WHAT an extraordinary year we have had, writes Sally Hendry, chair of the Westbury Heritage Society who run the museum.
This time last year we had been open just two months in our new home in Westbury library. Since then we have very busy with developing a range of ways to bring our town’s heritage to as many people as possible.
Exhibitions and Visitors
Since we opened, we have welcomed almost 2,000 visitors and have staged a variety of exhibitions from bygone toys and games to local industries, shops and pubs, the history of Westbury House and of course…the return of the famous Westbury pliosaur! That August event, complete with lots of information, activities, quizzes and colourings for children, proved a huge success and we are very grateful for the support and assistance of Bristol Museum for the loan of the cast of the pliosaur jaw, artwork and invaluable professional advice.
This year we also welcomed 12 classes from Westbury Junior School. The pupils learned about Westbury history and got a chance to handle artefacts. They enjoyed the visit and many of them later returned with their parents. In conjunction with library staff we are planning to host more school visits next year. We are always keen to find out opinions about the museum and have had many lovely comments from visitors who especially appreciate the volunteers. Here’s just a few of the remarks in our visitors’ book: “Interesting. Well worth a visit. Will come again”; “Wonderful displays, engaging volunteers and a fascinating past”; “A great display of interesting items, all explained further by wonderful volunteers”; “Beautifully presented and very friendly for younger children”
Some visitors have expressed their wish for a lift in the library building so older people and those with reduced mobility could also visit the museum. We do appreciate that our site on the first floor is not ideal for everyone, but we have endeavoured to be as flexible as possible by bringing artefacts and display boards downstairs, by arranging visits to local care homes and developing our online presence.
Talks and Walks
We have staged a number of interesting and well attended talks, ranging from professor Judyth Sassoon who told us everything we ever wanted to know about pliosaurs to TV archaeologist Julian Richards who entranced the audience with anecdotes about his career in ruins. Some of our team, Lily, Liz and Sally, also provided talks to other organisations like U3A and neighbouring history societies. Our historic walks have proved popular too with people taking to Westbury streets to discover the town’s lost inns and to trace the town’s history.
Working with Westbury Festival organisers we staged a popular antiques roadshow, history walk and talk, and also worked together with Dilton Marsh History Society and the Wiltshire Family History Society on an exhibition about Charles Case and Sons.
Fundraising
It has been a successful year in fundraising as we have expanded our range of items for sale to include key fobs made with Laverton cloth, tote bags, stationery sets, local history books, Ravilious notelets and a range of original postcards copied from our collection. For the pliosaur exhibition we also produced children’s activity packs. Online sales from our website are proving very popular and funds are also raised from talks and walks. We are extremely grateful that Westbury Town Council is continuing to pay our rent and we have also received grants from the Westbury Area Board.
Our collections
Taking care of Westbury artefacts is very important and is a job we take very seriously. This year we have received a grant to purchase specialist storage and racking systems so we can improve our facilities. We will be updating the cataloguing of our collections next year and plan to digitise our photographic library so it can be online. We are always pleased to receive donations of Westbury artefacts and photographs and we have been fortunate this year to receive some great items reflecting Westbury’s bygone shops and a 1930s painting of the ironworks. We are always on the lookout for items relevant to Westbury history and recently purchased a large brass platter inscribed with the names of the Phipps family, and a portrait of James Wilson, MP for Westbury and founder of the Economist.
Working with partners
We have developed links with neighbouring museums such as Trowbridge and Bristol where staff have been very helpful with advice and support. As mentioned above, we work with Westbury Festival, Westbury Town Council, Wiltshire Council, schools, care homes and neighbouring history societies. We are members of the Museums in Wiltshire group and regularly meet with Wiltshire Council Museum Development Officer Heather Perry who has provided us with advice and support. We are now working towards museum accreditation status.
Volunteers
Our team of volunteers have been brilliant – what would we do without them? They have not only manned the museum but also helped with research, putting up displays, entertained school- children…and much more! We have introduced volunteer training and support with a dedicated volunteer coordinator and would really love to hear from anyone who would like to join the team.
Publicity
Over the last year we have redesigned our logo to better reflect our aims and aspirations – replacing Westbury Heritage Centre with Westbury Museum to clarify what we offer to the public. We have also established a style guide for posters and publications along with font and colour palette. We have increased our Facebook audience and website traffic and developed good links with local media with regular features and news articles in the local press along with radio interviews.
Future plans
So where do we go from here? We are currently updating our forward plan showing how we want to develop and expand in the future. We will be working towards Museum Accreditation status and are now members of the Association of Independent Museums. As mentioned above, we have been reassessing and archiving our collection of artefacts and plan to streamline our storage facilities and we have a great programme of talks, walks and exhibitions for next year. We also want to increase our volunteer numbers and visitor numbers and make more people aware of the interesting heritage of their town.
Finally – a big thank you to everyone who has supported the museum this year – we really appreciate it!
For more information about the Museum, visit https://westburyheritagesociety.org.uk
