NEWS RELEASES
A Two Faced Press Release
20th December 2004
The Romans named the month of January after their two faced god Janus. January is a time for looking back and also for looking forward, and what better way to celebrate the successes of the last year and look forward to the triumphs of the year to come than a 'two faced' press release!
2004 was a year in which visitors flocked back to Horsham Museum after the redevelopment of the town was finished. It was a year in which the Museum volunteers saw five years of work come to fruition when the first of the computerised catalogues were made available to the public. A year that saw 'models fly' in the successful model aeroplane exhibition, and dress from different cultures, including a pair of 'leopard's feet' slippers, exhibited in the Museum’s popular costume gallery in 'Around the World in Eighteen Costumes', an exhibition that received national press coverage.
Closer to home the Museum marked the completion of the town centre redevelopment with a temporary exhibition 'www.horsham.change'. A permanent reminder of this fascinating exhibition was a detailed calendar marking all notable developments in the town over 25 years, which was published in October's Horsham Heritage magazine and has been warmly welcomed by schools across the town and all those that set pub quizzes! Two more unusual exhibitions last year were 'Gossipy Objects' in which all the strange and unusual stories behind objects were revealed, from the crocodile shot for its skin in the 1930s (though nothing was ever made from it) through to the faces of Napoleon and his family created from flower petals, and the other more remarkable exhibition was 'Parkminster'. The Carthusian brothers lent some of their unusual objects to tell the story of the Victorian monastery that lies three miles from Cowfold. Visitors travelled over 60 miles to see items from a 13th century manuscript to watercolours by Brother Dom Lluis. Again the exhibition gained national press coverage.
Following the retirement of Sylvia Standing who created the Museum garden and continued to care for it for many years, a new team of volunteer gardeners began work in 2004 and continue to maintain our award winning status, and the expertise of the Reminiscence team was called upon across the county through their training programme. After 25 years of service to the Museum the Assistant Curator Roy Crutchley retired and was replaced by Gavin Stewart.
Apart from this and the exhibitions, cataloguing, research and promotion, the Museum also saw the addition of a number of unusual and interesting items to its collections, an 18th century long case clock, a poster for the Prosecuting Society, fine dresses and manuscripts, including the nationally important manuscript for Hilaire Belloc's only history book of Sussex. The purchase of the latter was only possible through the continuing support of the Horsham Museum Society.
Janus, as well as looking back, also looks forward and the Museum faces 2005 with an ambitious programme of temporary exhibitions kicking off the New Year with 'Drawn to Horsham', an exhibition of watercolours and drawings of Horsham, the first in over 16 years. A significant date in 2005 is the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Museum will be 'doing its bit' to celebrate, record and remember the Home Front, the war at home, not abroad. Another date to look forward to in 2005 is the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and the Museum will be marking the event, as we hold the personal papers of one of the battle's heroes, Captain John Pilfold, native of Horsham. Later in the year in October we shall be having an exhibition to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot. With the exhibition 'Best Foot Forward' we will be celebrating the end of the project to catalogue the Museum's collection of over 360 pairs of shoes (an Imelda Marcos eat your heart out experience!). catalogued and photographed by Museum volunteers, it will be ample evidence of the remarkable effort put in by volunteers on behalf of Horsham Museum, as will other exhibitions throughout the year.
The Museum faces 2005 with renewed vigour, as it moves outside its four walls to begin working with groups throughout the District to improve the Museum's services to retirement, care and nursing homes, to schools and organisations of any size that would like help in capturing the District's rich and diverse heritage.
To some, 'two faced' is a term of abuse, but for Horsham Museum the two faces are glowing with pride over the successes of the past year and pleasure in looking forward to the successes of the coming year.
Happy Christmas & Best Wishes for the New Year from
Jeremy Knight, Curator & Heritage Officer, and all the staff and volunteers at Horsham Museum
For further information please contact:
Jeremy Knight, Curator
Horsham Museum
9 Causeway
Horsham
West Sussex
RH12 1HE
Tel: (01403) 254959
Fax: (01403) 282594
Email: museum@horsham.gov.uk
Opening times:
Mon to Sat (ex. bank hols) 10.00am -5.00pm
Admission free