Museum all set for the new season

HINCKLEY and District Museum has for the second season in a row extended its opening hours.

The museum will be extending its opening to include all Mondays from the beginning of June until the end of September. This will include all the Bank Holidays, Roman days and wash days which have become a popular feature of the museum’s programme.

Commenting on the extended arrangements, museum chairman, Ann Crabtree said: “The museum is entirely run by volunteers but this extended commitment is a sign that we are aware than an open door and a friendly welcome is a way to boost the number of people coming to the museum and the town centre.

“Visitors will not be disappointed this year as we have some major exhibits reflecting the diverse history of our area and its inhabitants from Roman times to the present day.”

Mrs Crabtree added: “The museum recently had its accreditation with Arts England renewed and on the back of that high standard, the museum is especially pleased this year to be working in collaboration with other national museums to deliver exhibits of excellence to the local public – bringing to Hinckley material from national collections for the benefit of local people”

ALL HAIL THE ALE In collaboration with the National Brewery Centre at Burton upon Trent, the museum will be presenting a major new exhibition for 2017 entitled ‘ Three Brewers’. The display celebrates 300 years of brewing excellence in the town by highlighting the local connections – birthplace and childhood homes – of three world renowned brewers – William Bass (1717-1787), William Butler (1843–1907) and William Worthington (1722–1800). Bass and Butler were born in the town and Worthington was born at Orton on the Hill, within the borough.

William Bass founded the brewery empire that is still known today for its famous trademark – the red triangle. He ran a carrier business from Hinckley until 1756 when he moved to Burton.

It was only in later life that he set up a brewery which became the international concern that it is.

Important artefacts from the Bass Museum at the National Brewery Centre have been loaned to the Hinckley-based museum to augment the small collection of artefacts held by the museum. These include material originally from Hinckley not seen in the town for over 260 years.

Curator of the exhibit Greg Drozdz said: “That Hinckley has connections with a world famous brand of beer, still being brewed and available in a number of local pubs, may be news to many.

“Negotiations began in earnest with the museum in Burton when we realised the importance of celebrating Hinckley’s connections with this famous firm.

“Visitors will be able to admire an array of Bass memorabilia along with memorabilia that reflects also the contribution of the town’s William Butler to Mitchells and Butler and the Worthington heritage. After all it was Leicester City who won the Worthington Cup in 2000.”

Mr Drozdz added: “We will have the business records, meticulously kept by William Bass himself of his business in Hinckley, with the names of local people for whom he was carting goods to London and Manchester – including Charles Jennens of Gopsall, Hall and the prices he charged them for the service. These records are fascinating.”

The display forms part of the wider celebrations of the Three Brewers being masterminded by Mr Drozdz for the museum alongside colleagues from Hinckley and Bosworth Camra. Plans are in an advanced stage for blue plaque unveilings, an ale trail and a special 10th Camra beer festival in September.

Mr Drozdz pointed out a coincidence: “Bass joined forces with Worthington in 1927 and in 1961 with Mitchells and Butler. How about that for a Three Brewers twist in the tale or should I say ale.”

WHAT DID THE ROMANS

EVER DO FOR US? The answer to the question can be found in an exhibition at the museum this year. The display brings together information and artefacts which have been found locally to show that Hinckley and district was indeed an outpost of the Roman empire sitting as it did close to the Watling Street with its forts at High Cross and Mancetter, all within the shadow of Roman Leicester – Ratae.

The display will include features on the work of the local archaeology group and centrepiece of the display will be he return to the town of the Roman bust found on the old Grammar School field many years ago.

This will be in collaboration with the Jewry Wall Museum in Leicester and the Trustees of Hinckley Grammar School foundation.

Curator of the exhibit Mr Philip Lindley said: “The return of the Roman bust will form the centrepiece of our exhibition. It was a massive find at the time and still retains its importance. The inference is that there could have been a significant Roman building in Hinckley of high status.”

He added: “There’s much more to Roman Hinckley than people imagine and given that this subject is on the school curriculum this exhibit will provide the opportunity for teachers and classes to augment what is taught in school with real life local examples”.

The display is also being planned to include a scale model of a Roman chariot prepared by pupils at Redmoor School in the town, along the same lines as the three-quarter scale model Hansom cab which has been in the museum for a couple of years.

The display will be augmented with special Roman days during the school summer holidays where children can come and have fun finding out about what Roman artefacts there are being discovered in this area and the chance to dress up as Romans.

GONE FOR A SOLDIER As a complement to the current appeal for a headstone for Sharrad Gilbert, Hinckley’s Boer War soldier, the museum is staging an exhibition around Sharrad and the other men from Hinckley who volunteered to fight overseas for Queen, country and empire.

A large brass plaque which records the name of all these men which belongs to the borough council will for the focus of the display along with a set of replica medals for Sharrad Gilbert.

The location of his actual medals remain a mystery following their 11th hour removal of them from an auction in 2014, just as the auctioneer’s hammer was about to fall.

Curator of the exhibit Greg Drozdz said: “It is difficult to comprehend the patriotism that gripped the town during 1900/1901 as local men gave up their jobs and their lives in the town and left their families, to be shipped out to South Africa to fight the Boers.

“The display will explore the themes of patriotism, service and commemoration.”

MISCELLANEOUS DIS

PLAYS The museum will be continuing with its Richard III exhibit and photography volunteer, Martin Yates, has been looking at stained glass windows in local churches.

There will also be a display about the local fire brigade using material never seen before in public from the times when the fire engine and pump was pulled by a team of horses, through the town.

The display features the great fire in Hinckley of 1728.

BOMBS GONE!- HINCKLEY

DAMBUSTER HERO The Museum will be featuring the life and service in the Royal Air Force of Flight Lieutenant Geoffrey Rice DFC, the unassuming Burbage and Hinckley schoolboy who later became one of the founding pilots of Guy Gibson’s 617 Squadron.

The squadron was formed to take on a specific operation – the bombing of the dams in the German industrial heartlands during the Second World War.

The Dambuster Raids of 1943 have gone down in history as