Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings Worcestershire

Archive News

KPMG volunteers rejuvenate museum’s sensory garden

Since 2004 the sensory garden has been developing, and now the progress has been given a huge boost by volunteers from the consultancy firm KPMG.

The Museum’s sensory garden has been in development since 2004. The museum initially worked in partnership with Chadsgrove School in Bromsgrove, a school for students with physical disabilities and sensory impairments, to improve access on site. The school identified a number of important ways in which the museum experience could be enriched. These included the introduction of sensory interpretation and hands-on activities and the availability of more flexible information through tactile interpretation. The sensory garden project would encourage all to investigate their senses and enjoy the open space.

KPMG spent two days on site clearing weeds, improving the soil, erecting trellises and the new pergola posts, as well as starting the planting. The Museum has been helped with plants and other materials by Littleheath Aquatics and Garden Centre, Burcot Lane Nursery, Sugarbrook Nurseries and Webbs Garden Centre. Rachel Shepherd, Head of Customer Services commented, “The improvement has been amazing and the garden is really starting to take shape. We are very grateful to the KPMG volunteers for all their hard work.” The work of KMPG will be continued by a group of volunteers from Community 2000.

Avoncroft Museum relies heavily on volunteer support and if anyone is interested in helping out at the museum please call 01527 831363 for further information.

Heritage Lottery Fund waves its wand over Avoncroft with £365,000 grant

Avoncroft has been successful with its application to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and has been awarded a £365,000 grant for a three-year programme of physical and educational improvements under the scheme Avoncroft: Re-discovering the 'Magic'.

Anne Jenkins, Regional Manager for HLF West Midlands, said: “Avoncroft is an outdoor museum treasure and one of the most important of its type in the country. We are delighted to be able to offer it support for these improvements and help ensure it can be fully enjoyed by the community into the future and beyond.”

The programme will focus closely on ways to bring the architecture, industries and social history of the West Midlands to life through improved access to the buildings, signage and site infrastructure, new interactive displays and interpretation of collections online. An enhanced public events programme will be created via the appointment of an Events and Family Learning Officer (EFLO) who will also work to build awareness of the volunteer programme at Avoncroft and create opportunities for a further 40-50 new volunteers over the next three years. Further highlights include the development of historic gardens exhibits designed to showcase popular 16^th, 19^th and 20^th century gardening techniques outside the Merchant’s House, Toll House and Prefab buildings.

Simon Carter, Museum Director at Avoncroft, explained: “Following extensive visitor feedback we’re keen to become a centre of excellence for family learning here at Avoncroft for both the local community and wider audiences. We are very grateful to The Heritage Lottery Fund for giving us the chance to explore that possibility.”

Julie Kirkbride, MP for Bromsgrove, commented: “This announcement is fantastic news. We are really grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for backing Avoncroft. It houses many extremely important building styles to the heritage of the area. This money will help to improve the museum as a vital resource for local young people and the community, and continue its legacy as a major tourist attraction.”

Trustees, staff and volunteers celebrate the award of the Heritage Lottery Fund grant

Prime Minister visits Avoncroft

Avoncroft was selected to host an evening reception on 24^th May as part of the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair's farewell tour. The event, organised by the Community union, and jointly hosted with Jacqui Smith, MP for Redditch and Mike Foster, MP for Worcester, was an opportunity for Mr Blair to thank and bid farewell to Labour Party supporters and workers.

Mr Blair had the opportunity to look around some of the Museum, including the New Guesten Hall and the 1850s Counting House from Bromsgrove Cattle Market where he signed the Museum’s visitor book and was given two of the Avoncroft Bricks produced by Roy Hawkesworth, and a set of prints of views of Avoncroft by Sir Hugh Casson.

Speaking after his visit to Bromsgrove on Thursday evening, Tony Blair said: "I was very impressed with Avoncroft Museum and the work that is done there to preserve important historical buildings. It's a charming place, well worth a visit and I congratulate Simon Carter and his team on what's been achieved."

Simon Carter, Director of Avoncroft said “We were very pleased to host such a prestigious event and to welcome the Prime Minister to Avoncroft during our 40^th Birthday year”.

Mr Blair meets Museum staff outside the String of Horses building

Local MPs Jacqui Smith and Mike Foster join Simon Carter in looking at Mr Blair's signature in the Museum's Visitor Book

National Telephone Kiosk Collection at Avoncroft goes online

Thanks to a small team of Avoncroft Museum’s volunteers, a selection of catalogue records of the National Telephone Collection can now be found online. The BT cataloguing team, Joyce Rutter, Bob Carpenter, Gill Robinson and Trevor Bott have been working for months to catalogue the collection of telephone kiosks and associated items which form part of the Connected Earth collection founded by BT and opened at Avoncroft in 1994.

Often working in the cold, and with little in the way of an existing catalogue of the objects, the team have carefully recorded and photographed the kiosks and other items. The cataloguing team are not telecommunications experts, and so were able to write the descriptions from a lay point of view, but it will be possible to use these records to add on more detailed and technical information from the Museum’s expert telecommunication volunteers who run the kiosks and exchanges in the future.

The kiosk collection is part of a huge collection of historic objects, which is dispersed in museums across the country, and will be on display for the first time through a new online catalogue available at www.connected-earth.com/artefacts. The catalogue has been launched to bring together almost 3,500 telecommunications items from throughout British history.

Chain-stitch letter from Avoncroft Young Embroiderers!

Are you, or is someone you know, a keen embroiderer? Would like to find out more about stitching? If so, please read on! Avoncroft Young Embroiderers was established in 1990 and meets on the third Saturday of each month from March to October (excluding August), 10am to 12.30pm at the Museum. Membership is open for those between 5 to 18 years of age. Apart from learning all sorts of different ways of embroidering, the Young Embroiderers have a lot of fun working on exciting textile projects. The group is affiliated to the National Embroiderers’ Guild and members receive a quarterly magazine called Textile Ideas, which is full of useful information and suggestions for needlework projects.
To find our more please contact either:
Mrs L Burn – 01527 873449
Mrs D Graham - 01527 570644