Latest News from Amberley

Charity News

Although the season is running down at the outdoors craft museum at Amberley, there have still been some events.

Detail of the planter made for and presented to the West Sussex Fire Service to say thank you for their help

On the weekend of 2nd and 3rd November there was a “Steam Punk” event there. Saturday was unfortunately a washout due to exceptionally heavy rain but the clouds cleared for the Sunday resulting in good attendance at the museum and a steady stream of visitors to the “Gin” Building where we have our displays.

Steam Punk has a number of events round the country and this was their first year at Amberley. As one would expect the dress code was different from that on other days. Black was the predominant colour, with the ladies predominantly wearing long dresses or skirts. Many were wearing spectacular glasses. They all made charming and very polite visitors. We hope they return in 2020.

On 7 December the Gin Building team was pleased to welcome Court Assistant David Adams as a new recruit to the team. He was shown the ropes and, as can be seen from the photograph on the left, he was also shown how to use the “plumbers’ ladle”; he can be seen taking a “leading” role in the production of a new item. David, you are most welcome to the team.

Our craftsmen have completed their work restoring the near duplicate copy of the planter presented to Her Majesty for her Diamond Jubilee and a short while ago we published an article on this website of it being carried by some West Sussex firemen to its new location outside the Gin Building.  To say thank you to them for their kind help, volunteer demonstrator Eddie McCourt has made a small presentation gift, which he is holding in the photograph on the right. It includes 3 excellent castings of fire engines which show an incredible amount of detail and can be seen in the main picture.

The next project is to make a bespoke lead planter and what is a more appropriate destination than the Royal Horticultural Society gardens at Wisley?  The work is being done by Liveryman Peter Cheesman and details will be revealed when it is complete and presented.  Last year Wisley had over 1 million visitors, so Peter’s excellent craftsmanship will be admired by many.