Imagine a solid sphere of iron hurtling towards you at 250 mph! Welcome to historical warfare! Among the exhibits at Crawley Museum is what appears to be an English civil war cannonball. It’s a 3.1 lb hunk of metal, which is now pitted and rusted, held together by wire, but…
Over the past few years Crawley Museum have been asked to host work experience students from schools and colleges in the surrounding area. This year we hosted 4 students over June and July. Each student came in for between 3 and 5 days depending on their school requirement and got…
Volunteering at Crawley Museum has given me the opportunity to peek behind the curtain of how a museum functions and what work goes into organising and storing exhibitions. I had a very romantic idea of how museums looked behind locked doors, and still do to some extent. Thanks to modern…
It began with a talk to the U3A by the then curator of Crawley Museum, Helen Poole, and the late Gillian Pitt. They were giving us an up-date on the move from Goffs Park House to the new premises in “The Tree”. After the talk a clipboard was passed round…
It is with great sadness that we have to tell you that Nick Sexton passed away on 6th January 2021. Nick had been a guiding force for the Museum since it began, and had fulfilled a variety of roles. With his wife, Angela, he took the lead in making…
E.W.Henbery MBE 28th August 1931-13th December 2020. We are sorry to report that E.W.Henbery MBE, well known for his leadership in the restoration of Ifield Watermill has died aged 89. Known as Ted, he led a team of volunteer workers from the time soon after the land incorporating the mill…
We are sad to report that Eunice Clement died on 1st May 2020 aged 91. She leaves three daughters, Catherine, Sorrell and Louise.The cause of death was Covid-19 pneumonia and she died in hospital. The funeral was led by Roger Baker of Ifield Quaker Meeting on 26th May. (If you…
The move to the new museum buildings at The Tree is an exciting time for anyone interested in local history, and offers a good opportunity for people to get involved in researching and talking about the development of Crawley. This is especially so as it coincides with the 70th anniversary…
I’m a Londoner. I lived in Horley for 25 years and moved to Crawley 10 years ago, but my roots are still in London therefore it was with apprehension that I turned up for my first event as a volunteer for Crawley museum. ‘Don’t worry’ said Andrea, ‘the people who…
The door to local history opened wide for me when I joined Crawley Museum Society (CMS) 28 years ago – initially attending monthly meetings and trips to local museums. Roger Bastable the late local historian, asked my husband Michael and I if we would use one of our lorries to…