The museum is extremely pleased with its latest conservation project, run in conjunction with a local voluntary group.
Members of The Arts Society Test Valley have been busy working on a heritage project with the museum over the summer. The Museum has in its collection many uniforms, some going back to the eighteenth century. Not all of these are on display, so protective covers were needed for those kept in storage. A team of eight volunteers made 85 covers for the uniforms, and have just handed them over. The material used was Tyvek, which will keep the uniforms dry and free from rot, mildew and moth. It also prevents them from fading in light. With this phase of the project complete, the next stage is to make covers for the larger great-coats.
Some of the team came to deliver the covers to the museum, and start fitting the uniforms into them. They enjoyed looking at, and trying on some of the different styles and types of our more robust jackets. We are very grateful to the society for all their hard work on this, and look forward to working with them again in the future on other conservation projects.
Heritage Volunteering is an important part of the work of The Arts Society. From the conservation of books and textiles to projects in historic parks and gardens, volunteers work all over the UK at many different sites. If you have a project that the volunteers might be able to help with, please contact them via our website: www.TheArtsSocietyTestValley.org.uk
If anyone would like to volunteer at the museum, we have a wide range of opportunities available, either weekly, fortnightly or monthly; please email the Deputy Curator for more details.
