HOPES GROW OF SECURING LOCAL TREASURE HOARD.
HALESWORTH’S PROUD SPORTING PAST.
Community News August 2012
HOPES GROW OF SECURING LOCAL TREASURE HOARD
Halesworth and District Museum’s attempt to raise enough funds to save a newly discovered local treasure have got off to a good start. Thanks to a number of generous local donations there is hope that the Museum can prevent the sale and loss to the area of the Wissett Hoards, two groups of Bronze Age axe heads, spears and rapier blades discovered last year by metal-detectors in a field at Wissett, where they had lain for over three thousand years.
The project has received a major boost with the news that the Victoria and Albert Museum in London has recognized the importance of the bid and made a substantial grant of £2,000 towards the cost of securing the treasure for local display. The Museum has plans to make the Hoards the centre of a new local educational initiative around the history of the Blyth Valley before the arrival of the Romans.
Brian Howard, the Museum’s Treasurer and the Rescue Campaign Leader is cautiously optimistic but stresses that more help is needed from the local community before we can be sure that the rescue bid has worked. The deadline for meeting the purchase price is mid-September.
Anyone wishing to make a contribution or offer help, should contact Brian Howard .
HALESWORTH’S PROUD SPORTING PAST
The public response to Halesworth Museum’s appeal for mementoes of Halesworth’s sporting past has been so great that the Museum has had to admit it’s too small to do it justice. “A fantastic effort on the part of the Halesworth community”, is how Halesworth and District Museum Chairman, Brian Holmes describes ‘Sporting Halesworth’ the Museum’s new display which had to be moved to a larger space and opened in the Gallery of Halesworth Library on 27 July, the day of the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. The exhibition brings together nearly 200 photographs and objects which have mostly been lent or contributed for the occasion by individuals and clubs in the town.
Made possible by a grant from Suffolk County Council’s ‘Suffolk Celebrates 2012’ fund, the exhibition tells the story of sport in Halesworth, past and present. In the course of preparing the display, some surprising new facts have emerged. Old field names, for example, show that once bull-baiting was practiced in the fields behind Chediston Street and there is a tantalizing glimpse of horse-racing taking place off the Holton Road. The Halesworth Angels Bowls Club can boast of being well over 200 years old and Halesworth Town Football Club is this year celebrating its 125th birthday.
In its section on Halesworth’s Sporting Heroes, the exhibition highlights fourteen townsmen and women who have made their mark at county, national and international level or who have made significant contributions to sport in the town. They include national champions at bowls, darts, swimming, weightlifting, an Olympic race-walker and one World Champion. But, alongside these, there are many reminders of ordinary people enjoying their sport, week in and week out. There are many faces which people will recognize and many memories to be enjoyed.
With all eyes set on the future in the shape of a new Campus Sporting Complex, the exhibition gives the town a chance to look back at previous efforts to provide sporting facilities for the town. Many Halesworth people over many generations have given generously of their time and money to create spaces for people to play and compete in. Sport has brought them together to enjoy themselves and enjoy each other’s company. It has helped bind the town together and it is only right that we should celebrate what they have achieved. It’s a great story and one the town should be proud of in this Olympic year.
The exhibition continues during Library opening hours until 2 September.
For further details, contact: Vic Gray, Publicity Officer, Halesworth and District Museum.