Royal Visit to Braintree Museum

On Tuesday 3^rd October Braintree Museum was honoured to have received a visit from HRH The Duke of Gloucester to celebrate our 30^th birthday and the formal opening of the Warner & Sons Gallery.

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Visit Details

To commemorate the 30^th birthday of the Museum in Manor Street, Braintree and the formal opening of our Warner & Sons Gallery, HRH The Duke of Gloucester met staff, trustees and volunteers and signed a special visitors’ book.

Robert Rose, Museums Manager of Braintree District Museum Trust was “honoured that HRH The Duke of Gloucester was able to visit during the 30th anniversary month of the opening of Braintree Museum in the Victorian Manor Street School buildings. HRH was able to learn about the significant heritage of Braintree including the Roman town, medieval wool industry, Courtauld and Crittall Window industrial heritage, John Ray the father of English Natural History, visit the Braintree Build It! Brick by Brick exhibition; speak to our Victorian School Ma’am and Year 4 children from John Bunyan Primary School who sang the national anthem to Queen Victoria. We are thrilled that HRH has provided such a prominent launch to our birthday month.”

Sophie Gemma, Archivist, “introduced The Duke to some of the highlights of the Warner Textile Archive Collection, and showed HRH some textiles that had a personal connection to his family. Warner & Sons manufactured the ivory silk, woven with a pattern incorporating silver threads, for the wedding dress of Mary of Teck in 1893, HRH The Duke of Gloucester’s grandmother.” At the end of the visit HRH joined remaining volunteers, staff and trustees in the Old School Hall for celebratory refreshments and signed the visitors’ book.

Cllr Diana Garrod, Chairman of Braintree District Council said “we were delighted to be part of the visit from His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the opening of Braintree Museum in the Victorian Manor Street School buildings and to learn about the substantial contribution of local volunteers that underpins all the activities at the Archive and Museum, many of whom were able to meet HRH.”

John McKee, Chairman of the Warner Textile Archive Trading Limited commented “It was a pleasure to meet the Duke of Gloucester and celebrate the hard work and success of the volunteers in Warner Textile Archive Trading Company, the commercial arm of the Warner Textile Archive. The Archive designs are now manufactured and licensed to create modern textiles, distributed through a partnership with Claremont Furnishing Fabrics across UK and USA, supporting the mission and financial position of the Museums Trust.”

Martin Ryan, Volunteer at Braintree Museum summed up the day perfectly “I was delighted to be with everyone gathered today to celebrate the 30th year of Braintree’s gem of a Museum in Manor Street. Great to spend time chatting with Staff, Trustees and fellow Volunteers to round off a great day.”

HRH The Duke of Gloucester is the late Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin and a full-time working member of the Royal Family. HRH attends national and international events in support of The King and his duties as Head of State, as well as undertaking extensive public engagements every year reflecting his own interests and charities including the British Association of Friends of Museums.