Friends stay in touch with heritage plans

●●FRAG (Friends of Rochdale Art Gallery) visited the Arts and Heritage Resource Centre

THE Friends visited the Arts and Heritage Resource Centre for a genial and fruitful update and planning meeting with Your Trust staff and a guided tour of the art galleries and museum collections.

Since the closure of Touchstones in August 2023 for extensive refurbishment and renovation, there has not been a gallery for FRAG to be friends of!

This came on top of much change and disruption in recent ‘interesting times’ with the pandemic and the change of the traditional monthly meeting day.

However, the Friends are keen to stay alive and thriving until 2025 when the new phoenix will rise.

Mark Doyle (director of Arts, Heritage, and Wellness) outlined plans for exciting new developments whilst restoring its heritage, which should revitalise arts provision in the borough and beyond.

Sarah Hodgkinson (senior curator, Exhibitions and Collections) talked through the programme of FRAG talks and events she had devised for them for 2024.

These will take place on the second Thursday of each month following the FRAG AGM on February 8 at Rochdale Music Service, 7-11 The Butts, Rochdale OL16 1XT at 1pm.

Sarah rounded this off with a fascinating tour of the collections stored in the Tardis-like Arts and Heritage Resource Centre. The magical mystery tour behind the scenes revealed a complex world replete with racks of paintings in various states of conservation, carefully notated and preserved objects ancient and modern, even a 3D printer copying an ammonite fossil near to Ancient Egyptian artefacts. »●Annual Subscriptions £10; entry is £4 (£3 members)

»●Rochdale Music Service 7-11 The Butts, Rochdale OL16 1XT »●More information from 01706 648872 Dr Joe Dawson, Interim Chair