On Wednesday 16th March we held our AGM at St Michael and All Angels church, it really was wonderful to see our friends, villagers and supporters in person after the past few years have put our AGM on hold.
We thank Rob, Tom, Linda and our Chair, John, for their hard work and contributions to our museum over the past years as they step down from the committee. And would like to welcome our new committee members Phil, Ceri and Jackie, who we very much look forward to working with.
After a year of closure in 2020, we managed to obtain the Hallaton Treasure Travelling Exhibition for 2021. This amazing exhibition allowed visitors to explore this Iron Age mystery through the words of the people who discovered it as well as view the beautifully preserved gold and silver coins from the 2,000-year-old site. It was very fitting for our Museum to host this most local of historic finds. Over 360 visitors came to see this exhibition which, although lower than normal, was a good result considering the restrictions and uncertainty of the pandemic.
As well as hosting this amazing exhibition, 2021 had other highlights: St Morrell’s Round was launched - a circular pilgrimage of about 18 miles, inspired by the medieval pilgrimages made to St Morrell’s chapel on the hillside near Hallaton.
We have also been privileged to host another fascinating talk from Mathew Morris from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services who did a couple of talks for us last winter, most memorably “The king under the car park”.
Also, after many, many months of work, we have finished the new Historic Village Trail leaflet which is a wonderful and very informative walk around the many historic buildings and places around our beautiful village.
Fundraising included the ‘Magic Squares’ competition led by Linda.
Grants have included £2500 from the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society for the updating of the Treasure Display. In 2020, we had grants from HDC and Hallaton PC for the refurbishment of the museum. Following on from a six month programme Museum Development East Midlands we have also been awarded a grant which will see our Oral Histories project come to life, which we will introduce in the coming months.
As you can see, it's been a busy year behind the scenes for the museum despite everything going on in the world and we very much look forward to welcoming our visitors this season when we open our doors and introduce you to our exhibition Hallaton Castle : the finest motte and bailey castle in Leicestershire.

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