Historic society needs support

The Spalding Gentlemen’s Society is urging people to use its historical museum more as it looks to attract grants to secure its 300 year history.

The Broad Street institution boasting many thousands of artefacts will now be open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm with entry free.

It’s part of a bid to get more visitors in as 1960s extension to its premises has a major structural problem.

“As a charitable organisation relying heavily of grants, many of which are determined by the number who visit and our wider engagement with schools, community groups and many organisations, SGS is heavily reliant on its visitor numbers to help grant applications,” the centre’s Heather Violett said. “While exploring the amazing museum collection, you are also helping with its future survival in Spalding.

“Feedback from visitors to date has been amazing. The extended opening times are part of the SGS’s many activities to encourage people of all ages to explore and engage with this very historic museum and the amazing collection and information it contains, first established in 1710 by Maurice Johnson, a barrister, who lived with his family at Ayscoughfee Hall.

“Unfortunately, the 1960s extension to the museum has become a major structural problem and the SGS is now in need of major grant funding and donations to deal with it.

“Attracting visitors to the museum is an essential requirement of that funding.

“The SGS has the second oldest collection in provincial England, the Ashmolean Museum being the first.

“That Spalding should have such a gem is remarkable.

“The name is historic and women were not excluded at that time, but, sadly, in Victorian times it became something of ‘Gentlemen’s Club’. That situation was finally dealt with when Petronella Keeling, as Deputy Lieutenant of Lincolnshire, became the first female member of the Society in 2005. It took a few more years for the SGS to openly invite women to become members but now relies heavily on many women volunteers for its work and Petronella is the chairman of the SGS Council.”

The museum is also entirely run by volunteers.

Anyone interested in donating their time to volunteering can get in contact with the museum.

There’s plenty more information at www.sgsoc.org or you can view their social media channels on Twitter at @sg.soc, on Instagram at sgs1732 or email outreach@sgsoc.org

* The society’s lectures return in January with two wildly different talks.

Tales of the medieval court in Lincoln and a look at the development of artificial intelligence are the first two topics in 2013.

It all starts on Friday, January 13 when Dr Martin Rovers provides the talk Cases in the Medieval Ecclesiastical Court in Lincoln.

A spokesman for the society said: “Dr Roberts is a former solicitor and author with a PhD in history from the University of Nottingham.

“He is particularly interested in the work of ecclesiastical courts in England and the lives of lawyers who worked in them during the late medieval and early modern period (approximately 1450 to 1640).

“He also examines many other aspects of 15th and 16th-century social, religious and legal history.”

It’s followed on January 27 by the Artificial Intelligence talk by Professor Simon Parsons, the head of school for computer science at University of Lincoln.

“He has been a researcher in AI for more than 30 years examining how intelligent systems make decisions, whether on their own, in groups, or in conjunction with humans,” the spokesman continued.

“At Lincoln he has been particularly interested in the application of AI and Machine Learning methods for robotic harvesting and robotic phenotyping.

“All are welcome to attend both lectures.”

Spalding Gentlemen’s Society lectures are held at Broad Street Methodist Church, Spalding and start at 7.30pm with an admission charge of £3 each at the door (no charge for students/school pupils). More information on the lecture programme 2023 can be found on the SGS website at www.sgsoc.org under the events tab calendar.