The Winchester Heritage Centre - Trust Annual Report 1984
The Heritage Centre Emblem,
based on the north window of the Cathedral,
by Michael Morris
Activities during the Year
Anyone visiting the Heritage Centre for the first time since it opened in July 1983 would find it changed considerably for the better. Indeed it is positively civilised, thanks to the curtains (a much appreciated gift), the carpets (bought at a generously reduced price) and the garden, donated and laid out by Hilliers in time for a tree-planting ceremony at the end of November, when on a wet Friday afternoon the Centre's President, the historian Lord (Asa) Briggs of Lewes, valiantly wielded his spade in the rain for the benefit of the local press.
We are extremely lucky to have such a distinguished and enthusiastic President, and are very grateful to him for sparing time from his busy calendar. Our Vice-presidents are the Rt. Rev. John Taylor, Bishop of Winchester; Mr. F.A.J. Emery-Wallis, Leader of Hampshire County Council; Mr. D. H. Cowan, Chief Executive of Winchester City Council; and Mr. Tim Brooke-Taylor.
During the past year the Centre has been the scene of a variety of activities, the first of which was an exhibition of C.E.S. Beloe's photographs of Edwardian Winchester, on loan from the City Museum. This nostalgic glance at the past was followed in February by a look at Winchester's future, when the landscaping proposals for the Popham to Bar End section of the M3 motorway brought a large number of visitors to the Centre. Then followed a series of smaller exhibitions: "Countryside Heritage" and the delightful "Historic Parks and Gardens", lent by the County Planning Department, showed the pressures on Hampshire's natural heritage, while "Living Streets", lent by a Manpower Services Commission group in Milton Keynes, encouraged an awareness of the changing face of the urban landscape.
The Festival of Architecture took place this year, and in May the Southern Region of the Royal Institute of British Architects (which has its office in the Heritage Centre) mounted an exhibition of work by local architects and arranged a series of well-attended lunch-time lectures about architecture.
The present "Winchester Events" exhibition opened at the beginning of June, and is well worth a visit before it closes at the end of September, for the historians of the display committee have collected a wide variety of fascinating material on subjects that include the 1666 plague, High Street shops, the 1897 Jubilee celebrations, the marriage of Mary Tudor, and excerpts about Winchester from letters written in 1819 by the poet John Keats.
Also currently on display in the upstairs room is work by pupils from the Nightingale Junior School, Eastleigh, their response to a walk round Winchester in May, when a representative from the Centre was their guide. This encouraging start for the educational role envisaged for the Centre followed in June by a party of forty French children, who were supplied with specially prepared check-sheets and maps for their tour of the City. At present the Centre is running a light-hearted holiday quiz for young people, with prizes of £10 tokens, exchangeable at selected shops in the City. As answer forms are only available at the Centre, it is hoped that the Centre will consequently become more well-known.
Future Plans
The plans for the Bar End to Bassett section of the M3 motorway will be exhibited from the beginning of October until mid-November. On view will be the drawings of Mott, Hay & Anderson, the consultant engineers, and the Revised Report, so anyone who missed the recent brief exhibition at the Guildhall will be able to study a more complete display at the Centre. Over the Christmas season there will be a photographic display of William Walker's work on saving the Cathedral, and a fascinating account of some of the houses in the Close; this is by Mr. John Crook, the author of "The Winchester Diver" and "A History of the Pilgrims School".
The Centre plans to continue expanding its educational programme with a course of daytime lectures to be given under the auspices of the Workers' Educational Association by Mrs. Barbara Carpenter Turner, and a series of public lectures along the lines of the successful R.I.B.A. lectures is also being considered.
It is proposed that existing Trust literature (the King Alfred leaflet and the fold-out guide to part of the High Street) should be augmented, with particular regard to teachers' needs. A fully-illustrated, 12-page booklet on Jewry Street has already been published, and other titles under consideration are "Living in the City", "Sheltered Housing", "Rehabilitation", "The Brooks" and "The Close".
Fund-Raising
It had been hoped that we would be able to participate in the Manpower Services Commission scheme, but unfortunately a change in Government policy led to the calling-in of schemes for our type of project, and we could not wait. We are currently negotiating for grants with the Carnegie Trust and the R.I.B.A., and the fund-raising committee is endeavouring to raise money for the local appeal target and to cover running costs. Over the past year there has been a gradual whittling away of the £10,000 for which we were appealing in May 1983, and about £7,000 are still needed.
Fund-raising activities included a concert by the Hampshire Youth Concert Band in the Great Hall, an auction (which could have done better with more support from members), and a second-hand bookstall at the Centre, for which contributions, hard- and paper-backed, will be welcomed.
Help Needed
We are very pleased with the help that has been given to the Centre. Assistance came in many guises: £500 from the TVS Charitable Trust, donations large and small in the form of money or reduced prices from local shops, donations and gifts from individual people, and above all, the gift of time and hard labour from those members involved in making the Centre a going concern. Unfortunately lack of space prevents our listing all those giving assistance, but we would like to emphasize that without them the Winchester Heritage Centre would not exist, and to thank all those who have been helping us.
However, we still need more help. The problems of managing the Centre are now in the capable hands of Dr. Swift, but a crucial requirement is to find enough volunteers to man the reception desk at the centre. A straightforward task requiring no special skills, it has the bonus of providing an opportunity of meeting the visitors or reading literature on sale – or catching up with letter-writing! We particularly need help during the run-up to Christmas, when cards and books are in demand.
Assistance is also needed with other aspects of the Centre, and the fund-raising, display and publicity committees would all be pleased to hear from you if you have any time to spare. If you can help, please contact Dr. George Swift at the Winchester Heritage Centre, 52-54 Upper Brook Street, Tel 51664, or at home, 12 Ashbarn Crescent, Badgers Farm, Tel. 53481.
Opening Hours
Following an analysis of the attendance of our visitors, the opening hours of the Centre will be changed from 3rd October to:
| Monday & Tuesday: | Closed | |
| Wednesday: | 12noon – 4 pm | (to encourage lunch-hour visitors) |
| Thursday, Friday, Saturday: | 10.30 am – 12.30 pm | And 2 pm – 4 pm |
| Sunday: | 2 pm – 4 pm |