WHAT’S ON
PLACES TO GO, THINGS TO DO
Raise your tankards as Lowewood reopens The wait to return to Lowewood Museum in Hoddesdon is nearly over, with the venue set to open its doors again after more than a year on Saturday 17th July. As Axis has been reporting, a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes and the museum is now being run by the newly formed Lowewood Museum Trust CIO (Community Interest Organisation) set up by local volunteers who were determined to keep the museum going after Broxbourne Council announced it could longer afford to run it. With effect from its opening day, the museum will be open on Fridays and Saturdays from 10am to 4.30pm and admission will still be free. Teas and coffees will be available in its ground floor area and there is space to sit outside in the museum’s rear garden area. The opening exhibition is called Tankards and Taverns and will tell visitors about local pubs past and present. It will include photographs of pubs, alehouses and inns going back as far as 1900 and these will feature alongside paintings of pubs created by members of BArts, Broxbourne Arts Forum, many painted during lockdown. Also on display will be a selection of pub and brewery-
Ericka Waller
Lowewood’s opening exhibition features local pubs including The Four Swans, Waltham Cross and The White Swan in Hoddesdon
related items, including pieces borrowed from McMullen’s Brewery in Hertford. And there is a chance to find out more about the nationally significant Tudor wall paintings at The Star pub in Hoddesdon High Street, which were uncovered during renovation work in 2014. Children (and adults) are invited to take part in the museum’s
Design a Pub Sign art challenge or sit and colour in pub signs inspired by local pubs and designed by artist and museum volunteer Suse Nielebock. The exhibition will be showing until Saturday 6th November. Lowewood Museum can be found in High Street, Hoddesdon EN11 8BH. Call 01992 554496 or visit lowewoodmuseum.com for more information.
Gallery at Parndon Mill has first ‘offline’ exhibition in a year The Gallery at Parndon Mill in Harlow is now showing its first physical exhibition since the Covid lockdown first hit us. Called, appropriately enough, Offline Exhibition, it includes paintings, prints, sculpture and crafts by the mill’s resident artists and regular exhibitors and includes some of the pieces currently showing in its online gallery. Work includes landscapes, seascapes, abstract paintings,
Author events to act as a taster for next year’s Herts Book Festival
prints, sculpture, glass and ceramics. You do have to book an appointment to view, and the gallery is open Tuesday to Friday 10am-5pm and Sunday 2-4pm. Other times may be possible – book via info@parndonmill.co.uk (preferred) or by calling 07745 871257. The Gallery at Parndon Mill is in Parndon Mill Lane, off Elizabeth Way, Harlow CM20 2HP. Visit parndonmill.co.uk for details.
From a print by John Durham
The Book Nook in Ware is organising its first Herts Book Festival in May 2022 and, to offer a sneak preview of what book-lovers will be able to enjoy, it is hosting a series of author events on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th July. These talks will be free, celebrating books and the people who write them. On Saturday 10th July, Agents of the Wild is an author talk and book signing for children with Jennifer Bell and Alice Lickens which takes place at Southern Maltings arts centre in Kibes Lane, Ware from 1.30-4pm. Then, in a YouTube Live event from 8-9pm, the best-selling author and Iraq War veteran John Nichol will be taking part in a Q&A session, discussing his latest book, Tornado: In the Eye of the Storm. On Sunday 11th July, author Ericka Waller will be discussing her book Dog Days at The Book Nook itself at 65 High Street, Ware from 1-4pm. Later that day, in another YouTube Live event, A J Pearce, best-selling author of Dear Mrs Bird, will take part in a Q&A session to mark the publication of her sequel, Yours Cheerfully, which continues the heartwarming story of wartime journalist Emmeline Lake. For further information, contact The Book Nook by calling 01920 467597 or by email to info@booknookshop.co.uk. axis magazine 21
