I’ve been privileged to work recently with the team at the Trowbridge Museum on developing how they will evaluate the impact of their exciting Onwards and Upwards Expansion Project which will begin this summer and see the Museum closed until 2020.
On this project I collaborated with Helen Horler of Culture Force – always a great way to work – pooling skills and resources to ensure the client gets the best result.
What makes freelancing so great is the window it provides into new teams and organisations and I love getting to know how each team ticks, what makes them so special, exploring new collections and finding out more about communities that they work with.
Trowbridge at one time was know as the “Manchester of the West” because of the large number of mills creating woollen cloth. These structures still have a huge presence on the town and the houses of the clothiers who owned and managed the factories are impressive buildings in this relatively small town. Indeed so impressive are they that Pevsner in his Buildings of England described them as “palaces”.
One of the aims of the project is to tell the story of Trowbridge in the industrial history of England and the West Country. This is 
an essential aim as Trowbridge has experienced a period of economic decline following the closure of the mills and other businesses such as the Ushers Brewery and Bowyer’s sausage factory. Many people are unaware of this industrial past.
The Project will see an expansion of the Museum into another floor of the former Salter’s Mill giving it more space to tell Trowbridge’s story and to create a better temporary exhibition space to assist in the museum’s long term sustainability.
It has been so great to work with the team. We are currently gathering base line data so that they can measure the impact of the Project in the months and years following the reopening. I am looking forward to following their progress and supporting them throughout the development.
Onwards and Upwards!!
Beth Thomas, Heritage Consultant 