Surrey Heath Museum
A history of the service
The history of Camberley Museum, later Surrey Heath Museum, began on 10 September 1935, when the first Honorary Curator, George Poulter was appointed. The first display space was in the old Frimley & Camberley Urban District Council offices on London Road, Camberley, these offices were designed by his architect uncles, Harry and Briant Poulter.
The first collections were based on George’s own items and those donated by Mr Frank Stallwood, military bootmaker.
From that time onwards, the museum has always been a service funded by the local council, reflecting the desire to preserve and celebrate the area’s long heritage.
The Museum has been rehoused five times, faced three closures and been renamed twice. Yet it has survived for over 90 years and developed into a busy heritage service running events, exhibitions, school workshops, reminiscence sessions, holiday workshops, local walks and talks and a research enquiry service. Its collections total over 30,000 items, many of national and arguably, international importance. This is the story of Surrey Heath Museum and the people behind it becoming a unique local museum with a lot of heritage and heart.
Surrey Heath Museum in The Square Shopping Centre, CamberleyThe Museum’s story began with a bequest from Mr Frank Stallwood – a collection of books and drawings and funds to buy a display case. Then, as now, the items were deposited in the museum’s care, for the public benefit.
Our mission statement today reflects this intention – “Surrey Heath Museum collects, maintains and makes accessible the local archive and artifacts of Surrey Heath for local residents and researchers, without discrimination and minimal environmental impact”.
Initially the museum occupied two small rooms and a corridor of the former Frimley and Camberley Urban District Council Buildings, London Road, Camberley – known as Camberley Museum.
Early Days
Maxwell Knight
Frimley & Camberley Urban District Council Offices London Road, Camberley
Miss Hilda Rendle, School’s Organiser
It closed during World War Two, but reopened with its collections enhanced by important donations from Camberley Natural History Society, led by George Edward Lodge, a famous bird illustrator, and Maxwell Knight, a leading naturalist and broadcaster. George Poulter retired in the 1950s and was replaced by Miss Hilda Rendle, an eminent local natural historian.
She was given the title of School’s Organiser to reflect the museum’s educational work. Former Assistant Curator, Mary Bennett, remembered “I can recall visiting the Museum as a child and it was predominately a natural history collection then with a little geology and just a few household items”.
George Edward Lodge
Changing Homes
The Museum continued to thrive and in the late 1960s was rehoused in a Victorian house called ‘Newstead’ just off Knoll Road, sharing the premises with the local Art Society. In the 1970s, Mrs Maureen Rendall took over from Miss Rendle and the museum team became three – Curator, Museum Assistant and Museum Attendant.
The Museum housed in a former shop, London Road (The Avenue pub was next door)
1974 Saw the creation of Surrey Heath Borough Council, and by the 1980s Newstead’s site was requisitioned to build the new Civic Offices (Surrey Heath House). The Museum was temporarily re-housed in a former shop on London Road, with the collections stored in a large portacabin at the rear, where they were catalogued with the help of a Youth Employment scheme. By 1984 no staff remained and consideration was given to closing the Museum but local pressure through a Museum Action Group led to a decision to ‘mothball’ the service. In September 1985 Sharon Cross was appointed as Curator, joined later by Assistant Curator Sue Roggero (succeeded by Dawn Webster) and Museum Attendant Tony Woodcock (succeeded by Dawn Keenan).
The Museum was housed in Newstead
Now renamed Surrey Heath Museum, the service re-opened with a remit to establish a full exhibition, education, events and outreach service covering the whole Borough; to also act as an art gallery where possible, and to expand the collections accordingly. Meanwhile the team worked towards the creation of a new Museum within Surrey Heath House, with the expert help of designer Peter Ney. This opened in 1987 and to coincide with the move, the Friends of Surrey Heath Museum (FOSHM) was formed to raise money for conservation and important purchases and providing invaluable volunteer support, especially during a 5 year staff vacancy in the 1990s. In 1992 the museum was awarded Registration Status by the then Museums & Galleries Commission. In 1996, local historian Mary Bennett, joined the team, expanding the local history service. When Dawn Keenan moved on, the Attendant’s role was filled by a succession of enthusiastic agency staff, all making a welcome contribution to the Museum’s work.
Sharon Cross remembering her first day in 1985
“I was taken down to the Museum and left to get on with it, so decided to explore the floor to ceiling mountains of boxes in the store. On reaching the top of the ladder, with my head pretty well at ceiling height, I peered over the edge of the top-most-tea-chest and came nose to nose with a very large stuffed kudu head. Not sure which of us was more surprised…”
Sharon with Bernard (left) and Broadcaster/Naturalist Chris Packham
Mary Bennett
In 2010, the service was again facing closure and Surrey Heath Museum Action Group (SHMAG) was set up (from FOSHM) to campaign for the museum’s future. They opened a heritage gallery in the shopping centre to raise its profile and their campaigning, meant the museum survived a second time. In 2009 Mary decided to retire after 13 years and in 2011 Sharon retired after 26 years.
Sharon and Mary have became synonymous with the museum and worked tirelessly to turn it into a prominent, well used and high quality local museum service, playing key roles in documenting Surrey Heath’s past.
Today’s museum
From January 2012, the museum entered a new period of development and direction with Curator Gill Riding and many new faces and names, each leaving their mark on the museum – Georgina Salmon, Sally Bills, Verity Parker, Kathy Joice, Mick Bacon, Nick Clifton and Nikki Fereday. The museum has grown from strength to strength and so have the collections, all donated by local residents. The museum needed to reapply for Museum Accreditation (lost in 2010), this time with the Arts Council and continue to provide exhibitions, events and outreach activities in schools, care homes, historic walks, talks and community projects. An army of volunteers was recruited to help with this.
The Current Museum Team
In 2017, the museum faced a third closure threat, however, this turned into an opportunity to move to the town shopping centre and join with the newly formed Surrey Heath Museum and Heritage Foundation (formerly SHMAG) in June 2018. The collections remained stored at Surrey Heath House, but the museum displays moved to a shopping unit in Obelisk Way, Camberley. One of only a few museums nationally occupying a shopping centre location! Gill and Kathy remain, joined by local boy, Oliver Street and over 35 volunteers helping with visitors, collections and events. In this location, visitors and community engagement has increased threefold (c.10,000) and there have been improvements in collection accessibility and the visitor experience.
The Museum’s Heritage Supporters’ Group visiting Royal Holloway College
2026 is another phase of local government reorganisation and the museum faces a period of uncertainty and hopefully opportunity, as it becomes part of West Surrey County Council. In 2035 it will celebrate its 100th birthday.
A Frog skeleton from our collection
A young museum visitor