Welcome to the 24 Hour Museum news in brief page for the week ending November 4 2007.

02.11.2007 - Sherborne House, Dorset, forced to close

Trustees of Sherborne House have announced that they have no alternative but to close the Grade I listed Dorset gallery after the county council decided not to grant them a 99-year lease.

The decision was made on October 31, and while the events programme is scheduled until August 2008, the centre may close as early as next spring.

Sherborne House holds the archive of Dame Elizabeth Frink and has run many Arts Council funded programmes. Its closure may mean the collection is lost to Dorset and the house will probably be sold into the private sector. The Trust hope that a private buyer can be found who will support the existing use of the building.

02.11.2007 - Victorian Society backs sale of historic women’s pleasure pool

Reading Borough Council's recent decision to look for investors to develop and refurbish one of England’s few remaining Edwardian lidos has been welcomed by the Victorian Society, the national charity campaigning for the Victorian and Edwardian historic environment.

Opened in 1903, Reading's Grade II-listed King’s Meadow open-air swimming pool was designed by Borough Engineer and Surveyor John Bowen as a pleasure bathing pool for women to complement the 1864 men’s bathing pool (now demolished) already on the site.

"We’re delighted that Reading Borough Council is working to find a viable use for King’s Meadow Pool," said Heloise Brown, Conservation Adviser of the Victorian Society. "In the right hands, this rare and fine example of a complete Edwardian lido could be a real asset for the region. There is an awful lot of local support for the pool as the King’s Meadow Campaign has shown. Now all it needs is a good owner."

For information about buying King’s Meadow Pool contact Lambert Smith Hampton on 0118 959 8855.

01.11.2007 - National Trust takes a walk through Constable Country

Fans of landscape painter John Constable can talk a walk in his footsteps with the help of National Trust guides this winter.

A four-mile guided ramble through the heart of Dedham Vale will be taking place on November 3, showing the landscape of the Stour Vallery that inspired the celebrated artist.

Starting at the Trust's Bridge Cottage, the walk will go past the site of his parent's home and along the lane that Constable used to walk to school, seeing scenes from paintings like The Hay-Wain, The Leaping Horse and Dedham Mill.

Advance booking is essential - for more details call 01206 298260.

01.11.2007 - Heytesbury lock-up restored to former glory for bonfire night

An 18th century lock-up in Wiltshire has been restored in time for its vital role in its local Guy Fawkes Night celebrations.

Work to the Grade II-listed building and scheduled monument in Heytesbury High Street, near Warminster, has included conservation work on its roof timbers, recovering of the stone slate roof and repointing and drainage repairs.

The lock-up, or blind house, is the focal point for Heytesbury’s bonfire night procession. A competition is held each year to find the best Guy made by local children, which is then placed in the lockup, known locally as the jailhouse, before being carried throughout the village streets.

Set in the garden wall of a house, the lock-up, which was originally used as a holding cell, is octagonal and made of limestone, with a conical slate roof and studded oak door.

The work cost £27,000 in total to complete, aided by a £17,580 grant from English Heritage.

01.11.2007 - Donnington le Heath looks into the Gunpowder Plot

Donnington le Heath Manor House is hosting an event explaining the background to the 1605 Gunpowder Plot and offering answers to some questions about Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators.

The event will look into the background to the plot, what actually happened and who was involved, including the role of Sir Everard Digby, Donnington's former owner, who was convicted as a plotter and executed.

Along with gunpowder demonstrations there will be displays, talks, re-enactors from the Sealed Knot, children's activities and a chance to try on period clothing.

Gunpowder, Treason and Plot takes place on November 4 from 11am to 4pm and admission is free.

31.10.2007 - Arts Council commends Creative Partnerships

Arts Council England has backed a report published by the Education and Skills Committee on Creative Partnerships and the Curriculum.

The report strongly urges the government to take creativity seriously and place it at the heart of learning, endorsing the work of Creative Partnerships, the government's flagship creative learning programme managed by Arts Council England. The programme supports thousands of innovative partnerships between schools and creative professionals, who inspire both the young and their teachers.

"I am absolutely delighted that the Committee has recognised the importance of the work that has been done over the last few years by so many teachers, creative practitioners and children," said Paul Collard, National Director for Creative Partnerships.

"We will do all in our power to implement the Committee's recommendations, in particular that our work should be made more widely available to schools and young people."

31.10.2007 - Save Pendarves Quoit campaign

A campaign is underway to restore Pendarves Quoit, a collapsed megalith to the southwest of Camborne, West Cornwall.

The Scheduled Ancient Monument is on private farmland which the campaign leaders, the Sustainable Trust charity, is negotiating to buy for community and conservation use. With the help of English Heritage, Cornwall Archaeological Unit and the Heritage Environment Service, the megalith may then be rebuilt and surrounding land used to explore ancient farming methods.

31.10.2007 – Miner’s orange from 1891 on display in Staffordshire

The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent has put a 116-year-old orange on display.

The dried and blackened fruit was taken to work by miner Joseph Roberts in February 1891, on the day that the Racecourse colliery suffered an explosion which killed him. The orange was among his personal effects, donated by his family to the museum.

30.10.2007 - Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre opens to the public

The £11.1m Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre will open to the public on October 31.

Showcasing the county's heritage, the centre will not only help people exploring their family history with parish registers and information about Wiltshire people in its extensive collection, but also houses many documents relating to the Great Western Railway and all the court records for the county.

It is also home to the county's local studies, archaeology, conservation, and museum services and provides a new base for the Wiltshire Building Record.

30.10.2007 – Elephant skull from Natural History Museum used in new gallery exhibition

An elephant skull from London's Natural History Museum has been loaned to an art gallery as part of a new exhibition on sculptor Henry Moore.

Moore was inspired by the giant African elephant skull and the exhibition, More Henry Moore, running at the Kingston College’s Penny School Gallery, explores the objects and topics that influenced his work along with contemporary art from college students.

29.10.2007 - Public Catalogue Foundation wins financial backing for North East project

The Public Catalogue Foundation (PCF) has been awarded a grant of £100,000 from the Northern Rock Foundation to uncover and record the estimated 6,800 paintings sitting in public collections in the North East.

The PCF is currently publishing a series of illustrated books cataloguing the UK’s vast collection of oil paintings, with the aim of recording and illustrating every painting in museums - together with those kept anywhere where there is at least some degree of public subsidy.

A dedicated team from the PCF will now work with staff from the North East Regional Museums Hub to record the artworks for three catalogues covering Tyne and Wear Museums, County Durham and Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and Tees Valley.

It is anticipated that the cataloguing work will be completed by January 2009 with the resulting images and data going into an online database that will be available to the public free of charge.

To date the PCF has produced 16 catalogues, documenting over 30,000 pictures. Produced on a county by county basis it is predicted that on completion of the project 75 catalogues will have been published. For more information see www.thepcf.org.uk.

29.10.2007 - Historical records 30 year rule comes under review

The Prime Minister has commissioned a review of when historical records are transferred to The National Archives and opened to public access.

This currently happens 30 years after an event, and the Prime Minister's review, which was announced on October 25, will look at whether this period should be reduced. Any changes could have the effect of speeding up access to many records.

Paul Dacre, Editor in Chief of Associated Newspapers and member of the Press Complaints Commission, will be working with Sir Joe Pilling (former Permanent Secretary of the Northern Ireland Office) and the eminent historian, David Cannadine, to review the current arrangements and put forward their proposals in spring 2008.