The Barnes Wallis Exhibition, which was held at the Tithe Barn, Little Bookham, as part of Heritage Open Days, over the weekend of 10-11 September, was a great success, attracting between 750 and 800 visitors. Some had travelled quite big distances to come and a good number had come because they had connections with Sir Barnes often through a family member. Vivien White’s excellent book on Barnes Wallis was a great success, and has now completely sold out. Vivien now only has the sample copy herself having given her own personal copy to a lady desperate to get one for her husband.
The Chairman of Brooklands Museum visited the exhibition, said he was really impressed. Brooklands Museum has asked if they can use the material from the exhibition for the exhibition it intends to put on to mark the 80th anniversary of the Dambusters film next year. A new edition of Vivien’s book is also likely to be produced.
The Friends of All Saints and St Lawrence Churches did an excellent job for providing refreshments, and some lovely cakes. The money they raised will towards the very expensive job of rebuilding the north wall of All Saints Church in Little Bookham.
A few pictures from the weekend are shown below:
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- Desk welcoming visitors to the Exhibition
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- Brookland Museum volunteers
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- Exhibits from Brooklands Museum
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- Fragment of a Bouncing Bomb
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- People watching videos about Barnes Wallis
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- Posters of Barnes Wallis
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- Posters of Barnes Wallis personal life
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- Teas and Cake stall
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- Sir Gerry Acher – Brooklands Chairman