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

Independent museums exhibit at Snibston Discovery Museum

As every year, the good folk at Snibston in Coalville have turned over their exhibition space in the foyer to the counties’ independent museums. This year’s exhibition opened on Thursday in time to be admired by attendees of the event to launch Leicestershire County Council’s Volunteer & Internship Programme (VIP).

Exhibitors this year include Coalville Heritage Society, Whitwick Historical Group, Wigston Framework Knitters Museum, Castle Donington Museum, Foxton Canal Museum, Railway Vehicle Preservations  and Rutland County Museum. Other museums are represented with information and /or a banner.

Why not pop along and see what some of the independent museums are up to – you might get some inspiration for a summer holiday trip to somewhere you have never been before, or discover one of the counties’ hidden gems. While you are at Snibston, why not pop in and see the current Anne Frank exhibition as well.

Both the Forum exhibition and Anne Frank exhibitions are free (charges still apply if you wish to visit other galleries). Opening times are the same as Snibston.