June 8th - Ashdon Museum

Our June meeting was an afternoon visit to Ashdon Museum. As the weather was glorious, we sat outside and indulged ourselves with tea & delicious cake from the café before going into the museum.

Glen Miller, curator, had started collecting objects as a young schoolboy and built up quite a collection over the years. By 1995 it was decided the collection should be safeguarded for the future and became Ashdon Village Museum. A committee was formed, and charitable status gained. In 1999 the building, where it is now housed, was purchased with money given by kind individuals.

From the moment you step inside you are transported back in time. Each exhibit tells a story, from Ashdon Halt railway, the post office, butchers, forge and much more. Even the toilet houses a collection of medicines, and our treasurer, Carol, blended into the jam making exhibit very well even without a hat and pinny! We all recognised items that parents or grandparents had owned, which caused much chatter and laughter.

Top of my list of displays had to be memorabilia from Ashdon WI, formed in 1918.  A membership card, copy programmes, badges, a tablecloth to mark the 1953 Coronation, a scrapbook, and an exquisitely embroidered verse of Jerusalem were included.

A photograph of an outing to the coast by Charabanc, which became an annual event in 1926, leaves no doubt in my mind that the ladies of Ashdon WI certainly knew how to have a good time!!

Tricia Ager, Programme & Media