Coleford Sunday School Banner
Radstock Museum has a new exhibit: a huge and colourful Victorian marching banner once used by a local Sunday School in parades on high days and holidays. The exhibit is the culmination of two years of work in which the museum volunteers have worked with professional designers and conservators to repair, restore and display the 140 year old painted silk banner.
The display is supplemented with interactive digital interpretation which is packed with images showing the banner’s conservation story, the banner in use, the meanings of the painted images and the wider history of such banners. It even includes child friendly on-screen jigsaws!
The restoration of the banner was carried out by Textile Conservation Ltd (see image below). Work on the banner was made possible with the aid of a substantial grant for remedial conservation from the Association of Independent Museums / Pilgrim Trust Grant Fund with additional support from the Rackvernal Old School Hall Trust (ROSH).
The banner is being conserved with the aid of a grant from the AIM Pilgrim Trust Conservation Scheme
