New gallery to open on Friday

WARRINGTON Museum & Art Gallery will open the doors to its newly refurbished gallery – the Cabinet of Curiosities – this Friday, January 24.
Following 18 months of refurbishment thanks to a £672,500 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the gallery will open to reveal an exclusive collection of new artefacts and the old “friends”, which had been put into storage while the space was refitted.
Executive Board member for Leisure, Community and Culture at Warrington Borough Council, Cllr Kate Hannon said: “We are extremely pleased that the Museum has benefitted from the Heritage Lottery Fund in a way that Warrington will benefit from in years to come – this funding has helped create a true legacy for the town.”
This exciting project was launched to turn Warrington Museum’s Gallery 7 (the old Bird Room) into an exciting new space to showcase some of the bizarre and wonderful items in the Museum’s collections and involve local people in creating the new displays.
More than 80 colourful birds and other taxidermy items have been primped and preened by specialist natural history conservators ready for their starring role. They will be on display alongside old favourites such as the Woolston seal and more exotic creatures like the giant anteater in a new interpretation of the old gallery’s menagerie. Also on display is the virginal – an early keyboard instrument similar to a harpsichord, which was recently restored for a recital by Lymm High School students.
Under the guidance of leading conservation architects Buttress Fuller Alsop Williams the main contractors Conlon have transformed the space with much hard work behind the scenes from Museum staff but with minimum disruption to the public. Museum staff faced a race against time to fill the high-spec display cases installed by Meyvaert who have worked on major projects such as the historic Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
The Cabinet of Curiosities project has enabled the museum to bring nine honorary curators on-board to curate the rich potential of the museum’s collections to tell stories and make people think (a separate press release about the honorary curators will follow).
Janice Hayes – Manager of Warrington Museum & Art Gallery said: “This is an important moment for the museum and we’re all very much looking forward to the official opening of the galley. We hope the public will find as much enjoyment in the ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’, as we found in putting the displays together.”
As part of the celebrations, the Museum will open on a Sunday (26th January) for a special family fun day, from 1pm-3pm, with free craft activities celebrating Lewis Carroll’s Birthday weekend! This is the museum’s first Sunday opening for almost 20 years so don’t miss this chance to be part of this special occasion!