Derbyshire museum unveils exhibition on stars of stage and screen following £250,000 lottery grant

Wirksworth Heritage Centre has successfully reapplied for the UK Museum Accreditation Scheme, overseen by the Arts Council, the benchmark acknowledging best practice in caring for collections and helping the public engage with them.

Accreditation opens up new funding opportunities, allows museums to host touring exhibitions, and gives confidence to supporters and visitors about the museum’s approach to in preserving heritage and inspiring future generations.

Chair of trustees Jacqueline Ferguson-Lee said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have received this award, we are an independent museum and this shows that we have achieved the industry standard for museums. This would not have been possible without the hard work of our small team of staff and volunteers.

“It means that Wirksworth Heritage Centre is properly managed and governed to the nationally agreed industry standard and shows the museum takes proper care of its collections, sharing them with visitors and keeping them safe for future generations.”

The news arrived shortly after a grant of £250,000 from National Heritage Lottery Fund for an ambitious five-year project Wirksworth Reaches Out.

The funding will support a series of exhibitions and activities, staffing, updates to the gallery spaces and the redevelopment of a website promoting the amazing history of the town.

The outreach elements will encourage more contributions from the community to be put on display, educational programmes, training and recruitment for volunteers and a life-sized animatronic woolly rhino which will be travelling outside the museum to tell the story of the 43,000-year-old discovered nearby in 1822.

Jacqueline said: “Thanks to National Lottery players, we are confident the project will be reaching out well beyond Wirksworth.”

The curtain rises on the first lottery-funded exhibition on Tuesday, April 25, running through to September 2023, to be accompanied by a series of talks and other live events.

‘Lights, Camera, Wirksworth’ documents the town’s creative history, as a hotbed of noteworthy artistic talents and backdrop to music videos, podcast sitcom Barmy Dale, and screen productions from Hollywood to Bollywood.

Jacqueline said: “The contribution Wirksworth has made to the performing arts is out of all proportion to what could be expected from a town of its size. Wirksworth has been utilised as a filming location form many television and film productions ranging from Peak Practice to Star War: Andor.

“It is also home to am array of vibrant stage performances, with the glee club and amateur theatre companies producing amazing performances and giving local people their first step into the world of theatre.

“In music too Wirksworth punches well above its weight, being the launching ground for successful local bands and recently Wirksworth again made the headlines with Barmy Dale, which was written in and based on the town.”

To make all this possible, the heritage centre is on the lookout for new additions to its team of volunteers and trustees, with roles ranging from retail and café work to tour guides, business planning and IT development.

For more information on getting involved and upcoming museum events, see www.wirksworthheritage.co.uk or write to Jacqueline.Ferguson-

[email protected].

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