Welcome to the Events page
What follows is a chronological list of what is currently planned by way of visits to places of interest, gallery talks, Behind the Scenes visits in the city, Saturday afternoon talks and special events where the Friends will have a presence.
Following that will be any online events that the museum service is organizing.
We hope you will find things to interest you.
Please note: if you book online, the payment receipt from PayPal does not mean that you have secured a place. The organizer receives a weekly update of such payments and will email you to advise when you have a firm booking.
Also, Behind the Scenes visits and gallery tours are usually restricted to groups of around 15. If such an event attracts a larger number of applications, the organizer will try to arrange a second (or more) tour(s), which could be at a later time on the advertised day or on a later date. If this occurs, the organizer will contact you to make the appropriate arrangements.
Museum Winter Lecture: Colonial History – Two Country Walks Through England’s South West
Professor Corinne Fowler opens up the colonial dimensions of local history in South West England.
Empire transformed English rural lives in so many ways that colonial history presents a challenge to the idea that phenomenon like enclosure, agricultural labour and land struggles were an entirely domestic matter.
This talk opens up the colonial dimensions of local history in South West England, concentrating on two country walks through the Cotswolds and Dorset. The first walk is an Indian walk through Gloucestershire and the second explores the history of the Dorsetshire labourers, known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs, and their experiences of British penal colonies in modern day Tasmania and Australia.
The talk will show that colonial activities overseas, and incoming profits, changed the lives of the rural poor. These histories, usually considered separately, continue to shape lives across Britain today.
Speaker: Corinne Fowler is Professor of Colonialism and Heritage in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. In 2020 she co-authored an audit of peer-reviewed research about National Trust properties’ connections to empire, which galvanized the heritage sector to address its colonial stories and became a major media story. The report won the Museums and Heritage Special Recognition Award, 2022 and an Eastern Eye Award 2023.
The lecture is free, but you will be encouraged to make a donation. It is available as an in-person talk at M Shed or an online livestream. To register for a place / livestream link, via the Museum’s website, click here.
The Museum Winter Lecture series is sponsored by The Friends
Visit: The Herbert Museum & Art Gallery, Coventry
A chance to see the result of The Herbert Museum’s £1.2m refurbishment for Coventry’s year as City of Culture in 2021.
The 1950’s cathedral deigned by Sir Basil Spence stands opposite and is well worth a visit for the works of art it contains.
For petrol-heads, Coventry Transport Museum is a reasonable walk away.
Cost: £42.50 per person
Non-members are welcome if there is space on the coach. Please contact the organizer to check.
For postal applications, please use the booking form enclosed with the December newsletter.
Organizer: Richard Avery, membership@friendsofbmga.org.uk, o117 329 6656.
Behind the Scenes: Trymwood Studios
An introduction to Trymwood Studios, a small studio and gallery in the oldest part of Westbury-on-Trym, set up by two friends to celebrate art and nature. They work with artists who are equally interested in the natural world and nature conservation and use their scientific knowledge to reflect this in their artworks.
Cost: £8.50 per person
For postal applications, please use the booking form enclosed with the December newsletter.
Contact: Carol Ouvry, carol@ouvry.myzen.co.uk, 0117 302 1039.
Museum Winter Lecture: Why Are We So Fascinated By Ancient Egypt?
Pharaonic Egypt has an enduring hold on the popular imagination that few other ancient civilizations can match. Glamour, mystery, fear and a strange sense of familiarity have combined to create both an intoxicating mirage – but also a monolithic ‘museum culture’. This lecture interrogates the child-like wonder of first encounters with ‘Ancient Egypt’, its various influences in Western perceptions and explores the circularity of influences between museums and popular culture.
Speaker: Dr Campbell Price has been Curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum since 2011. He studied Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, where he is now an Honorary Research Fellow.
This is the last Winter Lecture of the series.
The lecture is free, but you will be encouraged to make a donation. It is available as an in-person talk at M Shed or as a livestream over Zoom. To register for a place / the livestream link, via the Museum’s website, click here.
The Museum Winter Lecture series is sponsored by The Friends
Illustrated Talk: Pioneers – The First Policewomen in Bristol
Alan Vowles, Force Historian at the Avon & Somerset Police HQ, will talk about the creation of the role of policewomen in Bristol, the individuals who were attracted to it, their trials, tribulations and careers.
This talk is re-scheduled from September 2024.
Cost: £9.50 per person including refreshments.
For postal applications, please use the booking form enclosed with the December newsletter.
Contact: Catherine Dixon, blackrockcfd@hotmail.com, 01275 849200.
Visit: Court Barn Museum of Craft & Design, Chipping Camden
Court Barn Museum is run by The Guild of Handicraft Trust, which aims to preserve and promote the work of artists, designers and craftspeople working in the north Cotswolds. It has done so since 1922 and collected work relevant to this theme.
As part of our trip we shall be taken on a short tour of the High Street and visit Hart Silversmiths.
Next door is St James’ church, one of the finest ‘wool’ churches in the country, with much of the current building dating from the 13th & 14th centuries. It will be open during our visit to the town.
Cost: £45 per person; Art Fund members: £43.50
Non-members are welcome if there is space on the coach. Please contact the organizer to check.
For postal applications, please use the booking form enclosed with the December newsletter.
Organizer: Richard Avery, membership@friendsofbmga.org.uk, 0117 329 6656.
Date for your diary
Spring lecture & Lunch with Fran Coles, Conservation Manager at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.
Booking details will be in the March 2025 issue of the newsletter.