Heritage Centre - Trust Annual Report 1994
Looking back over past annual reports one can see how far the Heritage Centre has come since its inception in 1983. In many ways 1994 has been very significant; the Centre has been heavily involved in the efforts of the City and County to mark the D-Day commemorations, and it featured in much of the publicity. Our visitor numbers have increased to figures undreamed of a few years ago. We now have a very close relationship with the City Tourist Group, and this benefits the Centre as we are able to provide an introduction to the City by means of our video and exhibition. It is only through continual publicity that we are able to flourish.
By opening the Centre on Saturday mornings during the winter, we were able to give the public a personal point of contact with the Trust, and also we were able to display the contrasting high-density and low-density schemes for Peninsula Barracks. The Centre acted as a focal point for the signing of a petition to support the SAVE Conservation Scheme for the development of the Barracks. In the spring, in conjunction with the Hampshire Chronicle, we ran a photographic identification competition organised by Alan Cooke and Tony Hunter. The Editor of the Hampshire Chronicle was so impressed by the response to the competition that he has indicated that he would like to run a further competition in 1995. Unfortunately the usual Half-term Heritage Quiz for schoolchildren coincided with the coldest and wettest week of spring, and was not well supported. However, nothing daunted, we will run the competition again in the late autumn of 1994.
The principal exhibition of 1994 was "Winchester at War", portraying the civilian aspects of 1944 wartime Winchester. Trust member Rodney Youngman mounted the exhibition. He started his collection of artefacts by retrieving his parents' identity cards from the dustbin at the tender age of four years old! Accompanied by the Mayor of Winchester, the exhibition was opened by Lord Montgomery (the son of "Monty") on 20 May. Lord Montgomery was a boy at Winchester College in 1944. Our thanks go to Mr Youngman and the team of helpers and promoters of the exhibition, and also to the King Alfred Bus Company who provided their 63-year old Dennis bus to transport the opening party to and from Abbey House. Later the Centre was visited by the American Veterans of the 9th Division on their way to Normandy.
October 1994 saw the Heritage Centre joining forces with the Southern Section of the Chartered Institute of Transport to commemorate their 50th anniversary with a "Celebration of Winchester Transport". Once again, this was a further example of a local branch of a Professional Institute using the Centre to show the activities of their organisation.
It is planned that the winter openings of the Centre will start with an exhibition to publicise the twinning venture between Winchester and the French city of Laon.
1994 will be a hard year to follow after the enthusiasm of the D-Day activities, but we hope to put on a Winchester-oriented exhibition of photographs taken in the 1960s by one of the City's best known professional photographers of that period.
During the year we lost our good friend John Balchin, who, during the financially critical days of the refurbishment of the Centre, succeeded in raising much needed funds by means of book sales. We are delighted that his widow, Eunice Balchin, has agreed to continue the sales, with the next sale planned for 19 November 1994 - so please let us have those unwanted books!
Behind the scenes, the day to day administration of the Centre has been taken on by George Burnett. Joy Williams, the former Manager of the Centre and enthusiastic supporter for many years has now left Winchester; we wish her every success. Also, Jeffrey Smith, a founder member of the Trust and a former Chairman, has retired from the Heritage Centre Management Committee. Making financial ends meet is always a problem; our Hon. Treasurer Iain Thomson gives unstintingly of his time to ensure that we meet our financial targets. Work has been carried out to improve the physical security of the Centre and also to install storage arrangements for archives and photographs. The licence arrangements with the City Council, who are the owners of the Centre, have been renewed for a further year, and we are again grateful to the City Council for a grant to help offset our rent charges.
The Centre is in almost continual use during the daytime and evenings and members of the Trust are particularly welcome to visit the Centre, either during regular opening hours, or at other times by arrangement with the Manager.