Thank you everyone who came to the Friends Christmas Party, it was wonderful to see so many people. We managed to slip it in just before the first (and lasting) snowfall of the Season! Special thanks to 'Five Pearls and a Piano' who entertained us with great verve and made sure we all sang in tune to the carols!. John Baker has done an excellent job pointing the exterior of the Museum, which looks very handsome and we thank the Friends of the Museum for raising the money to do this. It had become an urgent job. We hope that by the time you read this Phillip Calvert will have laid a new floor in the Museum, in our campaign to make it a warmer place! New displays are being installed ready for our Easter re-opening on Good Friday.

Don't forget the Friends of the Museum talk on 17th February, 2pm in the Reeth Methodist Chapel Schoolroom by Helen Bainbridge on 'Prehistoric City in Swaledale!'. Antiquarian Discoveries in Swaledale'. This lecture was inspired by a D&S headline reporting on the excavations carried out by Edward Fawcett at Muker in 1930. We will be looking at archaeological evidence reported from the 1700s. The March talk will by Duncan Bythell on 31st, his subject 'Swaledale: A Rural Backwater? Change and Decay 1890-1950'. This will be the last talk held in the Reeth Methodist Chapel at 2pm before we revert to our evening timetable in the Museum in April.

Our Knitting Cafe will meet at Margaret Abson's in Reeth at 2pm on 25th January and 22nd February. We will be discussing our strategy for 'Woolfest', to which we have been invited to demonstrate, on 26th June.

We hope you noted the Northern Echo article on News Year's Day reporting on our latest acquisition, the handsome Swaledale Tournament of Song shield, whch was discovered during a clear-out of an old chicken shed near Topcliffe. It was acquired by the Swaledale Festival who kindly donated it to our Museum. We want to know more about the Tournament (the shield covers the years 1907-37), and why it ended up in Topcliffe, are there any photographs out there?

Swaledale Tournament of Song Shield. Photograph Courtesy of Doug Jackson, Northern Echo, Janaury 2010.

Thank you all those who have come forward with information about local samplers for our Spring show: 'A Stitch in Time - Samplers from the Dales - Past and Present'. This exhibition celebrates the art of the sampler from the 1700s to current work from the Richmond and Leyburn Embroiderers'Guild. The Swaledale Museum in Reeth is delighted to continue the partnership with the Guild established last year. Examples of their accomplished and inspiring work will be set in the context of historic samplers loaned from all over the Dale, on public show for the first time.

'Sincerity', Swaledale Museum.Photograph Courtesy of Needleprint

As usual if you have any information or enquiries contact Helen Bainbridge at the Museum on 01748 884118 or e-mail: museum.swaledale@btinternet.com

You can download the latest friends newsletter here.

Don't forget that if you like the Museum alot you can stay overnight (or the week) in our linked cottage, the income from which helps keep us open!

We wish you a Happy New Year