or would look lovely in your own home. All proceeds will go to support the museum.

Don’t miss this chance to buy a print (or two) with real local significance.

Hunt the Eggs! – a school holiday activity

If you have children or grandchildren to entertain over the Easter school holiday, bring them into the museum.

It’s FREE, they can hunt the eggs and win a prize.  See here for details.

Ferocious Antelopes & Silvery Swans

We’re promoting tomorrow night’s talk hosted by the Thornbury Local History & Archaeology Society – because our own Meg Wise is the speaker!

Her talk is intriguingly titled “Ferocious Antelopes and Silvery Swans: Heraldry & Symbolism at Thornbury Castle”.

She’ll be asking what part heraldry and symbolism played in the life (and death?) of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, builder of Thornbury Castle.

Meg is a trustee at the museum and an experienced volunteer here, as well as the author of a number of local history books and booklets.  Listening to Professor Ronald Hutton’s recent talk to the Thornbury Society about Henry VIII, she had one or two queries about some of the points he made about Thornbury Castle.   If you go to tomorrow night’s talk, you can decide for yourself!

The talk is at St Mary’s Church Hall, Eastbury Road, Thornbury at 7.30pm.  All are welcome.  Non-members pay £2.50 at the door (includes interval refreshments).

Your chance to find out more about Thornbury’s Tudor bigwig!

Another Inspiring Woman – from a few herbs to a worldwide business!

Jekka McVicar is the Museum’s second nomination (see our blog post below) for a local woman to feature in South Gloucestershire Council’s new exhibition: ‘Inspiring Women: The Legacy of the First World War’.

The exhibition highlights inspiring women in South Gloucestershire from the First World War to the present day.

As everyone knows, Jekka has a passion for herbs!   With her husband and two small children, Jekka moved to Rose Cottage, Shellards Lane, Alveston in 1987 and there she gradually created an organic herb farm.

From small beginnings, Jekka now grows over 650 herb varieties, and has a worldwide business. (Who knew there were 650 varieties of herbs in the world?   Well, Jekka, obviously!)

She learns how the herbs can be used medicinally or in cooking and she knows how to display them at shows to good decorative effect. As a result, she has won 62 Gold Medals of the Royal Horticultural Society, 14 of them from Chelsea!

Her ‘Complete Herb Book’ has sold over a million copies and she appears frequently on TV.

She is now a Vice President of the RHS and one of the few women to hold their prestigious Victoria Medal of Honour.

Despite all this, Jekka still holds regular free open days for local people, in which she shares what she has learned about the herbs she grows – how to look after them, how to use some of them medicinally and, best of all, how to cook with them!

We think she’s definitely inspiring and if you want to find Jekka and lots of other local women of the last 100 years featured in the ‘Inspiring Women’ exhibition, go along to Thornbury Library between 11^th and 26^th November and read all about them.

An Inspirational Woman – and a Great Chef!

Here at the Museum, we’re delighted to have nominated Romy Gill for an exhibition called ‘Inspiring Women: the Legacy of the First World War in South Gloucestershire’.

The exhibition, organised by South Gloucestershire Council, highlights inspiring women in South Gloucestershire from the First World War to the present day.

Romy (of Romy’s Kitchen in Castle Street, Thornbury) is one of the few female Indian head chef/restaurant owners in the UK.   Growing up in West Bengal, she experienced lots of different kinds of cooking, which drew on Punjabi, West Bengali, Gujarati and south Indian traditions.  When she moved to the UK in 1994, she left behind friends, family and all the food she loved to eat.  But she made new friends and embraced new tastes and new ingredients, blending them with ones she knew from home.

In 2013, she opened her Thornbury restaurant.

As well as cooking and running her restaurant, Romy now also writes for national newspapers and food magazines and appears on radio and TV. She has written articles for The Guardian, The Observer, The Telegraph and The Independent. She has been a judge for BBC Radio 4’s Food and Farming Awards and she’s been on Saturday Live, BBC Woman’s Hour, BBC Asian Network and 5Live, as well as appearing on Masterchef and with the Hairy Bikers.

She was appointed an MBE in the Queen’s 90th birthday honours list in 2016.

She absolutely loves trying new things and is currently working on her first cookery book.  We think she’s truly inspirational!

You can see an article about Romy in this week’s Thornbury Gazette.

Fancy an evening stroll?

If you’re new to the area and want to find out something of the history of the town of Thornbury – or even if you’re not new and want to find out! – join us for an evening stroll in July.

More details here.