FRIENDS OF THE GALLERY & MUSEUM NOVEMBER ZOOM TALK: 'THE STORY OF BENJAMIN CURSLEY'

 

FRIENDS MONTHLY ZOOM TALK: 'THE STORY OF BENJAMIN CURSLEY'
In the second of our virtual talks, David Brown will be recounting his travels in Australia as he uncovers the history of little-known Benjamin Cursley.

Yes, sadly, we are in another, hopefully shorter, lockdown, and face-to-face meetings seem still a long way off.  But launch zoom from your member link email, and join the Friends for an online monthly talk by Chair, David Brown.  Keep informed, and keep in touch.

All welcome.  All friends have received an email with a link.  Get in touch with your usual contact  if you haven't had an invitation or renew your membership asap and join in.

The Friends' talks resume - by Zoom

The Friends of Kettering Art Gallery and Museum have relaunched their talks programme - suspended because of the Covid-19 epidemic.  For now, talks will be by Zoom, with invitations sent to all current members.  The first talk will be on the 20th October.

Friends Vice Chair, Phil Steele will cast a cultural eye over the 17th Century, and the world of 1645, the year that etched the name of a small Northamptonshire village on the timeline of world history.  Naseby. The age of the Baroque ... of Rubens and Inigo Jones, of Velazquez and Bernini - and an age of unexpected treasures around the world.

February 19th 2020 7:30pm

Weds 15th January

Armistice commemorated

(11 11 2018 ... Kettering remembers)

November saw the centenary of the end of the Great War ... Armistice Day, the 11th day of the 11th month fell on Remembrance Day ... and there was a good and special turn out at the War Memorial outside the Art Gallery

Just over a week later, Phil gave the monthly talk at the Gallery on the theme of 'Armistice! 100 years on' and ga ve a brief account of what prompted the end of hostilities and how we have marked that (both then and now) ...

Members of the audience had been encouraged to bring in family objects special to them, and time was set aside at the end of the talk to enable people to come up and share a few thoughts related to their objects.

The Friends of the Art Gallery and Museum greatly appreciated people taking the time to support this, and thank them for bringing things along.

November Friends Talk, all welcome

Conserving Alfred East paintings ...

The newly conserved painting of Lake Bourget returned to the Alfred East Gallery in 2017

Over recent years the Friends of Kettering Art Gallery and Museum have helped fund a significant programme of conservation of the large canvasses that make up the national Alfred East collection.

Michaela Straub has written about her work on the paintings here

July talk at the Gallery - discovering history on your doorstep

Wednesday 20th July ... coming soon ...

Next Wednesday ... at the Art Gallery ... 7:30 ... come early and have a glass of wine or cup of tea/coffee ...

7:30PM Wednesday 15th June at the Art Gallery

The Art of War ... May's Friends Talk at the Gallery

May's Friends talk at the Gallery is Phil Steele's The Art of War ... in the anniversary year of Agincourt, Waterloo and Gallipoli,  we take a fascinating look how art has depicted military themes across the ages ...

Thursday 21st May, 7:30 pm, Alfred East Art Gallery, Kettering

£3.00 on the door or free to members of the Friends

Battle Anniversary Pictures

It was nice to see a few Friends of Kettering Art Gallery and Museum amongst the small gathering of heritage enthusiasts for the anniversary of the 1460 battle of Northampton.

Members of the Medieval Siege Society attended in period costume to lay red and white roses in honour of the fallen, then happily posed for a variety of publicity shots and for visitors.

Local battlefield historian Mike Ingram gave a potted account of the battle from golf course side of the monument (from which vantage point the papal legate Francesco Coppini watched and recorded the events) ...

(members of the Friends gathered on the fringe of the golf course listening to the narrative) 

This is the view they enjoyed.   Coppini's account would mean the battle took place between this elevation and Delapre abbey (in the middle background) ...

(a view of the battlefield from the Eleanor Cross today)

(a similar view as it may have been in 1460, in a new reconstruction by artist Matthew Ryan)

The event benefited from a degree of national new coverage (BBC News) which may well prove important as Northamptonshire's diverse heritage seems very much under pressure these days.   Kettering Art News will keep you posted.

Thanks to Northampton Battlefield Society for inviting us along.

Thanks to Matthew Ryan for permission to include his painting of the battlefield (Matthew Ryan Historical Illustrator)

Northampton Battlefield Visit 2013

The Northampton Battlefield Society and Medieval Siege Society are hosting an anniversary visit and walk on the evening of 10th July.  Friends of Kettering Art Gallery and Museum are welcome to attend.

The MSS will be wearing 15th Century costume and will lay a wreath at the Eleanor Cross, and there will be a guided walk on the battlefield (which we can now assume lies between the cross and Delapre Abbey)

Meet at the Delapre Abbey car parking at 6:30 

(contact me by commenting or via the Friends if you need further information - if we know you are coming we can make sure we don't move off without you).   

(the Battle of Northampton reconstructed by Simon Chick)

A collection will be made on behalf of the Battlefields Trust

Friends Kagam visit Naseby Battlefield

(guide Ian Dexter explains the history of the Naseby Obelisk)

On Sunday 5th August a party of Friends of Kettering Art Gallery and Museum joined forces with The Battlefields Trust for visit to the site of the famous battle which, in 1645, settled the English Civil War.

(weapons demonstration at the Rupert Viewpoint)

Highlights of the visit included a firearms and equipment demonstration by reenactors, and an opportunity to drive down to the recently opened Sulby Hedges viewpoint (which is usually only accessible on foot).

Blessed with better than expected weather, and fortified with lunch at the Bull's Head in Clipston, our visit was guided by Ian Dexter of the Naseby Battlefield Project.

(umbrellas had to make a brief appearance at Sulby on an occasionally overcast day)

The visit included all the major battlefield vistas, and the monuments ... the Obelisk, near the village, The Cromwell Monument which marks (more or less) the Eastern end of the New Model Army infantry, and the brand new 'Blewcoats memorial' just opposite on Broadmoor, near to where Prince Rupert's Regiment stood 'like a wall of Brasse' while the Royalist army fled the battlefield.

(the Blewcoats memorial: click on any of these images for a larger version)

The tour ended at Moot Hill, just outside Sibbertoft (assemby ground of the hundred of Rothwell in Saxon times, and where Charles is said to have planted the Royal Standard) ... here, and on adjacent Wadborough, the remnants of Charles' army offered their last resistance.

Check the events list for future Friends' excursions.

Naseby Exhibition at the Manor House Museum

This temporary exhibition - upstairs in the Museum - focusses on the Battle of Naseby in 1645.  There are a number of information panels, and exhibits from authentic period armour to artefacts recovered over the years from the battlefield.

A browse around the two rooms will give visitors a guide to the conduct of the war, the armies engaged and the tactics of the battle in 1645 - in addition to an overview of the 17th Century's position in history and warfare.

The exhibition is on until 26th May and is free.

more details on the exhibitions page 

Backing up the Naseby theme, John Kliene gave an interesting lunchtime talk at the Gallery on May 11th ... on the role of Battlefield Archaeology.

Actually, John's very interesting point was that Battlefield Studies is a discipline invloving three key components ... Contemporary Accounts (traditional documentary history as we might have done at school); Battlefield Walking (actually getting to know the landscape in order to understand what the resources tell us) and Archaeology (surveying, metal dectecting etc.) ...

A battlefield like Naseby's emerges into perspective when the light combines from these specialist analyses.

You can find out more about the work of the Naseby Battlefield Project at Naseby.com