Dale Chihuly, Thames Skiff, 2005, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Photo by Terry Rishel
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Members' Events Special members'-only events Members of National Heritage are invited to the following exclusive events. For tickets, please contact Liz Moore, the Administrator, via the contact page or by filling in this form. Numbers are limited to 40 to all events, so tickets will be issued on a first come, first served basis.
 http://www.southwark.gov.uk/DiscoverSouthwark/heritageandhis Address: Old Walworth Town Hall, 151 Walworth Road, London SE17 1RY Telephone: 020 7525 2332 Opening Hours: Tues-Sat 10-5. Closed Sundays, Monday and Bank Holidays Private Tour & AGM, Thurs 19 November 2009, 5.30pm The Cuming Museum is the home of the worldwide collection of the Cuming family and the museum of Southwark’s history. It houses a diverse collection that includes archaeology, ethnolgraphy, social history and natural history. A mix of permanent and changing exhibitions tells the story of the Cuming family and the history of Southward from Roman times to the diverse communities of today. The Cuming Museum is the result of over 100 years of collecting by father and son, Richard and Henry Cuming, who collected everything from ancient Egyptian artefacts to paper bags their bread came in. When the collection was left by Henry Cuming to the people of the parish of St Mary Newington (now the Borough of Southwark), money was also left for the building of a gallery to house the collection Price: Members free, their guests £12.50 each Date: Thurs 19 November 2009, 5.30pm  http://www.thelightbox.org.uk/ Address: Chobham Road, Woking, Surrey GU21 4AA Telephone: 01483 737811 Opening Hours: Tues-Sat 10.30-5, Sun 11-5, closed Monday but check website for Bank Holiday Mondays Members' Private Tour, Wed 21 April 2010, 6.15pm National Heritage members and their guests are invited to a private tour of the winner of the 2008 Museum Prize, The Lightbox, Woking. It was initiated in 1993 by a group of 70 people who began campaigning to open a museum and art gallery in the town. More than 10,000 members of the public donated money and treasured family possessions for a permanent display entitled the Woking Story on the history of Woking and environs. As well as Woking Story, the building houses an ambitious programme of exhibitions, which changes monthly. The judges of the Museum Prize said the museum, designed by London Eye architects Marks Barfield, had two of the most exciting gallery spaces in South East England. Sue MacGregor, chair of the judges said, “Woking may sound a slightly unlikely place for a brand new museum, but we were instantly impressed by The Lightbox – by the fine design of the building itself, by its international and local collections and by the general air of enthusiasm and professional attention to detail shown by the staff and its many volunteers”. In April 2010 the temporary exhibitions will be the Surrey Open and Fans – Quite a mixture! Price: Free to members, their guests £12.50 each Date: Wed 21 April 2010, 6.15pm  www.rbgkew.org.uk/ksheets/mnorth.html Address: Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, Surrey, TW9 3AB Telephone: 020 8332 5655 Members' Private Tour, Wed 23 June 2010, 6.15pm The Marianne North Gallery at Kew reopens Autumn 2009 after a complete refurbishment. After a successful exhibition of her paintings in a London gallery in 1879, Marianne North conceived the idea of presenting them to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. She also generously offered to provide a suitable building in which to display them. Her architect friend James Fergusson designed a T-shaped building with a verandah around the outside, which mirrored her feelings for India. Its design is also reminiscent of a Greek temple, satisfying Fergusson’s own ideas on an intense level of natural lighting from large clerestory windows high above the paintings. Miss North took charge of the hanging herself, arranging them in geographical order over a dado of 246 vertical strips of different timbers. Astonishingly, Miss North then embarked on yet further journeys. Just two months after the opening of her Gallery, she travelled to South Africa, where many more paintings were undertaken. In 1883, she was in the Seychelles and in 1884, despite ill-health, she was painting plants in Chile. These additional works were added to the Gallery and today the walls are virtually solid with paintings - there are 832 of her oil paintings all told, showing over 900 species of plants - a unique memorial to an equally unique woman. Marianne North retired to Alderley, Gloucestershire, where she died on 30 August 1890. The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art is the first gallery in the world to open year round dedicated solely to botanical art. The gallery showcases art from Kew’s unique historic collections as well as Dr Sherwood’s contemporary collection of botanical art. The two collections, which complement each other, allow Kew to show to the public many of its largely unseen treasures and there will always be a changing selection of contemporary works on exhibition from the Shirley Sherwood Collection. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew holds one of the world’s greatest collections of botanical art, totalling over 200,000 items. The Shirley Sherwood Gallery enables visitors to see many precious and unique works of art, by masters of botanical art such as Georg D. Ehret, the Bauer brothers and Pierre-Joseph Redouté, together with nineteenth century artists such as Walter Hood Fitch one of the most prolific botanical artists. The controlled environment in the new gallery also enables Kew to collaborate with other institutions that hold rich collections of botanical art such as the Chelsea Physic Garden, Natural History Museum and many international libraries. Price: Free for National Heritage members, their guests £12.50 each Date: Wed 23 June 2010, 6.15pm
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