News Letter [issue 49] - Museum Update

Museum Update

Ravensbury Mill:

The damaged windows at Ravensbury have been letting in the weather for some months now [57.3kb]

Our plan to submit a Project Planning grant application came to a dead stop because of a change of rules, again, by the HLF. However they have been addressing the problem for us in a most encouraging way, and, with the help of London Borough of Merton (at no financial cost, luckily) we hope to solve this. In the meantime it is depressing to see the state of the proposed museum buildings, and can only hope maintenance work will be done before it is too late. The Ravensbury Mill community have now installed their security gates, so we can no longer visit the site even informally.

Displays:

The hole at the bottom of the street door is now so large it is possible to put the camera through it to picture the inside [56.1kb]

We are continuing to work within the Museum, and Meg Thomas and Marguerite are going through our collections of display material to organise these more logically, and make the works of our predecessors available for exhibitions more easily. In doing so we are pleasantly surprised to rediscover lost gems. One of these is the delightful oil painting of Grove Mill in Mitcham, by Wimbledon artist Clive Abbott, painted in 1952 when he was only 18 or 19. Clive Abbott achieved fame as the artist who won the competition to design the Post Office Tower commemorative stamp in 1965 - the first English Postage stamp to carry the name of its artist. The work is entitled ‘Watermeads', and the chain of ownership on its reverse reads:

Watermeads at Mitcham [78.2kb]

"Watermeads" at Bishopsford Road on the boundary of Mitcham and Morden (now under National Trust) Painted by Clive Abbott in 1952. "This was given to me [Charles Cunradi] by Mrs Patterson, Wimbledon, on 21111!58, and the scene visited with her 23/7/59. It is much built around now, and the scene was hardly recognisable any longer! (See my letter to Clive Abbott of 24/7/59) and possibly to the National Trust later." "At the death of Charles Cunradi in 1964, this picture came to me, Audrey Courtenay." "On the death of Audrey Courtenay in 1971 this picture came to me and I gave it to the John Evelyn Society. L. Banley-Howett."

It was subsequently transferred to the Wimbledon Society who, in turn donated it to us in 2000. (Accession No LDWIN 2000.7).

The recent redevelopment of Grove Mill gives us the excuse to mount this delightful picture as a temporary exhibit in the main display area.

For an article with plans showing the layout of this site in its industrial period, see Related article

Block Printing:

Those who have enjoyed our block printing demonstrations will have seen the short film on the art of Silk Block printing made by the Shaw-Smiths under the Irish Film Corporation logo. The tapes are getting scratchy, and we were wondering how to protect them. Luckily, Mary has been able to get hold of Sally Shaw-Smith, and has purchased a DVD of the original film for her own collection, but has obtained the permission from Sally to make back up copies for the Museum to replace those which have become worn out. The film is part of the ‘Hands' series, which records many of the fast disappearing hand crafts of Ireland and the UK. These are available from Sally by mail order at prices from E50 upwards depending on length, so, if anyone is interested, we will forward a copy of the catalogue.