The Trustees of the award winning Ashby de la Zouch Museum were planning a new exhibition dedicated to the villages in the surrounding district. They needed help to create a series of display boards to highlight the history and features of each location.
Ashby Museum was established in 1982 and has a huge archive of local material relating to education, health, agriculture, industry, military, Local Government, recreation and the arts. As well as being popular with both tourists and residents it is an important resource for schools and researchers. The Museum is a registered charity, run by a group of trustees and supported by over 50 volunteer custodians. It won the Leicestershire Heritage Award for best temporary exhibitions in 1998, 2001 and 2003 and in 2007 was chosen as Leicestershire’s Museum of the Year. Volunteers work closely with the County Museum Service and other independent museums in the area.
Following a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, and support from the local community, major extension and refurbishment works were completed at Ashby Museum in 2007. This gave the trustees and curators much needed space to create new exhibitions in the two new galleries. Top of the list was a display of artefacts from local villages. Quiet Storm was commissioned to design wall-mounted information boards to introduce each village.
Ken Hillier is Chairman of the Museum Trust. He explained: “When we reopened the Museum in 2007 we were determined to show that we represented not only the town of Ashby de la Zouch but also its wider district. We decided to commission a series of information boards relating to local villages for a permanent exhibition in our new Loudoun Gallery. Each one would include historic and present day photos as well as details of local history and places of interest.
“We asked Quiet Storm to design the layout and produce the boards. They devised a stylish template and we provided the images and information for each location. Over the past two years we have steadily increased the size of this exhibition and it now features five areas within the district. We are currently planning a sixth display. The impressive boards do a great job of introducing Museum visitors to each of the villages and the cases containing artefacts from our archives.
“The exhibition is a great success and we know from comments in our visitors’ book that the boards play a major part. The response from local people living outside the town of Ashby has been especially rewarding. They are delighted to see their village so well represented and now feel it is their museum too. The boards are also a terrific tourist tool as they encourage visitors to explore the wider district.
“Quiet Storm has been great to work with and whenever Ashby Museum considers creating a new display it is our first port of call. The team delivers a personal service and a high quality product.”