Museum to receive much needed facelift

Marlow: Town attraction closed until Easter

A museum in Marlow showcasing the town’s history has closed for refurbishment.

Marlow Museum, in Pheonix Room next to Court Garden Lesiure Centre, is set for works to improve the building’s insulation and lighting.

This year, the museum – which is free to enter – has reached its 15 year anniversary and although a date for reopening has not yet been confirmed, it is hoped it will reopen in time for Easter.

Museum chairman Mike Hyde said: “Having been here for 15 years in this room – quite a small room really – we felt things were beginning to look a bit tired.

“We carried out a survey and asked out friends and members what we could do to improve: some of them said we needed to move to a larger place – well that’s another story – but some of them also said we should try to improve what we have.”

The new insulation is intended to make the building more comfortable for attendees and the new lighting, which replaces the old neon lights, will allow light to be angled on to exhibits.

The museum’s highlights include the Higginson Drum – a drum captured from the Russian Navy in 1826 during the Crimean

War.

General Sir George Higginson, who’s name is given to Higginson’s Park, was a soldier in the Grenadier Guards who fought during the conflict and bought the drum back to the England.

In addition there are historic maps of Marlow, the town stocks, as well as articles of handmade lace fabric from its old lace making industry.

With the new improvements, it is hoped more people will visit the museum, which Mike said sometimes goes unnoticed by residents.

“We want to make it more attractive so even if people are passing by they will come in,” he said.

“We will be making a bit of a splash with the reopening, but we do want to find out more about what people want and what we can provide.”

Mike added that the museum is on the lookout for volunteers to help out once it reopens.

He said: “We’re looking particularly for stewards because the more stewards we have, the more we can open to the public.

“You don’t need to be knowledgable about local history, you can learn that, you just need to be interested in talking to people.”

To find out more about Marlow Museum visit: www.Marlowmuseum.co.uk, and for volunteering opportunites email: contact@marlowmuseum.org