After four years of planning and fundraising and a 10 month closure, Amersham Museum reopened on Wednesday 12th July.
The museum has undergone a substantial expansion, into the neighbouring Victorian building. The work has resulted in the creation of a new, stunning glass reception space, new exhibition space, a wonderful activity space and new dedicated stores for the museum’s collection. The project has also enabled the museum to better reveal their medieval building, previously hidden to the High Street.
The museum’s collection has been completely redisplayed with more emphasis on the 20th century and much greater access to parts of the collection, including maps and oral histories. There are also more activities for children and discovery boxes full of objects, photos and documents.
The redisplay focuses on five key dates in the town’s history and visitors can find out about the people who lived in the town at the time, the buildings from that era and what daily life was like. Visitors can write at the 1580s desk, sit in the 1930s interior and listen to the radio, watch stills from the theatre or listen to stories in Ron Haddock’s 1960s record shop.
The museum’s wonderful garden has also been re-landscaped to enable wheelchair access and features new planting.
A wonderful activity programme has been developed for the reimagined museum, with activities for people of all ages, including a new schools programme from September. The activities kick off with a series of family activities on Saturday 15th July (free after admission).