Friends of Keswick Museum
Friends of Keswick Museum was formed in 2003 to allow anyone, who wanted to save Keswick Museum and Art Gallery from closure, to add their voice and weight to the efforts of the Keswick Museum Steering Group.
Membership is open to anyone - you can use the application form - for members there is a Winter Lecture Programme as well as the opportunity for help in the Museum as a Volunteer Steward or behind the scenes.
However under the able guidance of Sally Newton and the committee much, much more has been done.
The Friends persuaded Allerdale Borough Council (the Museum's Trustee) to allow opening FREE in 2004, with members of the Friends acting as Volunteer Stewards. The experiment was a great success with visitor numbers doubling and donations significantly exceeding the previous revenue from entry fees. The model was continued equally successfully in 2005 and it is expected that 2006 will be on the same basis.
The Friends took over, with the Duty Officer (Jamie Barnes), the work of the (now regretfully redundant) Curator in arranging interesting new monthly exhibitions and events. 2006 Exhibition programme.
They have also arranged with Elizabeth Bott, widow of George Bott, to republish his book on the history of Keswick - "Keswick: The Story of a Lake District Town" (price £15, with one third going to Friends' funds. It is published by Bookcase, has 212 pages and is on sale at Bookends in Keswick, and at the Museum.
1 December 2005