Museum news

With choughs now settled on the cliffs at St Agnes, the Museum has approached the Royal Cornwall Museum and secured, initially for three years, of a taxidermy specimen of a chough for display in our Natural History cabinet. The cabinet will be undergoing a few changes to accommodate our new arrival.  We hope that it will help visitors recognise these iconic birds.

The Annual General Meeting of St Agnes Museum Trust will take place at 7.30pm on Thursday 2 February 2023 at the Methodist Church Hall, British Road, St Agnes. On completion of business, our Chairman, Roger Radcliffe, will give his new illustrated talk, The Story of St Agnes Harbour.  In his research he has used information from the Museum’s Whitworth Collection, supplemented by details of the Bain connection and illustrations from the vast Clive Benney Collection.  It promises to be a memorable event.

There is ample parking outside the Church, tea and coffee will be available during the interval and visitors will be most welcome, for whom there will be a small charge of £1. We look forward to meeting Members and visitors there.

On Wednesday 9 November, 32 Stewards, together with Committee Members, gathered for their traditional end of season get-together at the Museum. 

They were welcomed by Chairman, Roger Radcliffe, who read a message from Rota Co-ordinator, John Oaksford. He reported that there had been a continuous improvement in the rota over the season, with new volunteers coming forward. He was very grateful to Gareth Johnson for filling gaps in the rota so willingly.

Roger Radcliffe said visitor numbers were slightly down, perhaps because of the hot summer. The busiest day had been 22 August with 63 visitors.  One column in the Visitors’ Book asked: “How did you hear of us?”.  Many cited the notice boards at the gate, 29% came following a recommendation and many were repeat visitors.

Shop Manager, Mike Furness, revealed the winners of the light-hearted competition for the days generating the most sales. The Bronze position with £1365 were the Friday Fireballs, in Silver with £1375 were the Wednesday Wonders, and in Gold with £12385 were the Thursday Titans.  The sale of goods had generated £10,206, with donations totalling £1244 and Membership subscriptions £290.  An appreciative round of applause greeted the end of Mike’s report.

Clare Murton, Curator, thanked all the Stewards for coping with the technology. She reported that the Museum would be helping celebrate the bicentenary of Passmore Edwards’ birth in 2023, and that £1412 had been raised so far to purchase the Elizabeth Opie portrait by her brother, John Opie, with more donations pledged. The Museum needed an up-to-date valuation of the painting.

Refreshments were arranged by Membership Secretary, Mary Wilson.

On Tuesday 8 November Chairman, Roger Radcliffe, and Vice Chairman, Clive Benney, together with Committee Members Clare Murton, Liz Thompson and Mike Furness, welcomed a coachload of visitors from Bodmin Town Museum to St Agnes Museum. The visitors were hoping to learn from St Agnes’ experience of running a small, volunteer-led museum and came armed with notebooks and many questions. Coffee and biscuits were served and an informative time was enjoyed by all.

Despite the rain the Museum raised an amazing record £1,137 at its busy Winter Coffee Morning in the Church Hall on Saturday 5 November. Parents and grandparents flocked to the new Toys Stall, organised by Mary Wilson and her daughters, Nancy and Lucy, which raised £217 and brought many youngsters to the event for the first time. The raffle raised £150 and the stall selling new goods from the Museum shop raised £236.

Members were very keen to pay their subscriptions which raised a further £320.

Chairman, Roger Radcliffe, who sold Cornish books raising £75, said: “The Coffee Morning was not only a very enjoyable social event but it delivered one of the best totals we have ever had at a Coffee Morning – no mean feat on such a dismal day.”