Media release: 30 April 2025

  • Your Worcester is a brand-new permanent exhibition at the Art Gallery & Museum celebrating the story of Worcester.
  • Your Worcester features favourites from the museum collection together with new objects added by the community itself.
  • All stories and objects have been selected by Worcester people, based on their own unique passions and interests.
  • Find out more: https://www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk/

A brand-new, free, permanent exhibition at the Art Gallery & Museum is celebrating the story of Worcester through the words of those who live in it. Your Worcester features favourites from the museum collection together with new objects added to the collection by the community, all with a link to Worcester’s long and rich heritage.

Funded by Arts Council England all stories have been selected by Worcester people, based on their own unique passions and interests. From the top ten items in Worcester’s collection voted for by residents including the iconic Worcester pear which can be spotted throughout the exhibition and the teeth of King John to the city’s connection to Lea & Perrins to the new objects donated and curated by the community including a celebration of Worcester City Football Club and the clothes from Windrush arrivals to the city, the exhibition is designed by the community, for the community.

David Nash, Museums Worcestershire’s Curator of Social History said: “Your Worcester is not a potted history of Worcester. It aims to tell the story of a city through the words of those that know it best… the people that live in it. This pilot project is built upon five years of work discovering what local people want from their museum. If community groups could not, or did not, engage with their city museum, we worked together to understand why and our new exhibition is a space that we hope will feel welcoming to all.

“Our entire journey has been fuelled by what Worcester people have said is important to them and their city. This is just the beginning of a new way of working for us, work built around a very simple sentiment…. ‘tell us about Your Worcester.’”

Ginny Lemon, who has contributed costume to the exhibition said: “I love Worcester, I love where I am from. From a young queer person’s perspective there is always the temptation to go to bigger cities…..but for me, I love the surrounding area, I love being surrounded by friends and family and just the beauty of the place. It has a kind of magic, I always say it’s the magic that rolls off the hills from the Shire that keeps me here.”

Alongside the Your Worcester exhibition there is the opportunity to book in for a series of Talks and Tours including ‘Stewards Chemist Shop High Dosage Talk’ taking place on the first Friday of every month at 11am and again at 2pm and / or ‘Your Worcester Gallery Tour’ from September on alternate Saturdays at 11am and again at 2pm. These Talks and Tours cost £4.50 and should be booked in advance.

Your Worcester is a Museums Worcestershire project funded by Arts Council England, with support from The Esmee Fairbairn Collections Fund.

Worcester communities with a story or object to share can post their details via a post box that be found in the Your Worcester gallery or contact Museums Worcestershire via social media.

Entry to the museum is free. Opening times are Tuesday to Saturday, 10am – 4pm. Sundays, 10am – 3pm. Closed Mondays and bank holidays.

Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum
Foregate Street
Worcester WR1 1DT
https://www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk/

ENDS

 

For further information contact Helen Annetts, PR on behalf of Your Worcester on 07779 026720 or email HelenLAnnetts@hotmail.co.uk

Images available here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/o9ub91v5egrjno5hadjaa/AGmu_c_ddcTO81J12ZtlW98?rlkey=zwbyd0jtbb6km0zzfv6d5tg83&st=nmrkjsrg&dl=0

Listing

Your Worcester
Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum
FREE

A brand-new permanent exhibition at the Art Gallery & Museum is celebrating the story of Worcester through the words of those who live in it. Your Worcester features favourites from the museum collection together with new objects added to the collection by the community, all with a link to Worcester’s long and rich heritage.

From the iconic Worcester pear which can be spotted throughout the exhibition to the teeth of King John to the city’s connection to Lea & Perrins, a celebration of Worcester City Football Club and the clothes from Windrush arrivals to the city, the exhibition is designed by the community, for the community.  Funded by Arts Council England all stories have been selected by Worcester people, based on their own unique passions and interests.

Entry to the museum is free. Opening times are Tuesday to Saturday, 10am – 4pm. Sundays, 10am – 3pm. Closed Mondays and bank holidays.

Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum
Foregate Street
Worcester WR1 1DT
https://www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk/

Events

Stewards Chemist Shop High Dosage Talk
First Friday of every month
11am & 2pm
£4.50 (10% off for members*) book via: https://museums-worcestershire.arttickets.org.uk/worcester-city-art-gallery-museum/talk-stewards-chemist-shop-high-dosage-talk-67e173b032b73

What secrets does the Victorian Chemist’s Shop hold? Take the High Dosage Tour with a chance to see items that are not usually on display in the hidden realm behind the Dispensing Screen.

Your Worcester Gallery Tour
Starting 6 Sept, alternate Saturdays from then
11am & 2pm
£4.50 (10% off for members*) booking available soon.

A guided tour of the new permanent display, Your Worcester. Find out about Worcester, it’s astonishing history and changing traditions and what they mean to the people who live here now.

*Worcester Art Gallery & Museum Members.


Acknowledgements:

Your Worcester is a Museums Worcestershire project funded by Arts Council England, with support from The Esmee Fairbairn Collections Fund.

Pear’d up with…..

This work would not have been possible without partnership and co-curation from:

Team Ginny Lemon – Lewis Mandall, Tom Mandall & Jack Collingridge

Worcester Afro Caribbean Society

Worcestershire Care Leavers Team – Worcestershire County Council

Worcestershire Children First – Worcestershire County Council

The University of Worcester

Worcester Community Services – Worcester City Council

Worcester City Football Club

Worcestershire County Cricket Club

Worcestershire Black Cultural Association

 

Individual and invaluable content provided by:

Lami Adeosyn, Dr. Murray Andrews, Eltayeb Bashar, Joanne Best, Matt Ella, David Hallmark, Dr. Pat Hughes, Tim Jones, Lewis Mandall, Tom Mandall & Jack Collingridge, Mel & Tyler, Margaret Nash, Bill Needham, Partick Palmer, Suki Pantal, James Parker, Nathan Parker, Garston Phillips, Judith Prett, Louise Price, Julian Pugh, Councillor Jabba Riaz, Katy Rooke, Celena Rossano, Lisa Smith, Eloise Spence, Malcom Steward, Mark Strain, Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum Members

…and everyone who gave their time to speak to us, post, or give feedback that helped shape Your Worcester.

 

About Museums Worcestershire

Museums Worcestershire is the joint museum service of Worcester City and Worcestershire County Councils. It comprises three fantastic venues– Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum, The Commandery in Worcester and The County Museum at Hartlebury Castle.

The collections and exhibitions at our sites are many and varied, covering centuries of the county’s history right up to the present day. Thousands of objects, including the historic buildings themselves, are brought to life through innovative exhibitions and events throughout the year.

www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk