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Volunteers’ hard work recognised

RUSHDEN Museum won the Best Volunteer Project at the 2019 Northamptonshire Heritage Forum Awards, which was held at Holdenby House, courtesy of James Lowther.

Other highlights included the People’s Choice, in collaboration with BBC Radio Northampton. This year included online voting for the first time and the winner was volunteer-run Sywell Aviation Museum, which tells the story of flying in Northamptonshire from the early days to the present day with particular emphasis on the Second World War.

The main award is Heritage Organisation of the Year, which was won by Daventry Museum, a small volunteer-run museum. Judges commented on their great use of resources, and their range of exhibitions and engagement activities over the year. Their commemorative Armistice tribute, The Empty Chair Project featuring a chair to represent each soldier from the town who failed to return.

The Awards were presented by local dignitaries, and included David Laing, the Lord Lieutenant. He spoke about the importance of heritage to the community, and thanked the volunteers for their dedication and passion. The Forum’s Patron Earl Spencer presented the final award to Daventry Museum and afterwards echoed David Laing’s comments. He then spoke passionately of the need to respect our heritage sites, especially the important battlefield sites, particularly Northamptonshire’s Naseby, which will be affected by HS2. He compared the importance of Naseby to that of Gettysburg in the USA, with its impressive visitor centre and museum. Naseby’s access and interpretation is sadly lacking and it is time for a campaign to address the issue.

The event was compered by John Griff of BBC Radio Northampton, and was supported by a small grant from Museum Development East Midlands.

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