Lockdown Diaries Knutsford Heritage Centre

To keep all our businesses fresh in our minds (and not just the shops!) we’ve been asking a few of them to tell us more about themselves; how they are getting on during lockdown and what they are missing most about our town.

As part of our Lockdown Diaries Sandra Curties, Town Centre and Marketing Officer for Knutsford Town Council spoke to Val Bryant of Knutsford Heritage Centre.

About us

Knutsford Heritage Centre is a registered charity run entirely by volunteers with a Board of Trustees to manage our business. We are tucked away on King Street near The Courtyard Coffee Shop. Our volunteers have various backgrounds, skills sets and subsequently we are lucky to have a diverse range of skills to keep our centre running smoothly. All of us were very proud to have won the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2018. We are lucky to have an archivist who is working hard to record our collection in accordance with modern museum requirements and storage conditions. This is a huge help as we work towards achieving Museum Accreditation.

Did you know the collection which we hold in ‘Trust for the Town of Knutsford’, now comprises over 13000 searchable records?! We would love to have more space for our archives, to expand and to cater for schools and groups better than we currently do.

Keeping the centre in the forefront of the community

Over the years our exhibitions have focused on local history such as ‘ The Story of Knutsford – the first 1000 years’, ‘The Inside Story – of Knutsford Gaol’, ‘ Edward Penny’ a founder member of the Royal Academy who lived in Silk Mill Street, and ‘ The Three Forces – Army, Navy, Paratroopers’. All our exhibitions are well received especially The Inside Story of Knutsford Goal – people are always interested in that side of life!

This year we had planned to put on an exhibition about ‘VE Day – Knutsford Remembers’, but obviously that has been shelved due to Lockdown. We know that would have been one of our most popular exhibitions and it is lovely how the Knutsfordians are still planning to celebrate the day safely at home. We also have been sharing our exhibition with the community, via the Knutsford Guardian, and our Facebook group Knutsford Heritage Centre Forum. Being closed has given us a little more time to get round to the jobs we’ve not had time to do. So, we’ve been updating and improving our PowerPoint presentations and talks. We give lots of talks at the centre (often linked to our exhibitions) to various local organisations, such as the WI, historic groups and local care homes. If any organisation is interested in such talks get in touch. We’d love to meet you.

Our message for the town’s businesses

We are very proud that we have over 13000 visitors each year. These visitors who then go out into the town and spend money in the shops and restaurants which is fantastic for the whole community. We are missing every business and familiar face that makes up this little town. We love being in the centre of Knutsford yet tucked away with our little garden which is an oasis especially in the summer months.

When we re-open and our facilities improve, we hope to increase the number of visitors. Knutsford is such a close-knit community and every shop and business in town needs to support each other. The jewel in our crown is The Millennium Tapestry displayed on three large panels. It is extremely popular with visitors. It features many of the shops and businesses in the town that were around as the new millennium dawned. If you haven’t visited us or seen this amazing piece of work – please come and see us when it is safe to do so.

What we miss most about not being open

So many things but at the top of the list is meeting and chatting to our lovely visitors. It is lovely to chat to them and tell them about our centre and the town – to first time visitors we are often their first stop before they start exploring Knutsford. We also miss our volunteers although we are keeping in touch via our monthly newsletter bulletin and our WhatsApp group.

When lockdown is over where will the Heritage Centre be?

We will have a big party to celebrate, and then come together to drive the Centre forward into the 21st Century.