ART and archives from Rugby’s independent adult learning centre have gone on display to mark its 100th anniversary.
The Percival Guildhouse’s Centenary Art and Archive Exhibition is now open at Rugby Art Gallery and Museum.
The exhibition, at the Little Elborow Street venue’s Floor One Gallery, features paintings by students from the Guildhouse’s many art classes, alongside exhibits from the sewing and dressmaking class and the upholstery group.
The balcony leading to the gallery also features the first major display of archive material from The Guildhouse, charting 100 years of adult learning, debates and theatre.
The archive was a labour of love for Guildhouse Trustee Liz Pichon, who stumbled upon a priceless trove of material – including course programmes, play scripts, diaries and minutes of meetings – which had lain undocumented in the St Matthews Street learning centre’s basement.
A £20,000 National Lottery Grant allowed Liz and fellow volunteers to collate, catalogue, digitise and display the records, which reveal how the Guildhouse has developed and reflect changes in society locally and nationally since it opened in 1925.
Liz said: “It was only when we started to look through some of the boxes that we realised what treasures we possessed. The National Archive confirmed that we had material of national significance.
“The archives tell many different stories about the Percival Guildhouse and its wider contributions to the heritage of Rugby and surrounding districts.”
The Guildhouse, located around the corner from the gallery, is Warwickshire’s only standalone, independent centre offering classes in arts and crafts, wellbeing, languages, history and many other subjects.
The exhibition is free and open to the public during usual gallery opening times until Saturday June 14.
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