Runnymede Literary Links to be explored in forthcoming exhibition
Chertsey Museum is delighted to announce that it has received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £10,000 for an exciting project exploring the literary connections of the Borough of Runnymede. Made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, the project will enable the museum to work with author and illustrator James Parsons to produce a new exhibition at Chertsey Museum for Easter 2022.
Chertsey Museum is the local authority museum for the Borough of Runnymede, and collects, displays and interprets the history of the towns of Addlestone, Chertsey, Egham and the surrounding areas.
The Borough of Runnymede has a rich and interesting history which is explored at Chertsey Museum. There are over 40 literary connections across the Borough – from Oliver Twist coming to Chertsey to commit a burglary to resident authors such as Mary Shelley, Agatha Christie, Nina Bawden, and Bill Bryson.
Author and artist James Parsons will create 40 original illustrations for the exhibition in various styles from Manga to anime to a good old-fashioned comic book look! The National Heritage Lottery Fund grant also enables the museum to offer our local youth club and secondary schools a free 4-hour workshop with James, showing pupils how to design and create their own cartoon storyboards.
Museum Curator, Emma Warren said, “I am so thrilled to receive this grant, and thank all the National Lottery players who made this happen! Local authors could be quite a dry subject for an exhibition, but by working with James Parsons we can ensure that it will be fun and engaging for visitors of all ages. He will also be running activities in our local secondary schools, youth centre and here in the museum, so that children and young adults will have a chance to learn how to illustrate their own stories”.
Illustrator James Parsons said, “I’m delighted to be helping realise this project with Chertsey museum – after many years non-stop teaching, and, during the pandemic, running hundreds of virtual sessions, this is a great opportunity for me to return full circle to the pure joy of creating artwork again (as well as a chance to inspire local young people with some awesome workshops!), something which I rarely have time to do these days as my teaching diary is always so busy! I can’t wait to really get stuck into the artwork! Without books I’d never be doing what I do, as English literature was always, strangely, my first love, the diving board from which I bellyflopped by luck into the weird and wonderful world of comics – a place where great stories, and illustration collide with a ginormous SPLAT!”