What an excellent evening! Our speaker, Sonia Powell, the Collections Manager from Montacute House gave us a very entertaining and interesting picture of what happens behind the scenes. She was very knowledgeable and clearly passionate about her work, which always makes the evening enthralling. Between April and October a massive 72,000 people visit Montacute House! We saw a picture of the huge pile of dust which was swept from the coir door mat! We learned of the painstaking methods used to clean, care for and document every item contained in the house - and picked up a tip for anyone looking for a new career: in restoring old fabrics! Apparently there are few people able to do this, and it is very expensive! Sonia also told us about how she had been able to reclaim a portrait of the owner, Phelips, which had been presented to him by James I. The family had sold it several years ago for £34,000, a price which put it out of reach of the National Trust. However, it was put up for sale again recently at Sotheby's and thanks to a bequest from one of the volunteers at Montacute they were able to bid successfully - £195,000! - to return to to its original home.
Ater a brief break for refreshments, we watched the film of our Frome Group Olympic Warm Up! It was great fun, and really good to see just how many people had taken part (& a very active part, too!)
We are looking forward very much to next month's meeting, our AGM; a time to reflect on the past year and look forward to 2013. It will also be an opportunity for any member to join the committee; I can highly recommend it! Later, we will welcome Westfield Ladies Choir. They are going to sing to us and then allow us to join in! Someone asked if Gareth Malone will be there...... You'll just have to come along and find out!
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