Talks for 2023

 I'm pleased to say we have almost booked our speakers for this years talks' programme, with thanks to all those who have agreed to share their knowledge and expertise with us via Zoom.

We have had our January talk on Pictish Stones given by our deputy chair, Dr Barbara Swann. A video of this talk will appear on our website soon. You will find quite a few videos of our talks on the website, although not everyone agrees to be videoed for a variety of reasons.

These are the rest of the talks planned for this year, more details about each talk will appear on our website:

22 Feb The Making of the Museum of Making with Eilish Clohessy-Dennis, below is a photo of the Silk Mill in Derby where the Museum of Making is housed.

29 March British Heritage in Antarctica with Camilla Johns

26 April Architecture of Lydiard House with Michael Gray

24 May Chippenham Museum Collection of Prints with Mark Golder

28 June The Ken Stradling Collection with Cleo Saunders

26 July Ideally a talk about Sonia Boyce's work tbc

23 August 40 years as an artist with Anne Desmet

27 September St Barbe Museum women artist's ex with Dr Gill Clarke

25 October Operation Nightingale with Richard Osgood

29 November The Modern Story of an Ancient Monument; Stonehenge with Dr Susan Greanery

6 December Christmas meal

We are planning to run some trips, details coming soon via email. 

History of the Museum Friends

 With the Pearl Anniversary of the formation of the Friends next year, I thought I'd type out a piece of paper titled The History of the Museum Friends given to me about 10 years ago by Paul Ricketts who many of you will remember as a Chair of the Friends for many years. It details 10 years of Friends' activities from their inauguration:

1993 Launch of the Friends on July 6th with a talk by the Friends' patron, Desmond Morri, attended by the Mayor, Doreen Dart, and 160 guests. First issue of the Friends' Journal in the Autumn. The talks included the history of the cinema in Swindon by Keith Saunders, a visit to Longleat and Jurassic Discoveries in Wiltshire by Dr Neville Hollingworth.  

1994 The Friends now numbered 128. A survey of the members showed 95% were interested in talks on art, 75% liked the idea of trips to art galleries and places of historical interest, 54% were committed to the idea of fundraising events and 95% found the Journal interesting. The 1994 talks featured Dr Julian Sallabrass on the Henry Moore Foundation, Justine Hopkins on the artist Michael Ayrton. George Melly on Richard Hamilton and the '60s art scene, the broadcaster Johnny Morris on Pigs and Picasso, Michael Leber on LS Lowry and John Hoyland discussing his own art.

1995 The Friends were involved in choosing the pictures out of the whole art collection to be displayed in an exhibition entitled 'The People Choose'. The Friends were able to get involved in the practical museum work to handle, annotate and catalogue items for the records.

1996 Friends' trips included going to see Blake and Reubens exhibitions at the National Gallery as well as tours of the Georgian architecture of Bath and of the ancient heart of Oxford. The Friends became a registered charity (Charity number 1050267) There was a presentation by Basil Beattie to coincide with the acquisition of his painting 'Witness VI'

1997 Friends' trips to Christchurch Picture Gallery, Oxford. Friends were invited to take part in interviewing and compiling information for the Railway Village Oral History project. Talks included Neville Hollingworth on geological finds in the Wootton Bassett mud springs, John Cooper on 20th Century painting and portraiture. The Friends became involved in their first purchase for the museum, an earthenware quart jug, c 1860, from the Eagle Tavern, new Swindon, purchased at auction for £131.

1998 Talks were by Alan Holden on 'Molly Holden, Swindon's forgotten poet'. Anthony Frost, son of Terry, talking about his paintings, 'Brunel's Legacy in Swindon', Bryn Walters on 'Roamn Archaeology' and Paul Gough talking about his work to coincide with his exhibition.

1999 A guided tour at the National Museum and Gallery in Cardiff. Talks were Bernard Thomasen 'Surveying for the Time Team', Bill Wimbledon on 'The Geology of Swindon Hill', Barley Roscoe on 'The Ceramics of Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie', Sarah-Jane Arbury on 'Performance Poetry' and a talk by the artist Maggi Hambling. In August there was a wine tasting held in the Art Gallery, The Friends made a grant towards the purchase of a hoard of Civil War coins from Wroughton and a second grant to pay 50% of the cost of new chairs for the Museum- to help pay for these, the Friends introduced the practice of running a draw at all their events.

2000 There were talks by Paul Robinson, Curator of Devizes Museum on Wiltshire folklore and Paul Danks from Swindon College on the student exhibition now on in the Gallery.

2001 There were talks by Dr Alison Taylor on 'Hilda Carling', by John Webb on 'Talking Brass' and by Fred Baier, one of Britain's top furniture designers who was commissioned to design the front desk at STEAM. The Friends contributed to the purchasing of the painting 'Head (1999)' by Tony Bevan.

2002 This year's Friends talks were Teresa Squires on 'Holy Rood and Christ Church, Swindon, the County Archaeologist for Wiltshire, Roy Canham on 'The Archaeology of Swindon Hill', the painter Tim Hyman on the work of Stanley Spencer, Dr John Taylor from the British Museum on 'Mummies and Mummification' and Paul Murdin on 'The Moon Pictures of Samuel Palmer and others'. The Friends contributed to the purchasing of 'Girl Selling Flowers by Desmond Morris and a Tudor silver dress fitting found at Wanborough.

2003 This year's talks included Linda Lambert on 'Ceramics from a publishing perspective', a conducted tour of Swindon Reference Library, Graham Ellard on photographic cycloramas, Sam Moorhead from the British Museum on 'Roman Coins in Wiltshire and Neil Dowson from the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust on 'Swindon's canals'

To bring us up to date, I'm going to include a photo from our most recent talk, September 2022, when Lucy Abel Smith held a favourite from her ceramics collection, a piece by Hans Coper

Talks and Trips 2020

Starting with the complete flyer and then a breakdown of all talks and trips, above the outer part of the flyer, and below the inside. Tickets for talks can be obtained at the museum during opening hours, and also normally from our website. The website is currently unavailable, normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. Booking for trips is by emailing Linda Kasmaty on lindakasmaty@hotmail.com , don't forget Friends get reduced price entry for talks and priority booking on trips. Why not join today if you're not already a member?

 and the front page which summarises the activities:

Our first talk of 2020 takes place on Thursday 27 February, Professor David Manley will be talking about the development of British abstraction during and after World War II

 In March our talk will be about the award winning Museum of Computing given by the highly entertaining Jeremy Holt.

Our first trip of the year is to the Corinium Museum in Cirencester on 21 April, some of you may remember Amanda Hart gave us a very interesting talk about the Museum in October last year, so we thought we'd take a trip out there. We're going independently, there is a good bus service to Cirencester, and meeting there at 2pm. We will have a talk in the lecture theatre and a look round the museum. Cost to be announced soon.

Our April talk is by astrophotographer Gavin James who takes photographs from the Blackett Observatory at Marlborough College. This link to their website gives you up to date information about the night sky.

Our second trip of the year to the wonderful Sandham Memorial Chapel. It's owned by the National Trust, so members please remember cards. We'll have a 40 minute talk, a look round the paintings and lunch at The Carpenter's Arms opposite

Our May talk is by the very popular Jon Ratcliffe, he will give us a very different view of Swindon. What might have been.......

Our third trip is to the fabulous Banwell Bone caves. I must admit to being sceptical about these, but have a look at the website, this looks like a fascinating trip.

Dr Gill Clarke is making a return trip to Swindon MAG to atlk to the Friends about an exhibition she is curating at Russell Cotes museum

Dr Gill Clarke's talk will be followed by a trip to Russell Cotes Museum in Bournemouth, more details nearer the time. I think we will have to book a coach for this trip as well.

 

Our final talk before the summer break in August will be a talk by Sarah Purvey ahead of her exhibition in the gallery the following week.
And last but by no means least, our final trip of the year will be to the Sculpture in the Landscape 1969-2020 exhibition in September organised by Friends of the Garden, this will be the seventh and final exhibition organised by this group. Find out more here 
There's a fascinating story on the website.

Top Ten Blog Posts of 2019

One of the delights of writing a blog is looking at the number of page views attained per post. It's hard to judge which posts will attract the most page views. It isn't necessarily a post which takes a long time to write, or one with the best photographs. I thought it might be interesting to review the posts from 2019 and give links to the top 10 posts, so here we go, please click on the titles to see the posts:

1. Talks and Trips for 2019 , 2 January with 430 page views



2. Latest Plans for Swindon MAG , 24 March with 212 page views



3. Private View of the New Exhibitions in the Gallery, 4 April, 207 page views



4. A Traveller in Space and Time: Michael Ayrton, Talk 3 November, 187 page views



5. Lunchtime Talk about the Group 7 exhibition ,26 August, 178 pages views



6.The Open Exhibition 2019, 7 December, 177 page views



7. Ken White's Private View, 17 October 177 page views



8. Ceramics Lunchtime Talk, 17 February, 173 page views



9. Gifted! A new exhibition in the main gallery, 17 January, 153 page views



10. Lunchtime Talk on Artist and Model Exhibition, 4 April, 148 page views



Well that's the top 10, interesting how often the lunchtime talks featured in there.
It's also great to look back on 2019 at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery.

Talks and Trips for 2019

Happy New Year to everyone. May 2019 be a year of fantastic art engagement for us all.
Flyers illustrating the talks and trips for 2019 are available at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, on their website, and they also appear on our website. Buying tickets for talks in advance is recommended to avoid disappointment; they can be bought from our website, and from reception during museum opening hours: 11.00am-4.30pm Tuesday - Saturday.
Our first event of 2019 is a Wine Tasting at Magnum wine shop

followed by a talk by Conservation Architect Michael Gray:

Followed by Ken White in conversation with Andy Binks, this will be a rerun of the talk at Christ Church on 8 June 2018. If you missed that fabulous event, don't miss out this time.

and then we have a trip to the Victoria Art Gallery, meeting at 3.30pm, we will be shown the stores by their Friends followed by a tour of the galleries and an optional meal out in Bath before returning home.

Later on we're having a talk by sculptor David Lomax, entitled Threads in a Web

and then in May, David Bent will be talking about the wide ranging influences that have inspired his work:

Our June talk by Emile de Bruijn on acquiring works for the National Trust

At the beginning of July, we have organised a trip to the Dulwich Picture Gallery to see Cutting Edge, an exhibition of work by the Grosvenor School:

There will be a talk in July, but it is yet to be announced.