The Museum of the Horse, in Tuxford, hosted a tea dance in celebration of VE Day. Jessica Mary Brett got everyone joining in singing and dancing. They hope to run more of these – look out for the next event on the Museum of the Horse Facebook page.
In September, Sally is looking to hold the Museum’s next auction and urges anyone with things to be included to contact her.
The Museum of the Horse has recently appeared on the second series of Channel 4’s programme ‘Millionaire Hoarders’ in a quest to fundraise for its future. Sally Mitchell, the Museum’s owner, curator and founder of Sally Mitchell Fine Arts, was approached by the TV production company about a year ago to get involved in the programme which features Antiques Roadshow expert, Ronnie Archer-Morgan. Filming took place last year.
The programme aired as part of Episode 2 on Friday 9th May and showed antiques expert, Ronnie rummaging through Sally’s vast equestrian collection to unearth something to sell on the show to raise funds. When Sally revealed a painting by George Stubbs, the renowned 18th century English artist famed for his horse portraits, hidden away in a storeroom for more than 50 years, Ronnie couldn’t believe his eyes! The painting depicts a grey cob named Rainbow. It is recorded in the catalogue Raisonne and experts at Sotheby’s confirmed that Stubbs produced the artwork in the very early 1800s, 1802-1804 during his twilight years. Sally agreed to sell the painting in Sotheby’s in Bond Street to help raise funds for the future of the Museum and help finance the renovation of the Museum’s new Conference room.
At the Museum of the Horse, you can see tributes to many horses and riders from the racing world and military – those that belonged to famous riders as well as the aristocracy. Many horses served the country in various ways. The humble pit pony is an important part of history and records show pit ponies were used from 1750. In 1913 there were 70,000 horses working underground. They had a hard life, only coming up from underground for the two-week colliery holiday. The last recoded pit pony was Tony and he ended his days at the Newcastle Cat and Dog Shelter, dying in 2011 at 40 years old.
At the Walks of Life Museum, the old workforce from Dosco of Tuxford have sponsored a display in the museum which includes memories from Hollybank. The company, which produced equipment for such projects as the Mercy Tunnel, exported worldwide and were a big part of Tuxford’s history.
June was a time for celebrating the volunteers who make such a valuable contribution to the museums and the team were delighted to see Norman Birkitt’s hard work recognised at the BCVS volunteer award ceremony. His dedication in getting the war memorial restored to remember those lost in wars, as well supporting the community of Tuxford, is inspirational. He won the Heritage Volunteer of the Year award and was named Bassetlaw Volunteer of the Year. He has kindly donated the tranquillity rose awarded to him to be part of the museum’s memorial garden, and this will be planted alongside a peace rose at the rededication of the war memorial ceremony on a date to be arranged. The museum recently planted roses in memory of Pauline Pottinger, Shelia Francis and Trevor Cook, who all connected with many people and gave such a lot to Tuxford over the years. These join a rose called Dorothy, planted to remember museum founder Dorothy Harrison.
The museum also invites you to their exhibition of photos by the local Snappers Camera Club, taken during their recent visit to museums. They took pictures of objects in the museums’ collections which have been conserved and researched following a talk by Brian Horne.
To find out more, contact the Museum of the Horse on 01777 838234 or curator@museumofthehorse.co.uk, and the Walks of Life Museum on 01777 872776 or dianehunt08@btinternet.com.