Photos of the Leicestershire & Rutland Heritage Awards

We’ve uploaded the photos of the awards to our Facebook page – why not take a look?

Winners and dignitaries cut the cake

Award winners finally announced!

Six community-run museums have won this year’s Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland heritage awards, with Hallaton named as museum of the year.

The winners were announced at a ceremony at Stapleford Park last night (Thursday, July 30).

Launched 20 years ago by Leicestershire County Council and the Leicestershire and Rutland Museums Forum, the awards recognise the work of volunteers to preserve the area’s rich heritage.

The winners are:

Best project – Leicester City Football Club, for “Foxes’ Footsteps” (highly commended: Ashby Museum and Lutterworth Museum)

Award for work with children and young people – Ashby Museum, for Junior Friends of Ashby Museum (highly commended, Sir John Moore Foundation and Moira Furnace)

Best exhibition – Hallaton Museum, for “Rituals, Hoards and Helmets” (highly commended, Castle Donington Museum)

Best event – Sir John Moore Foundation, for the Rat Pack Evening (highly commended, Ullesthorpe Windmill) •

Museum of the year – Hallaton Museum (special mention, Castle Donington Museum)

Achievement award – Swannington Heritage Trust and Castle Donington Museum

Ernie White, Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet member for Better Places, said: “I’m delighted with this year’s awards – not just for the winners, but for everyone who entered, as the standard was so high. “Hallaton is a worthy museum of the year, with its impressive new exhibition about the major Iron Age hoard found there.”

Around 1,000 volunteers run 40 independent museums in the area and they attract 250,000 visitors per year. The judging panel included heritage consultant Heather Lomas, Jim McCallum from Voluntary Action Leicester Shire and a panel of young people from CYCLE, the county’s youth council. For further details about community museums and the awards, see www.leics.gov.uk/community_museums

Children’s Group to be Launched at Ashby Museum

An exciting new initiative for local children is being launched at Ashby Museum on Saturday 28th March.  In order to get their new “Junior Friends of Ashby de la Zouch Museum” off to a flying start, the Museum is inviting parents and children to take part in a number of fun activities between 10.30 am and 2 pm.

Whilst the children take part in  craft and young archaeologist events, mums and dads can pick up an application form and receive a Members’ Pack for their youngsters which includes details of the first competition. One pound buys a year’s membership for a child which entitles them to free entry to the museum for a year.  Members will be able to take part in competitions and attend specially organised events such as Look behind the scenes at the Museum and A Walk on the Dark Side of Ashby.

Membership is open to Primary School aged children in school years 2 to 6.  All children wishing to take part in the event must be accompanied by an adult.  Soft drinks and biscuits will be on offer to the children and tea or coffee for adults.