Weybridge History – Elmbridge Museum

The Museum’s Present: ‘Outreach Museum’

Our mission statement is to ‘engage people with their past, present and future by collecting, preserving and presenting selected and significant objects from the history of Elmbridge, for the purposes of learning and enjoyment.’ In June 2014, Elmbridge Museum closed the doors of its permanent gallery to the public and became an ‘Outreach museum’. What do we mean by this? We are continuing to provide an active and vibrant Museum service that meets the needs of our various local audiences, in a way that is more accessible, relevant and cost-effective than we have been able to do in recent years.

We at Elmbridge Museum are now based at the Civic Centre in Esher, from where we will continue to provide the services below. This website is your first point of call to access these services:

 

• The preservation and documentation of over 40,000 objects and archives on behalf of the Borough. We are in the process of moving the Collection to a new purpose-built store at the moment. Once it is all unpacked, artefacts will be available to view by appointment, making stored objects more accessible than they have been in the past.
• We are expanding our temporary exhibition programme at key public locations across the Borough throughout the year, displaying the Museum collections and bringing local history right into the heart of the community. Our latest display space opened recently at the Civic Centre in Esher – keep an eye out on our What’s On page to see where we’ll pop up next.
• The Learning and Outreach programme for schools and community groups has been revitalised and expanded. Our Learning services are being made more widely available to various groups in the community. Go to the Learning page to find out more about what we offer to schools and other groups.
• Family Fun craft activities and events – Our popular Family Fun craft activities and events will continue – the What’s On page will give you all the information you need to find out where and when these activities will be held.
• More of the Collection will be accessible on the Museum website through a powerful search engine, allowing you to discover a wealth of information and images relating to local historical artefacts. It will mean you can freely explore the collection and will provide a new way to explore the Borough’s past. The Collections page is where you will find this fascinating resource.
• Local History Enquiries – Unfortunately, due to a recent staff restructure and security control issues at the Civic Centre we are currently unable to deal with local history enquiries. In the future we hope to recruit volunteers to re-start our local history enquiry service, but for the present we are unable to help.

Tailored Sessions

If you are interested in an area of our collection or just curious to see how we can help with a school project, then do feel free to get in touch for an informal
conversation.

Art and Craft Family Fun At Elmbridge Museum

Elmbridge Museum is holding a series of Family Fun events once a month on a Saturday. Sessions normally run from 2.00pm – 4.30pm. Although booking is not necessary, we operate on a first come, first serve basis, so come early to avoid disappointment!

Children must be accompanied by an adult. A charge of £1.50 per child applies.

Elmbridge Museum’s Past

Elmbridge Museum initially opened in 1909 as the Museum for Weybridge, and has operated as Elmbridge Museum since 1974.

The origins of the Museum dates back to the late 1800s. The Weybridge Literary and Mutual Improvement Society was formed to inspire ‘the artisans and working class of the village’, which they sought to do through public exhibitions.

In 1909 the Weybridge Urban District Council opened the Museum for Weybridge, dealing initially only with the Weybridge area. The remit widened to include Walton following the political amalgamation of the Walton and Weybridge Urban District Councils. Eventually the collection of the Walton based museum, established by Mr Percy Webb, was moved to Weybridge after the Second World War. Following the war the Museum reopened on the first floor of the original building, as the Weybridge Library moved in downstairs.

Elmbridge Museum was in the centre of Weybridge, above the library, but this venue has now been closed as a Museum.

Share Your Memories and Photos of Weybridge and Surrounding Areas

Photos and memories from the community and contributions from historians to all about Weybridge are welcome. We can share these with the local community.

Please email your information, memories or photos to info@allaboutweybridge.co.uk or phone us on 01483 771 345.