Heritage day

This morning, after coffee with friends, we all attended the open day of the Spalding Gentlemen’s society. The society is the oldest surviving provincial learned society in western Europe. Its purpose is to promote and foster the public knowledge, appreciation and study of what may now be turned the Arts, Humanities and Sciences. The society, as its name suggests, was originally only open to men although women contributed considerably behind the scenes. However, for some time, women have been admitted to membership. The collections are large, fascinating and valuable and many well known persons such as Newton, Pope and Tennyson have been members.   It is a shame that there are not the funds to create a public museum from this amazing private collection as most of the time these treasures are hidden. The photograph includes the famous Wash tidal clock that gives the times of tides on the Wash for the purpose of crossing the river at Fosdyke. When I have a bit more time, I intend to get more involved with horological conservation in the museum. There are some fabulous time pieces including a pocket watch by Tompion and a German table clock.