A major project is changing how Spalding Gentlemen’s Society will tell the story of its collections when the museum reopens in spring 2027.
The Society has received £45,880 from Art Fund, the national charity for museums and galleries. The funding has enabled plans for the first large-scale redisplay of the collections in more than a century.
Called Museum Reimagined, the project brings together young people, early-career heritage professionals and volunteer ‘Collections Champions’. The team is selecting objects, researching their history, recording their condition and developing new ways to explain their importance to visitors.
Volunteers recording the details behind the objects
Keith Davis, a community volunteer involved in the project, began volunteering with Spalding Gentlemen’s Society at the start of 2026 after retiring from an engineering career the previous year.
His work includes documenting walking sticks from the collection. For each item, he takes between eight and 12 photographs, focusing on damage and other details that could help future researchers and conservators.
“I take between eight and 12 photographs of a walking stick to record any damage or anything that’s been done to it.”
The photographs are intended to preserve information in an accessible system for people studying the collection decades from now. They can also help the conservation team assess the condition of artefacts and decide what work may be needed.
The records could support academics and students researching individual objects, including those working on dissertations. Davis said his interest lies not only in what an object looks like, but in how it was made, developed or painted.
“The object is the end result. But how did that object come to be? What did it take to actually make, develop, or paint it? That’s the interesting part.”
Alongside the photography, Davis has worked with about six or seven other volunteers to clean a large world map. The work took around three weeks, with the group testing brushes and soap sponges before finding that very fine rubber scrapings were the most effective way to remove the dirt.
Connecting Spalding’s collections with local history
The project is also examining how the Society’s artefacts reflect the development of the region and the experiences of people who lived through earlier periods.
As part of the Victoria County History project, Davis is researching weather. Historical records of harsh winters, high winds, flooding and disease can help show how environmental events affected crops, food supplies and communities before modern infrastructure was available.
The research includes the major floods that affected Spalding in 1947. The project’s wider aim is to make these connections clearer, so visitors can understand the stories behind objects rather than simply viewing them as individual items.
“People walk around museums and think, ‘That’s nice’, but I also like to know the stories behind the artefacts.”
The Society says the new approach will help explain the importance of its collections and make them more accessible to the public.
A reopening intended to benefit the town
Davis said reopening the museum would give people the chance to reconnect with Spalding’s history, Maurice Johnson’s work and the Society’s collections.
He said he had not heard of Spalding Gentlemen’s Society before moving to the area, and believes greater public awareness would benefit both the museum and the town. He would like to see large posters advertising the reopening displayed in empty shop units in the run-up to spring 2027, creating what he described as a positive and joyful presence.
The Society also highlights volunteering as a way to support wellbeing and mental health. Davis said he would like to see stronger links with local colleges and schools, with fewer barriers for people who want to engage with the collections.
“I would say to anyone thinking about volunteering, come and give it a go!”
People interested in volunteering can email [email protected] or visit the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society volunteering page. Further information about Museum Reimagined and Society membership is available from the organisation’s website.