It’s a busy summer in Malmesbury as the town commemorates the 1100th anniversary of Athelstan becoming king in 924. Athelstan was the first King of England and was buried in Malmesbury Abbey.

There are a huge range of events and activities taking place – all the details are at https://athelstan1100.co.uk/

As you would expect given their name, Athelstan Museum, Malmesbury are playing a big part, hosting a major exhibition from July to September https://www.athelstanmuseum.org.uk/event/athelstan-1100-exhibition/

For a volunteer run museum, they have pulled out all the stops and arranged loans of significant items from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the British Library and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Having arranged these sort of loans myself I know the work involved in transport, security, environmental conditions and more. It takes a lot of effort but is a fantastic opportunity to see items normally held in national collections here in Wiltshire. Very well done to the museum team for persevering and pulling this off and credit to the lending organisations for having faith and confidence to lend their items.