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 Charity art auction a success
In June we held a charity art auction in conjunction with St Rocco's Hospice, a local charity that provides specialist care for patients with cancer and other life threatening illnesses. A series of original paintings by Jan Newhouse went under the hammer and a totakl of £1,365 was raised for St Rocco's. Our thanks go to everyone who attended, and of course to Jan himself for making his paintings available for auction. Museum wins national award!  We’re delighted to announce that the museum has won a national award at this year’s Museums and Heritage Awards for Excellence! Our exhibition Mr Smithies and the Lost Tombs of Peru! won the award for best project on a limited budget.
The exhibition was on show 25 October 2008 – 21 March 2009, and it displayed the museum’s collection of Peruvian artefacts – one of the finest in the country – and William Smithies a local man who originally collected them. The show proved to be popular with visitors and the judges were impressed by the teamwork and thought that went into its production. The annual awards, which are the Oscars of the cultural industries, had a record number of entries this year, including entries from the National History Museum and the larger museums in Liverpool and Manchester. Janice Hayes, museum manager said: “This win is great news for us here at the museum and it really is a validation of all the hard work put in by the staff.” We are very proud to receive this National award and we would like to thank everyone who contributed to the show, especially Bolton Museum for lending us a couple of their Peruvian mummies. We would also particularly like to thank everyone who visited the exhibition or attended one of the workshops. The museum is open Monday – Friday from 10am – 4.30pm and on Saturday from 10am – 4pm.
(Pictured above, L-R: Derek Dick, Simon Calder, Michael Roberts and Craig Sherwood) Supermarket find goes on show at Warrington Museum!  A rare Roman woodworking plane recovered during the building of Morrison’s supermarket is now on show for the first time at Warrington Museum & Art Gallery.
The plane has been identified as a rare Roman find and will be a key item in the Roman gallery which is due to be refurbished as part of the scheme resulting from the recent successful WREN grant award to the museum. The plane was excavated in 1993 from the tennis court at the former Greenalls Brewery site at Wilderspool. After being on display in the boardroom for a number of years, the plane came into the museum’s collections in 2000. Unfortunately the plane was in too fragile a state to put on display in the museum, requiring a very specific environment to remain stable. Through the grant scheme run by the Collections Development Officer (Roman Heritage) at Manchester Museum funded as part of Renaissance, a national scheme to transform England’s museums, the museum was awarded funds to have it conserved and prepare a suitable display case. The plane will greatly compliment items in the museum’s renowned Roman collections including the actor’s mask from Stockton Heath. It will also enhance the Roman sessions delivered by education staff at the museum. 
Museum gets funding windfall!
WREN funding brings the WOW factor to Warrington Museum!
Warrington’s Museum has been a well-loved cultural asset for the town for over a century and a half and now thanks to a substantial grant from the WREN Communities Challenge Fund it will be getting vital improvements for the 21st Century. Several key galleries will be getting a much needed facelift but will not lose the traditional Victorian charm which appeals to visitors. On 2nd February 2009, Warrington Borough Council confirmed a major contribution of £ 247,500 from Waste Recycling Group Ltd (WRG), through their environmental body Waste Recycling Environmental Limited (WREN) who allocate grants through the Landfill Communities Fund. Cllr Roy Smith, executive board member for community services said: “I am very pleased with this funding award and look forward to seeing the exciting additions once they are finished. In the current economic climate and without this grant, these extensive works could not happen so quickly.” Mike Snell, general manager of external affairs for Waste Recycling Group, commented: “WRG are delighted to be able to assist Warrington Museum to respond to the needs of today’s community by creating exciting new opportunities for understanding local heritage and culture.”  Warrington Borough Council and Wren officials celebrate the announcement of the WREN funding in the Ethnology Room(L-R John Joyce, Deputy Chairman of WREN; Cllr. Roy Smith (Portfolio Holder);Neil Anderson, Head of Leisure; Culture & Heritage: Diane Terris, Chief Executive; Martin Gaw, Head of Libraries, Heritage & Learning; Cllr. Ian Marks, Council Leader; Gary Smith, Arpley Landfill Site; Richard Smith, WREN and Janice Hayes, Principal Museum Manager*
What will the WREN money fund?
It will help us create a Window on Warrington with new local history galleries to improve access to and enjoyment of local heritage. The Story of Warrington Galleries will build on over a decade of community history projects which have helped to tell Warrington’s unique story. The new galleries will be linked to the museum’s online archive to provide a rich resource for all ages and especially to act as a resource for all local young people.
We plan to create a Window on the World by refurbishing the unique Ethnography gallery which has fascinating and important items from all round the world. The improvements will widen access to the diversity of cultural heritage reflected in the Museum’s collections and explain Warrington’s relationship to the wider world. There will also be a new WREN gallery at the hub of the Museum to display contemporary art and provide an activity space for families and workshops. More frequently asked questions about the WREN grant and the refurbishment work are listed below. If you have any other questions about the refurbishment, please send them to museum@warrington.gov.uk How can you afford to do this now?
You’re not going to modernise everything are you?
Which galleries will this affect?
When will it happen and will you be closed?
How long will the work take? Q. How can you afford to do this now?
A. This work is only possible at this difficult financial time because of this grant from WREN. It won’t be coming out of the pockets of local people. Q. You’re not going to modernise everything are you?
A. We won’t be ripping out all the historic features of the galleries that people have told us they like! We will be replacing things like the ugly fluorescent lights that don’t work properly anyway! Q. Which galleries will this affect?
A. The Roman Room and Changing Warrington will become two new galleries telling the Story of Warrington and we’ll be using items given by the public in recent years and information from the local community. The Ethnology & Fish Galleries will have new lighting and flooring and some of the displays will be updated. At present the daylight is damaging many of the sensitive items on show here and stops us putting other fascinating items on show.
The current shop area will become into a gallery/ activity space called the WREN Gallery. We will be able to show and sell contemporary art/crafts/photographs of the town here and especially by local artists. We’ll also be able to use the space for workshops/activities for families. There will still be space to sit down and rest by the drinks machines. Q. When will it happen and will you be closed?
A. We hope to start the work next Spring (2010) and apart from the galleries where the work is taking place the rest of the museum will be open for people to enjoy. We will be putting important/favourite items from the galleries which will be closed into Gallery 4. School parties will still be able to visit and we’ll still have family activities.
Once we’ve worked out all the timetable for the work we’ll know if we might have to close for a day or so for Health & Safety reasons whilst we move objects around the galleries but we’re hoping to avoid this if we can. Q. How long will the work take?
A. We hope everything will be completed in a year from starting. "Pan Pipes in A Minor" for Children in Need
Friday 15th November saw staff at Warrington Museum & Art Gallery dress up in ponchos and treat visitors to a rare musical performance. Thanks to the patience and generosity of our visitors over £80 was raised for Children in Need. Click on the image below to see the staff perform their beautiful composition "Pan Pipes in A minor"
Secret mission reveals museum is on top
 Museum staff are celebrating after an undercover assessor from Visit Britain rated Warrington Museum a quality visitor attraction for the third consecutive year. The covert visit to the museum allowed the inspector to assess the experience from the customer’s viewpoint. And thanks to the hard work of staff, he awarded the museum with the VAQAS status, noticing a significant improvement since his last visit. The Colour exhibition showcasing the work of Warrington’s Secondary Art Network won special praise with both its dynamic content and standard of presentation being judged worthy of a major Liverpool gallery. With exciting new exhibitions already taking shape and further improvements planned for the galleries, the museum team will be working hard to ensure the museum remains a quality visitor attraction next time the inspector calls!
A medieval love story A medieval love story takes centre stage on Valentine's Day as the wonderful Winwick ring brooch goes on public view in Warrington for the first time for over six centuries. Thanks to a grant from the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and The Headley Trust the Museum has been able to bring this long-lost object back to its home town.  
This was a love token intended to lie close to a lady's heart. Its actual size is no larger than a finger ring, despite the intricate decoration. It's not hard to imagine how easily such an item could have been lost ( unless of course it was thrown away in a fit of jealousy!) How do experts describe it? This superbly crafted and evocative artefact is a medieval annular brooch of the 15th century and is described as a fede-ring because of the two clasped hands. These brooches trace their origin back to the Roman period when this motif was more common on finger rings. Fede-rings became very popular in the medieval period but surviving complete examples are rare. Ring brooches were a popular form of medieval jewellery which also had a functional use - to fasten the high neck of a lady’s gown. They were often exchanged as a token of love, with a private message worn close to the lady’s heart. The inscription on this brooch reads “pensez de moy” which means "think of me." The rear of the brooch is embellished with five petalled flowers, most probably forget-me-nots to symbolise a lovers gift.
The Winwick connections The brooch was found in an area which lies on an ancient trackway close to prehistoric sites; the raised platform-site of Winwick church and the Royal hunting forest of Burtonwood. The Winwick area is rich in sites of the pre-medieval period, from the holy well of Saint Oswald, to the possible battle site of Maserfeld, where King Oswald of Northumbria was slain. The area is steeped in history. Romans have marched through it. Other armies heading off to battle marched along Winwick Road. In the 1800s the road saw more than 60 coaches every day pass by. Like other rural places around Warrington, Winwick survived almost unchanged
from the seventeenth until the late nineteenth centuries. Winwick is now a major road junction, but has a remarkable and vividly colourful history.
How was the brooch was lost? Did its owner throw away in a fit of pique on discovering that her lover had been unfaithful or was it a secret love and the brooch hidden? Sadly we'll probably never know the true story of these star-crossed lovers. But why not come along to the Museum and let your imagination run riot!
 Has the Museum’s Cursed Head claimed another victim?
A wooden carving depicting a head is on display at the Museum but no one really knows the full story of how it came to be there or why it’s cursed... The story goes that a ship’s captain wanted to donate the head to the Museum as he thought it kept bringing him bad luck. It had had four previous owners and all had been dogged with road accidents, punctures and trouble with the police. But on the day he was bringing it in he fell and broke both his legs; a similar thing happened to the person whom he asked to bring it to the Museum on his behalf.
Mr Rimmer, the Director of the Museum at the time, experienced three punctures and narrowly escaped injury in a car smash, within two weeks of taking the head. No one would touch it after that - it was moved wrapped in towels to avoid actually touching it. Two other members of staff poured scorn on the story of the curse and decided to move the head - both were involved in a car crash! A few years later an expert visiting the Museum discovered a paper scroll hidden in a panel on the back of the head, but didn’t tell us what it said. She did say that the figure was a Buddhist monk and as she was also a Buddhist, she wouldn’t be harmed (and as far as we know that’s true.) Derek Dick, the Museum’s Audience Services Officer takes up the story "I started work here at the museum at the end of April and was told about the head and its supposed curse. About six week ago I was photographing objects within the collection for a promotional leaflet and thought this head would look good as one of the images. So the case was opened and I carried the head to be photographed. No other member of staff would touch it - they came close but wouldn’t touch it. About three weeks ago while travelling to work I stopped at some traffic lights behind a truck which for no apparent reason started moving backwards. I’d left a big gap behind him so thought “he’ll stop soon,” but he kept coming and smashed into the front of my car. The driver said the brakes had failed. So that’s the story so far, some true, some we’re not sure about - but will I touch the head again?" Do you think the head really is so sinister? Why not come and look him in the face and see for yourself?
Warrington For Ever! Warrington Places, Warrington People Alan Crosby & Janice Hayes Published in association with Warrington Museum Warrington For Ever! examines the changing face of Warrington and the factors which have shaped its growth, zooming in on fifteen distinct areas ranging from the historic town centre to picturesque outlying rural districts and workaday housing estates. Memories of historic halls are contrasted with the fondly remembered corner shop, and one of Shakespeare's characters shares the stage with the town's unsung heroes. Running parallel to the portraits of local places are the stories of local people, the 'Warringtonians' - famous, infamous and 'ordinary' - who have helped to shape Warrington's past. The book features many previously unpublished photographs and oral testimonies, and it blends together official records with family archives and community memories to create a vivid living history of the town. Warrington For Ever! reveals what makes Warrington unique as a town and celebrates the distinctive character of its many districts. The text combines archive research with memories and photographs gathered from community groups who have recorded their own histories. Much of the material for the book was collected during the Gateway Through Time Project, Warrington Museum's Heritage Lottery Fund local history initiative. Warrington For Ever! should serve as an inspiration for those who have still to explore the fascinating history of their own area or to document the life of another Warringtonian whose personal story is a missing piece of the jigsaw of Warrington's past. Warrington For Ever! is available at the Museum Shop and at all good book retailers.
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