The Museum organises a programme of events throughout the year. These include special exhibitions, talks, slide shows and courses.
Please scroll to the bottom of this page to ensure you see everything!
Tel: 01761 437722 for further information on events.
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Talks:
Science in Radstock
21st February 2012 at 7.30pm
"A Thin Hard Rain from Outer Space - the Hundred Year Story of Cosmic Rays" by Roger Moses, Bristol University
20th March 2012 at 7.30pm
"Reconstructing Past Climates in the UK Using Long Lived Marine Shells" by Will Brocas, Marine Research Consultant
17th April 2012 at 7.30pm
To Be Confirmed
Tickets: £3.00 (Concessions £2.00) on sale at the door
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Exhibitions & Displays:
Patchwork & Quilting
1st February until 31st May 2012
"Probably one of the finest Patchwork and Quilting exhibitions in Europe."
Throughout the Spring, Radstock Museum will be hosting the third major exhibition of Patchwork and Quilting staged by Midsomer Quilting of Chilcompton. This spectacular display will include 200 quilts, representing 170 years of the craft in this locality and beyond.
The exhibition will include several antique quilts together with scores that have been made to the highest standard by Midsomer Quilting’s customers, locally and from around the World, as well as the work of a number of internationally known quilters who teach there.
There are small quilts and there are huge ones; several are 12” square and there are others more than 80 square feet each. One particularly prized exhibit will be a quilt made in the 1850s by Anna Maria Cradock at Foxcote Farm, less than three miles from the Museum. This quilt consists of tiny silk hexagons as fresh and vibrant today as when it was made. Unfortunately Anna Maria died young and her quilt remained locked in a wooden chest for 130 years, together with her wedding dress, which will also be shown with her family bible.
Every quilt has been carefully selected for the exhibition by Midsomer Quilting and will include 14 that together make up a panoramic view of Weston-super-Mare, as well as one made by fifteen Chinese children as a test piece before their grandmother would allow them to progress to larger pieces.
The overall standard of quilting is once again exceptionally high and has been compared favourably with work shown at national exhibitions, both here and abroad: “. . . designs and workmanship to rival quilts seen at NEC and Houston”.
One visitor from Birmingham who came three times to the first exhibition wrote in the guest book “I go to every quilt show that I can and I've never seen better than this - in fact this is the best I've seen”. She came to the second exhibition, too, and said: “Fantastic. I didn’t think it could be better than last time – but it is”. Another lady travelled from France to see the first exhibition and, having seen it, left, bought a toothbrush, found bed and breakfast and returned the next day for a second viewing. She had come especially to see the exhibition and “. . . it was absolutely worthwhile. It's amazing”. And following the 2009 exhibition, a visitor from Germany emailed the Museum to say: “To see this exhibition, and meet with exceptionally welcoming friendliness, was certainly the highlight of my two week’s holiday in England. When is the next one?” This time she has an exhibit of her own on show.
Last year researchers at the University of Glasgow concluded that of all creative pastimes quilting is ‘uniquely’ beneficial – even more than physical and outdoor pursuits. The majority of the women interviewed for this study were retired, which would seem to be a typical cross section, but Chris Howell from Midsomer Quilting, organiser of the exhibition, points out that many young mothers, and children - and men - are eagerly taking up the craft with them and that their work is widely represented in this exhibition
The exhibition runs from 1st February until 31st May, 2012. More than 5000 visitors came to the last exhibition in 2009 and the Museum is very confident that this total will be exceeded this year. The reputation of these exhibitions has spread far and wide and this time the Museum is aware of visitors coming from as far afield as the USA and Australia. On the evidence of Midsomer Quilting’s previous exhibitions it’s easy to see why.
Images from a previous patchwork & quilting exhibition
The "Somerset Quilt" was donated to Radstock Museum following the first exhibition in 2007. It is now on permanent display in The Museum.
Olympic Sports For All
June 19th until August 30th 2012
Radstock Museum has invited local clubs who represent Olympic sports to display the history of their club and sport and to show what they have to offer for new members today. Along side stories of local sporting heroes this should be a terrific celebration of the 2012 London Olympics.
The Pilton / Glastonbury Festival
11th September until 30th November 2012
There may not be a Glastonbury Festival in 2012 so catch the opportunity to trace the history of this event which stretches back over 40 years.
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