NEWS RELEASES
Horsham Museum Receives National Recognition
30th November 2006
One hundred and thirteen years ago a small group of ladies and gentlemen got together to form a Museum Society. Their quarterly displays would be drawn from items stored under beds or in darkened corners, shown the light of day for a weekend and then hidden away for another three months or more. Little did they or subsequent members realise that a century later their progeny would become one of the first Museums in the country to be awarded Accredited status by the national regulating body, the Museums Libraries and Archives Council.
Accredited status may sound like bureaucratic mumbo jumbo, meaning nothing in reality but sounding nice. Well, for once, it does mean something. It says that Horsham Museum follows the best ethical guidelines, that the Museum staff and volunteers look after the collections to the best of their abilities and that the level of care is acknowledged to be comparable with the best in the country. It says that our range of public services, the outreach program, such as the popular school loans and Touching Memory services, the fifteen or so temporary exhibitions we mount, and the enquiry service, talks and displays are making available to the public a large number of objects held in store.
This in itself should be reward enough for the Museum, knowing that the practices employed by the staff and volunteers of Horsham Museum are nationally recognised. There is, however, icing on the cake. By obtaining this status the Museum can apply for grant aid. Following recognition under the previous registration scheme, the Museum was awarded three Heritage Lottery Fund grants to redevelop the museum some 8 years ago, to produce the heritage trail and to run a Reminiscence art project. Last year it won an award to set up an oral history project as well as receiving a purchase grant from the National Art Collection Fund to buy one of Horsham’s earliest watercolours. That was then. Obtaining the Accreditation status means that we can apply for further grants in future years, to continue to enhance the Museum’s collections and displays.
Horsham Museum is part of Horsham District Council and the award of Accredited status shows that your money is being spent on a service that is achieving a high standard within the resources available. It can justifiably use its new slogan “The present preserving the past for the future”. To find out more why not visit – we have great temporary exhibitions on embroidery and photography currently on display, with additional exhibitions planned to open in December, or visit our web site http://www.horshammuseum.org/
Horsham Museum is open Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm. Closed Sundays and Bank Holidays. Admission is FREE.
For further information please contact Jeremy Knight.
Horsham Museum, 9 Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex. RH12 1HE.
Tel: (01403) 254959
Fax: (01403) 282594
Email: museum@horsham.gov.uk
http://www.horshammuseum.org/