Focus on the Friends of the Willis Museum
“Museums are not static but dynamic”: thus wrote George Willis, (1877-1970) Basingstoke shopkeeper, antiquarian and local historian, one time mayor, first Freeman of the Borough, and, in 1931, the founder of the Borough Museum that evolved into the justly named Willis Museum, now run by Hampshire Cultural Trust (HCT) and called the Willis Museum and Sainsbury Gallery.Visit the Museum’s website and you will clearly see that it lives up to Mr Willis’s wise dictum in no uncertain fashion.
www.hampshireculture.org.uk/willis-museum-and-sainsbury-gallery
With high profile touring exhibitions in the Sainsbury Gallery, frequently changing exhibitions by local people and groups in the Basingstoke Community Gallery – this could be you or your group – and its programmes of talks, workshops, and family activities, you can go there many times a year for a new experience every time. Oh, and enjoy a great morning coffee, or afternoon cup of tea and slice of cake.
No surprise, then, that the Willis has a dynamic Friends’ Association, founded in 1978 to “promote, support and improve the Willis Museum.” Members enjoy ten free evening lectures a year, mostly about local history, a guided summer visit, newsletters, discounts in the museum café and shop, and, importantly, an opportunity to volunteer their services in interesting ways – all of this for £12 per year. As a fund-raising body it recently handed HCT a substantial sum towards a forthcoming re-display of the Story of Basingstoke Gallery, the area dedicated to the history of the town.
To find out more about the Friends call in and pick up a brochure or visit: www. friendsofthewillis.org.uk
