The latest exhibition at the museum in Clare has been heralded in colourful style - by the town crier.
Andrew Pankhurst was out on Easter Saturday, to announce the start that day of Clare Ancient House Museum’s new exhibition, Celebrating Clare: Festivals Past and Present
The museum’s 2023 exhibition, ‘Shops in Clare – Past and Present’, was hugely popular, resulting in a 3.000 per cent rise in visitor numbers, many of them being first time visits by residents of Clare, which sits halfway between Haverhill and Sudbury.
Antonia Brandes, chair of the trustees of Clare Ancient House Museum, which is based in High Street in what is Suffolk’s smallest town,, hopes the next exhibition will prove just as popular.
She said: “This builds on our message to Clare residents that history is not just about Magna Carta but is about things which happened 10 years ago, 50 years ago and 500 years ago.
“We have a rolling programme of six themes each lasting a month.
“The first and opening theme is carnivals.
“Clare used to have a week-long carnival with different activities each day from wacky races to It’s a Knockout, dances in the town hall and concerts culminating in the carnival parade through the town.
“In addition to the many photographs and press cuttings we have used to create the exhibition, we have recorded carnival queens and their attendants talking about what being a carnival queen or attendant meant to them.
“These videos will run on a loop in the museum.
“We are particularly interested in why the carnival is no more and hope this will spark debate in Clare.”
During the following months, the themes will be music, including the Clare World Music Festival, arts, crafts and theatre, community, historical military and royal and finally Christmas.
A preview party for the new exhibition, which runs until September 29, was hosted by the museum on Good Friday evening.
