CANCELLED - all ticket holders will be contacted (15/5/25)
Simon will be talking about the Museum of British Folkore, its fascinating folk collections and developing Un/Common People with the museums of Wessex: Swindon Museums, Wiltshire Museum, Salisbury Museum, Poole Museum and Dorset Museum.
The Museum of British Folklore is the UK’s first ever museum dedicated to the seasonal customs and events of the UK. It’s also a collection in search of a home! Simon will talk about the museum’s collections early beginnings in 2009 and give an overview of its many exhibitions, including the blockbuster about folk costume, Making Mischief, at Compton Verney in Warwickshire, and looking at how Un/Common People: Folk Culture in Wessex came to be.
Why folklore? Folk culture has seen a resurgence of interest in recent years, with more and more people getting out to celebrate the turning of the seasons, singing, dancing, processing, telling stories and making marvels. Simon’s been fascinated with folk customs and lore since he was a teenager, saying he finds it, ‘fantastical but real’. He’s been a member of the Gay Bogies, a Jack-in-the-Green troupe in Hastings, and he brings his experience as an artist, art director and exhibition designer to all his projects. He’s worked in the fashion industry with Alexander McQueen, and put on exhibitions in places as diverse as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and off-grid in a forest in Argyll.
Simon is the director of the Museum of British Folklore, and one of the team of curators of our Wessex Museums Partnership exhibition Un/Common People: Folk Culture in Wessex.
Date: Saturday 17 May
Tickets: £10 (£8 WANHS members) – booking essential.
Time: Start 2.30 pm
Location: Wiltshire Museum
Accessibility: The lecture will take place in the Museum's lecture hall, located on the first floor. This is accessible via a platform lift. More details about accessibility can be found here.
Parking: there is a small car park to the rear of the Museum buildings. Please park with care and consideration to ensure as many vehicles as possible can use the space.
Terms and Conditions
Unless sold out, online bookings will close at 9 am on the day of the event.
Booking for events
Cancellations, Refunds and T&Cs
No responsibility can be accepted by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society (the Society) for accidents or injury sustained during the course of any event arranged by the Society.