Lowewood Museum will be opening its doors once again on Saturday 17th July. The museum has been closed for over a year, but work has been going on behind the scenes since the new Lowewood Museum Trust CIO was formed, securing the future of this wonderful resource for the Borough and beyond.
The small team has recently been recruiting volunteers to help welcome visitors and work with the museum’s collections of over 40,000 items. There is still much to do and many returning visitors won’t see too many changes to the first floor displays but David Dent, the Chair of Trustees says:
“As a fledgling trust here at the museum, it’s been a steep but enjoyable learning curve for us all, and there is still much to do, but bear with us as we have lots planned over the coming years to appeal to our residents across the borough. We are all incredibly grateful for the support we’ve received over the past year, and now it’s coming to fruition. We are all looking forward to seeing you at the museum again.”
The museum will once again be offering teas and coffees in its ground floor area, along with space to sit out in the rear garden area of the museum. Another thing to quench visitor’s thirst is a brand-new exhibition on the ground floor of the museum, entitled ‘Tankards, Tales and Taverns’ where visitors can discover more about local pubs past and present. The museum has thousands of photographs in the collection and some of these feature pubs, alehouses and inns dating as far back as 1900. A selection of these will feature in the exhibition, along with paintings (some of which are for sale) of pubs created by members of the Broxbourne Arts Forum (BArts). Lee Rayner, Director of Programming for BArts commented,
“During lockdowns and restrictions, many local artists and groups have been able to continue their activities which has been part of their ‘survival’ strategy. Our ‘Paint A Pub’ mini project has been a particularly pleasant diversion, focusing on something outdoors, but tantalising if the pub has been closed! The pictures will be interesting to compare with old images held by Lowewood Museum.”
On display will be a small selection of pub and brewery related items from the museum stores and not normally on show at the museum, as well as few pieces kindly borrowed from McMullen’s.
For visitors who haven’t had the chance to see the nationally significant Tudor wall paintings at The Star pub on Hoddesdon’s High Street, there’s a chance to find out more about these discoveries that were found during renovation work in 2014 after being hidden away for hundreds of years. A great introduction to these amazing historic gems before you go and have a proper look in the pub itself, which is half a mile away! Wetherspoon have given a donation to help fund this part of the display which is much appreciated.
Children and adults alike can take part in our ‘design a pub sign’ or sit and colour in pub signs inspired by local pubs and designed by local artist and museum volunteer Suse Nielebock.
Opening Saturday 17th July
And open Fridays and Saturdays, 10am – 4.30pm thereafter
Free admission
01992 554496
Lowewood Museum 