The Museum is now closed for the Winter, but there is much work going on behind the scenes. We are creating a separate archive and study room that will house our ever expanding family and local history archive. John Baker and Phillip Calvert have moved in and we hope that the work will be completed before the snow comes! Gill Savage one of our volunteers is helping set up the new archive system and we hope to be training new recruits for manning this resource in the Spring. With this in mind we have asked Marion Moverley to give us a couple of study sessions on local history archives and their potential 'Delving into the Archives' - this will be scheduled for Saturday 31 March 1-4 pm and Saturday 21 April 1-4 pm 2012. Do contact us if you are interested in attending this.

We are already planning our Spring exhibition with the Richmond and Leyburn Embroiderers' Guild - on the theme of 'Commemoration'. If you have historical pieces that you might like to lend to us, then do give us a call.

One of the most exciting projects this year will be working with the accomplished etcher Tessa Asquith Lamb. As a friend of photographer Stuart Howat whose stunning black and white 'Dales Portraits' we showed last year, Tessa has been a regular visitor to the Museum. At Stuart's private view we got chatting about her new work and we both thought that an exhibition in the Museum was called for. Tessa says:

"I would like the show to combine my existing etchings with some new work and papercuts/sketches which directly relate to the museum's wonderful collection. I really like the idea of showing how objects relate to my work. Using museums and galleries as inspiration is something I have always done, but showing my work actually inside a museum will be something new for me and I would like to use this show to demonstrate how the objects I use relate to my own life and also about their own histories and stories."

One of Tessa's etchings 'Love Returned' based on a pair of silk wedding slippers donated to the Museum by the Lynehams in 2010.

Tessa first began etching during her foundation studies at York College, and continued to experiment in this medium throughout her five years at Edinburgh College of Art and Edinburgh University. So we are thrilled and delighted that she will be showing a range of her work, some made especially for the exhibition which will open in May.

Thanks to the vigilance of one of the Friends of the Museum we have been able to obtain a copy direct from source of a Swaledale bank note. We are preparing a new panel on the subject of this fascinating and long forgotten bank for our new displays which will be open at Easter this year.

For further information or to be put on our mailing list contact Helen Bainbridge, Swaledale Museum, The Green, Reeth, North Yorkshire DL11 6TX. Tel: 01748 884118. See our website www.swaledalemuseum.org for the most up-to-date information, or e-mail museum.swaledale@btinternet.com