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 … Continue reading Athelstan 1100

It only feels like 5 minutes ago that I was getting excited about Christmas events at museums, and now here I am trailing Spring re-openings. Many of the museums I work with operate on seasonal hours - the winter being a great time to catch up on essential behind the scenes work. Spring and Easter … Continue reading Spring awakenings

Somehow Christmas is less than 3 weeks away! How did that happen? It's a time of year when museums pull out all the stops to put on special events to brighten the season and welcome visitors. I thought I'd do a quick roundup of what is on offer at some of the museums I've been … Continue reading Festive fun

Well. Sort of..... It's been a fantastic week for The Wiltshire Museum in Devizes, gaining enormous worldwide publicity for the photo in their collections that has recently been identified as the original of the iconic image used on the Led Zeppelin IV album from 1971. The previously unknown figure is likely to be Lot Long, … Continue reading Led Zeppelin in Wiltshire

It was a huge privilege and pleasure to attend Joyous at Arundells in Salisbury last week. We spent a glorious summer evening in the gardens celebrating 12 months of activity, learning, change and experimentation, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It's always lovely to be able to set a project off and running and … Continue reading Arundells – Joyous

Last week I was excited to be part of the team launching a new web exhibition put together by a group of museums in Wiltshire. Thanks to a generous grant from Arts Council England we've been working together to explore new ways of turning museum data into discoverable online content. You can take a look … Continue reading Stories from the Stores

Fancy working in the lovely Salisbury Cathedral Close? My friends at Arundells are recruiting for an Events and Marketing Manager. Closing date is 1st May 2023 - full details on the Arundells website. A great chance to join a small, dedicated team working to look after, share and promote Arundells and it's amazing house, garden … Continue reading Arundells – Job opportunity

Great news for the volunteers at Chard Museum. Thanks to a generous grant from the Architectural Heritage Fund they will shortly be embarking on a c£20,000 project to look at options and gather evidence for ways that their museum buildings and grounds might be re-imagined. Chard Museum grounds This builds on work started a few … Continue reading Chard Museum – Architectural Heritage Fund success

Thought I'd share this festive picture of the rather woolly Banksy we have operating where I live. No idea who is responsible, but at key moments throughout the year postboxes sport these rather fetching woolly hats for a few weeks. Brightens up the day for sure. I'm looking forward to a bit of rest, relaxation … Continue reading Happy Holidays

A huge well done to the team at Arundells in Salisbury, who have been successful in securing a grant of just under £100,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The money will be used to carry out 12 months of extensive activity to help ensure Arundells is 'Fit for the Future'. They will be developing … Continue reading Arundells – Heritage Fund success