If you haven’t visited the Fashioning Our World exhibition yet, there is still time. And my experience has been that one visit isn’t enough. It is full of surprises, interesting ideas and an enjoyable mix of History and fashion.
My favourite exhibit is below, though choosing just one was difficult..
It was, of course, the eye-catching garment on the right which drew me to this display, but it is war which is the link between them. On the right is a dressing gown from the Second World War, now more than eighty years old. Made from scraps garnered from anywhere and anything, including a piece of parachute, this became, at a time of strict rationing, someone’s pride and joy.
On the left is an overall worn by female workers in munitions factories. I think the one on display is also eighty years old but it is very similar to those also worn twenty-five years before, in the First World War.
Both, very different, items of clothing seem to me to say so much about the resilience, determination, ingenuity and make-do and get on with it attitude of women of that generation.
Volunteers are needed to help carry a giant statue through a city’s streets in a string of upcoming events.
(The photo above shows the original Giant in his place in the now almost complete new Salisbury galleries of The Salisbury Museum.)
The Salisbury Giant, which stands at 3.6m (12ft) tall, dates back more than 500 years.
A replica of the giant is brought out to celebrate significant events in Salisbury, continuing a custom that goes back to at least the 15th Century. People are now being sought to carry the giant at a number of spring events including St George’s Day celebrations.
Paul Sample said the tradition “won’t exist” without volunteers and urged people to come forward.
Originally owned by the Tailor’s Guild, the figure was used to display clothing produced by tailors in medieval Salisbury, when the town’s prosperity was founded on the wool trade. It was purchased by the city’s museum in 1873 for 30 shillings (£1.50).
Sometimes referred to as St Christopher, the giant later became a symbol of celebration and was often brought out alongside his horse, Hob Nob, to parade through the streets on significant dates like the coronation, carnivals and local civic events.
Volunteers known as ‘whifflers’ walk alongside the giant carrying processional guilds. Mr Sample, chief whiffler, said: “Salisbury has probably the oldest and longest tradition of giants. It means that we have a real place in the folk history of England and it’s really important internationally that we keep it going.”
This year’s events start with a St George’s Day procession on 28 April, and organisers are looking for seven volunteers to carry a replica of the giant.
“We’re hopeful that lots of people will come forward as volunteers this year, to help us continue the tradition into years and decades, and centuries to come,” Mr Sample said.
“He just had his cloak washed for the first time in about 30 years so he’s ready to go, we just need help getting him there,” he added.
The Fashioning Our World exhibition will feature fashion items from the past which tell powerful stories of sustainability and is opening soon at The Salisbury Museum.
Alongside a selection of clothes and accessories that have been repurposed, mended and loved, the exhibition will showcase work by well-known and emerging fashion designers, sustainability experts and students displayed on a series of miniature mannequins.
Amongst others, designers whose work is featured in the exhibition include British fashion design icon Dame Zandra Rhodes, subversive fashion designer Jonny Banger, and designer and writer of a bestselling book on sustainable fashion Orsola de Castro.
Included in these is a miniature replica of the famous cape worn on stage by Freddie Mercury from Queen which was designed by Dame Zandra Rhodes. The miniature version has been made for the exhibition by Dame Zandra Rhodes using an off cut of fabric from her studio.
The exhibition has been co-curated with young people who have helped chose the objects on display, plan the themes, and design the information panels. The exhibition is part of a recent project at The Salisbury Museum called Fashioning Our World (www.fashioningourworld.co.uk) which is engaging young people with stories of sustainability in the past and supporting them to inspire the community to make positive sustainable choices in the future.
“We are really excited about this exhibition. It has been amazing to work with the young people on this exhibition – they have so many amazing ideas! We have discovered so many stories of sustainability in the collection, we can’t wait for people to be able to see them. We also really appreciate the enthusiasm from the fantastic fashion designers who have contributed to this exhibition. It is brilliant to be able to include their work,” said Katy England Fashioning Our World Project Manager.
The exhibition will be officially opened by clothing designer and TV personality Patrick Grant, at the launch event for the whole family on Saturday 10th February.
The Fashioning Our World project was made possible by a grant of £87,828 awarded from The Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund – delivered by the Museums Association. It was also supported by Wessex Museums.
The project is aiming to inspire other heritage organisations to work in a similar way with their fashion collections. Dorset Museum have run a series of Fashioning Our World sessions for young people linked to their own collection of clothing and accessories.
The Salisbury Museum fashion collection contains over 3,500 items dating from the last 300 years. The garments are from all aspects of life including weddings and christenings, formal occasions, and occupations such as farming and the military. Accessories also form a large part of the collection, and these include fans, brooches, parasols, buttons, gloves, hats and shoes.
The Fashioning Our World project follows on from the previous success of the Look Again project (2018-2021), in which the museum worked alongside young people, volunteers and experts to reinterpret and redisplay the fashion collection. The Look Again project was funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund – delivered by the Museums Association.
“There’s an incredible amount of detail in Howard Phipps wood engravings – I assumed they were much, much larger than they actually are. He must have very good eyesight and a very, very steady hand.”
In the build up to the opening of the new museum this exhibition will explore all the different Wessex artists represented in the museum’s collection.
Our collection includes over 5,000 paintings, prints and drawings. This careful selection will look at artists connected with the Wessex area from 18th century to the present day, ranging from the oil paintings of George Beare to the wood engravings of Howard Phipps. It will include well known pieces as well as hidden treasures and new acquisitions not seen by the public before.
A children’s half-term activity took place on 24th. Participants started with a leaflet including a trail around the photographic exhibition. Questions helped them find facts but also to use their imagination.
There is a photo of a cat show and a popular question asked what the apparently very grumpy cat was saying. One very literal two year-old suggested “Meow” while a savvy eleven year-old suggested “Get on with it, I want my prize!”
Participants could then make their own collage relating to one of the photos, and make up a ‘newspaper headline’. An example of a headline to go with a photo of Dr Phil Harding chipping at flints was – yes – “Harding Caught Napping!”.
Some children also made an intricately folded booklet with drawings and text.
There was a steady flow of people throughout the day and everyone seemed very satisfied.
We like the two year-old’s answer!
Thank you Mary. It is always interesting to know what fellow Volunteers are up to. And thank you to all others involved on the day.
Besides the hundreds of thousands of Black & White negatives dating from 1952 onwards, The Salisbury Museum Journal archive includes a few cardboard boxes of about 50 very large brown envelopes. These envelopes have titles written on them such as Woodford Valley, Salisbury Cathedral, Victorian events etc. Each envelope contains a number of photographs.
We have not yet processed these.
I was tempted to look in some of the envelopes. What gems! Below is a photograph from 1941. It shows young ladies from the teachers’ training college, 65 The Close, keeping watch over Salisbury from high up on Salisbury Cathedral. I know from Arthur Maidment’s book * that this duty was shared amongst a number of groups including pupils from Bishop Wordsworth’s School and the Home Guard.
I like the way the ladies are dressed in their all-in-one suits which appear to be suitable for the rain**. They are all wearing simple helmets***. How did they communicate with the fire crews on the ground? What training were they given to be able to recognise which bits of Salisbury were on fire? Did they have torches? Did they have paper and pencils? Did they have sighting compasses?
What a glimpse into Salisbury’s past!
*Arthur Maidment 1993 ‘Under Salisbury Spire: Memories from the late Twenties to the first year of World War II’ (A Salisbury Journal Publication)
**’Siren suits’
***The ‘Brodie’ helmet, first issued in WWI
If anyone can give us answers to Alan’s questions, please let us know.
Thank you Alan – super photograph, prompting good questions as always.
It is Volunteers’ Week this week. We hope to include some reports on the various activities soon.
Meanwhile:
The gardening team have been at their post every Monday for some weeks now, and the results are stunning.
The Wood Cabin continues to be popular. The cakes are described as “Fantastic!” And the sunshine has attracted customers.
And the work begins on the outside of our lovely buildings. St Ann’s Gate Architects who work on historic buildings are busy on the east wall of what was our cafe, while the south wall of the old chapel (Lecture Hall) is being demolished.
Conversation Club continues with its monthly Monday gatherings, currently in the City Centre Library, which is proving a popular venue. And the little ones continue to be catered for at Under Five Fridays, as described recently.
Behind the Scenes Tours continue on the first Saturday of each month.
Volunteers are still busy processing archaeological finds discovered by members of the public, entering the information on the British Museum Portable Antiquities Scheme database.
Volunteers are running the computers hot with keeping the ever-changing museum situation monitored and recorded, particularly, at the moment, keeping records of where items are, in their various temporary ‘homes’.
Tourists and vacationers continue to be enthralled by the Wessex Gallery and by our temporary exhibition, Salisbury On Camera, all expertly guided, when needed, by our Engagement Volunteers.
And we have a continuing programme of online talks, Dr Phil Harding giving a talk in the Medieval Hall, youngsters involved with Fashioning Our World, Young Curator’s Club and Summer Discovery Days. All of which are supported by Volunteers.
Just as the museum’s new exhibition opens, Alan sends us this…
The Salisbury Journal started experimenting with 35mm colour film in about 1986.
It was only a roll or so a year to start with. However by 1991, they stopped using black and white and went entirely over to 35mm colour film, even though the paper did not print in colour! A museum enquirer asked for a copy of a musical event from the City Hall and was amazed when they received it. They had only ever seen the photograph in black and white in the Journal and were amazed that the original was in full colour.
We have just scanned the negatives from these first few years. Before 1991 they are not very well documented so one has to guess, from the images, what they are about and why they might have been taken. The one shown here is from 1990 from a set that says “Salisbury Journal Offices”. It is easy to recognise what the young gentleman is doing – he is using his drawing board (now a museum piece having been replaced by a computer screen?) to make a schematic diagram of Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum – King’s House. This diagram numbers all the rooms from 1 to 15 with the key on the lower right of the diagram.
Did you know that this diagram was made by a draughtsman in the Salisbury Journal Offices in Rollestone Street? I must look in detail at this diagram next time I come across it, to see if he has added his name somewhere in the diagram. It is amazing what one can discover from scanning old negatives.
Thank you Alan. Perfect timing!
New Exhibition
Salisbury on Camera: 50 years of the Salisbury Journal Archive
Saturday, April 29, 2023
to Sunday, October 29, 2023
In 2015 Salisbury Museum acquired the Salisbury Journal photo archive. Over the past seven years a team of museum volunteers have been steadily digitising the collection – with over 300,000 images scanned to date. This exhibition is a celebration of the first fifty years of this significant archive which starts in 1953 and provides an incredible record of life in the city and surrounding area.
Boles Barrow is sited on a windswept ridge of Salisbury Plain overlooking hillforts, barrows and vast tracts of open land.
It has been shelled, driven over, excavated three times, and been home to badgers but still retains mystery. Was it the resting place of combat victims? Is it a crucial piece in the Stonehenge bluestone conundrum? And why is the war poet Siegfried Sassoon connected with it? New fieldwork at this site has aimed to examine some of these questions whilst aiming to preserve this monument for future generations.
Richard Osgood MBE is a senior Archaeologist for the Defence Infrastructure Organisation and has worked extensively on Salisbury Plain. This includes Operation Nightingale – an initiative to assist the recovery of wounded, injured and sick military personnel and veterans by getting them involved in archaeology.
On-line lecture. Pre-booking essential
£9 Members; £12 Non-members
This is a fundraising talk for Salisbury Museum (registered charity no 289850)
Salisbury in Camera: 50 years of the Salisbury Journal Archive (New Exhibition)
Saturday, April 29, 2023
to Sunday, October 29, 2023
Normal admission charges apply
No booking required
In 2015 Salisbury Museum acquired the Salisbury Journal photo archive. Over the past seven years a team of museum volunteers have been steadily digitising the collection – with over 300,000 images scanned to date. This exhibition is a celebration of the first fifty years of this significant archive which starts in 1953 and provides an incredible record of life in the city and surrounding area.
New Sarum 1086-1269 – ONLINE Talk by Chris Daniell
‘I was enthralled the whole one and a half hours and have told everyone about it!’
‘The whole experience was something very special and your enthusiasm was contagious’
Following last year’s sell-out Behind the Scenes Tours, we are reintroducing the tours on the first Saturday of every month from March to December, starting at 2.30pm.
Led by the museum Director or another member of the team, this 90-minute tour is a unique opportunity to explore areas of the museum not seen by the public and view some of the many fascinating items in hidden away in the King’s House.
Limited to 10 places, pre-booking advised but tickets may be available on the day – call to check.