Friends of the Worthing Museum

Support Worthing Museum – Join the 'Friends'

Welcome to The Friends of Worthing Museum & Art Gallery. We are an enthusiastic, well-established group who behind the scenes, and at front of house for special events, gain pleasure and satisfaction from helping Worthing Museum. If you have a passion for history and the arts please read on. With your help we could do more.

Through fundraising the Friends have been able to assist the Museum with the purchase of some fine objects of local interest. Additionally some members of the Friends do voluntary work in the museum and a number are regular helpers at special events and workshops for children. We even take care of the garden to ensure the sculpture exhibits are viewed in the best possible surroundings.

As well as supporting the Museum there are benefits for members of the Friends too which include:

Reduced admission to Friends’ lectures
Invitations to private views of exhibitions
Advance flyers of Museum events and news
Assisting to catalogue specific parts of the collection under supervision
Growing knowledge through lectures and participation
Making friends through meeting people with similar interests

Items Donated or Purchased with the Help of the Friends

From 1969 to the present in excess of fifty items including dolls, costume, ceramics, porcelain, paintings, and silver were purchased with the help of the Friends. Insert web link here to the full list. We actively promote use of the Gift Aid Scheme to maximise funds received from subscription or donation made by UK taxpayers. From 2001-2009 we have raised more than £9500.

The Friends have recently funded the restoration of the 'Queen's Prizemen' a series of 26 miniature portraits, framed together and pendant to the painting, already owned by the museum, Last Shot, which includes Alfred Cortis. The addition of the pendant has made this a very special display of local history. Alfred Cortis was the first Mayor of the Borough of Worthing and his money helped establish Worthing Museum. He was a superb marksman, one of the finest rifle shots in the Kingdom, winning £3,000 in prize-money, a hefty sum during Victorian times so the subject of the pendant and painting is particularly pertinent.

We have also supported other projects such as Friends’ Ex-President Mary Rosenberg’s fundraising in the 1980’s to install the lift in the Museum in memory of her husband Dr Henry Rosenberg. More recently we have assisted with funds for the restoration of a cabinet for display, and in 2008 the Friends donated £1500 to purchase some new conservation grade mannequins for the costume collection, which is one of the largest in the country.

2011 Programme

Members enjoy an excellent and varied programme of lectures, in the Education Room of the Museum on the third Tuesday of the month. Doors open at 2pm with tea or coffee available, for a prompt start at 2.30pm.
New members welcome - subscription is a bargain at £8 per year.
Entrance fee per meeting is Members - £1, Visitors - £2.

How Do I Become a Friend?

Contact the Museum to find out more or download the application form:

PDF File Friends of Worthing Museum - Application Form (7 KB)

And return to:

The Membership Secretary
The Friends of Worthing Museum & Art Gallery
C/o Worthing Museum & Art Gallery
Chapel Road
Worthing
BN11 1HA

Come and try us out as a visitor – we look forward to meeting you

Registered Charity No. 306341
President Mr Tony Renoi