Petworth Cottage Museum
The First Twenty Years
In 2016 we were able to stage an exhibition to celebrate twenty years of the museum. Extracted from the Petworth Society's scrapbooks of cuttings, the pictures and transcripts collected here occupied three sides of the exhibition hall. Five years on we cannot stage another physical exhibition but we can show these cuttings here. Unless otherwise stated the cuttings are all from the Midhurst & Petworth Observer. Click on the pictures to enlarge.
40 The Story of
Petworth told through Flowers
20th August 2015
It was a first for St. Mary's Church, Petworth and a spectacular festival of flowers filled every corner telling the story of the historic town. No aspect of community life was left out from the beginnings of the ancient November fair to Petworth Festival and all its sporting life. It was the brainchild of Alison Follis, who heads the flower arranging team in the church and who led the Petworth team displays at four Chichester Cathedral festivals. “We all love Petworth and there is so much ammunition for arrangements that I started to list the things I wanted to promote from the beam pump to the cottage museum, Petworth House and its connections with Petworth and the old railway station.” It took months of research before the 50 strong creative team of arrangers, painters and designers were finally able to put their plans together. The result was 20 spectacular scenes and the festival was launched with a visit from 300 invited guests who toured the festival and were then invited to a reception hosted by Lord and Lady Egremont in Lady Egremont's private garden. The festival included a scene of visiting artists: “We have all heard so much about Turner recently and there has also been a Constable exhibition at Petworth House,” said Alison. There were also floral displays featuring the war memorial and the Boys' School memorial. A scene from Petworth Park was depicted and there was another section on 'the joy of singing'. A celebration of weddings in the town attracted much attention with an interpretation of the 'wedding of the year' featured in Picture Post in 1954. It was the wedding of Mary Clegg and David Dallyn who were married at St. Mary's and who still live in Petworth. Also included was a scene of the modernising of the church: “It's a bit of a passion of mine that churches need to change with the times,” said Alison. “We have had many lovely comments from people who really know about flower arranging. “The festival was my idea but it was executed beyond my dream.”
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