2020 2019 Heritage Services Annual Review - For learning, inspiration, and enjoyment - the Roman Baths
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2019
Heritage Services
Annual Review
2020
For learning, inspiration, and enjoyment
2 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
2019/20 at a glance
Visitors
-3%
2019/20 +/- 2018/19
Roman Baths 1,163,129 -3% 1,202,491
Fashion Museum 99,900 1% 98,784
Victoria Art Gallery 187,629 0% 187,563
Total 1,450,658 -3% 1,488,838
£24.7m
income
£62,012 £45 £103
£9.6m net profit per Heritage
Services staff member
Net income
per B&NES
Net income
per B&NES
profit resident household
13%
increase on
last year
53,126 people attended private or
civic events at our venues 124
film days facilitated
by Bath Film Office
contributed an
estimated £2
52,417 565,772 million into the
people attended learning and items sold in our local economy
community events museums’ shops
The Roman Baths & Pump Room
South West Tourism Excellence Awards:
Large Visitor Attraction of the Year GOLD
International Tourism Award GOLD
Accessible & Inclusive Tourism Award GOLD
Bristol, Bath & Somerset Tourism Awards:
Large Visitor Attraction of the Year GOLD
International Tourism Award GOLD
Accessible & Inclusive Tourism Award GOLD
Autism Friendly Award 2020
VisitEngland Visitor Attractions Quality Scheme 92% nominated for
Awards Gold (attractions) and Best Told Story (attractions)
The Sandford Award for Heritage Learning was awarded to the
Roman Baths in November 2019
The Assembly Rooms
South West Tourism Excellence Awards:
Business Events Venue of the Year GOLD
Bristol, Bath & Somerset Tourism Awards:
Business Events Venue of the Year GOLD
Fashion Museum
VisitEngland Visitor Attractions Quality Scheme 90%
World Heritage Site Enhancement Fund
Georgian Group National Award (Street Sign Restoration Project)
3 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
Foreword by Stephen Bird MBE
As I write this foreword 2019/20 and the huge amount of work that went into
under Covid-19 lock- delivering services to residents of Bath and North East
down, it is hard to think Somerset and visitors from around the world. The year
of anything other than saw a busy programme of engagement activities across
the calamitous circum- our sites and out in the community, attended by over
stances that blighted 52,000 people. Our museums and exhibitions continued
the last two months of to attract large numbers with Toulouse-Lautrec and the
2019/20. After dwindling Masters of Montmartre at the Victoria Art Gallery, alt-
visitor numbers through hough sadly cut short by COVID-19, the star show
February and March attracting very large numbers. Work continued on the
2020, we finally closed Archway Project, with builders on site throughout the
our doors to visitors, researchers, shoppers, diners and year, and on the Wellcome Trust-funded Building a
event guests thirteen days before the end of the finan- Healthier City project at Bath Record Office.
cial year.
The Fashion Museum’s world-class collection continued
Some of our team self-isolated and most of us continued to be in demand at major venues with over a million
to work from home. Some redeployed to other parts of people seeing its objects displayed on loan at the V&A
the Council to help with essential services, while many London, Copenhagen’s Natural History Museum, and
others volunteered but were not called upon. Operations New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (twice).
team members continued to go into our buildings for
essential maintenance and security work, as did Finally, I must thank our front-line staff and those work-
curators and archivists to check on collections. I am so ing behind the scenes across the Service for their on-
proud of how everyone pulled together to help. going dedication, hard work and expertise. And I cannot
finish without paying tribute to the volunteers working
Despite the downturn in the last two months of the year, across the Service, stewarding at Victoria Art Gallery
we still returned a net profit of £9.6M to help the Council and helping curators and archivists with work on collec-
fund essential services in the community. tions and supporting the Learning and Participation pro-
gramme of activities throughout the year.
It is also important to look back to the majority of
Service Aims • To maximise public enjoyment of the world class
heritage
• To enhance the quality of life for residents of Bath &
• To promote understanding and appreciation of
North East Somerset
different cultures
• To enable people to learn from the activities and
• To contribute to the district’s economic prosperity
achievements of past and present societies
through our Business Plan
2019/20 Milestones Grants
• Record £9.6M annual profit returned to Council to Fashion Museum
support essential services. Donation of £1,000 from West of England Costume So-
• More than a million people world-wide saw Fashion ciety for the conservation and display of dolls in the
Museum objects at exhibitions in the UK, Denmark, Little and Large display.
USA and Australia. Victoria Art Gallery
• The Victoria Art Gallery’s Toulouse-Lautrec exhibi- For the first time Heritage Services used a crowdfund-
tion, sadly cut short by Covid-19, attracted a record ing appeal to raise money. The Art Fund Art Happens
12,435 visitors in just 33 days. crowdfunding campaign was a great success and raised
• Bath Film Office facilitated filming in Bath for ITV’s £12,956 for the Toulouse Lautrec and the Masters of
police drama McDonald and Dodds, period drama Montmartre exhibition and activity programme.
Belgravia; and Netflix’s Regency series Bridgerton. The Gallery also received £39,670 from the Arts Council
• Nicolas Poussin’s The Triumph of Pan was exhibited National Project Grants for this exhibition.
at the Victoria Art Gallery from April to July 2019 as
Bath Record Office
part of the National Gallery’s Masterpiece Tour
Bath Record Office was awarded a grant of
2019.
£169,117 by the Wellcome Trust to catalogue and
• New commercial offers were launched: The conserve records relating to slum clearance and council
Roman Baths developed its own take on the popular housing in Bath from 1890-1995, as part of the Building
Escape Room with Roman Rescue; Victoria Art a Healthier City project.
Gallery ran a combined exhibition and film offering,
Moulin Rouge and the Masters of Montmartre includ-
ed late opening at the Gallery and the screening of
the film Moulin Rouge at the Little Theatre.
4 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
Community, Learning,
& Engagement
15,273 37,108 3,814 185 1,477 117
learning visitors to participants at objects viewed at events held at our Fashion Museum researchers helped
community sites objects viewed at by the Roman
the Roman Baths, 3,311 research
151 study Baths Collections
Fashion Museum activities appointments appointments with Team
and Victoria Art facilitated by Bath 320 groups
Gallery Record Office or individuals
Roadshows Learning & Participation
The Roman Baths delivered the following community • The Roman Baths received the Sandford Award for
events: Heritage Learning at the V&A Museum of Childhood in
November.
• Bath World Heritage Day, 18 April 2019, Green Park
Station. Stalls and talks were organised on the theme • The Roman Baths joined other heritage sites across
of Architecture and Engineering . the country to be part of Poetry of Place. We
welcomed poet Neil Rollinson to work with local
• Festival of British Archaeology, July 2019. Partnership groups and perform at a poetry evening event in July.
with Sydney Gardens Parks Department for National
Lottery Heritage Fund Project. More than 250 people • Victoria Art Gallery workshop leaders developed
attended The Deathly Secrets of Sydney Gardens to activities for local schools and community groups as
learn about the history of death and burial in the part of the National Gallery’s Masterpieces Tour: The
gardens. Triumph of Pan.
• Museum Roadshow, Batheaston and Beyond held in
Batheaston Scout Hut on 29 October 2019.
Bath Record Office also took part in community events:
• World Heritage Day held at Green Park Station,18
April 2019.
• Bristol and Avon Family History Society Fair, 28
September 2019
.
World Heritage Day at Green Park Station The Roman Baths museum roadshow at Batheaston
Scout Hut
Events
5 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
Fashion Museum
• 7 practical making workshops were held in
partnership with the Royal School of Needlework.
• 12 Saturday Sketching sessions encouraged self
-led sketching in the Fashion Museum galleries.
• 11 Children’s activities developed and delivered.
The Roman Baths
• 33 days of Togas and Tunics sessions
transformed visitors with Roman attire.
• 1 Evening Explorers event opened the site up to
visitors with autism.
• 6 Words on Wednesdays events looked at
objects from the Roman Baths’ collections.
• 1 Poetry of Place evening event.
• 6 Science Busking events as part of British
Science Week.
• 1 Day School: The Ancient Romans & their gods.
• 250 visitors took part in the Museums at Night
event in the Pump Room.
• 3 Museum Stores Open Days opened up the
museum’s collection to pre-booked tours.
• 2 Roadshows: Midsomer Norton Arts Festival
and Batheaston Scout Hut.
• 270 participants at the Festival of Archaeology in
partnership with Sydney Gardens.
• 40 Tai Chi on the Terrace morning sessions.
• 6 Above & Below tours at the Roman Baths.
Victoria Art Gallery
• 9 Art Store Tours looked at the collection stored
behind the scenes.
• 2 artists’ lunchtime talks were held at the Gallery.
• 20 family events developed and delivered.
• 8 Art on Mondays talks for the visually impaired.
• 3 lunchtime talks related to the James Tower
exhibition were held in the Guildhall.
• 9 Collection Highlights Tours.
• 2 Artist in Residence sessions with Harriet Dahan
-Bouchard life-drawing from a model.
• 1 combined exhibition and film event linked to the
exhibition Toulouse Lautrec and the Masters of
Montmartre.
World Heritage
• Bath World Heritage Day was held on 18 April at
Green Park Station; over 700 visitors attended.
Bath Record Office
• 1 Store Tour, including highlights from the rare
books collection.
• 1 Conservation Studio Open Day.
• Genealogy Day Event held at Bath Central
Library on 14 March.
Heritage Services
• 19 local heritage organisations took part in
Heritage Open Days over 10 days with 33
activities.
• Museums Week (26 October – 3 November
2019) saw 130 events held by 19 local heritage
organisations, free to Discovery Card holders.
6 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
Community Groups Work Placements
We worked with Parkinson’s UK as part of the Archway and Volunteers
Project and delivered Wellbeing Wonders sessions.
• 46 students from 18 secondary schools worked
We continued to work closely with Bath Carers’ Centre alongside the Visitor Experience team.
and, in partnership with World Heritage, we developed a
programme for Young Carers as part of a National • Four Heritage Apprentices were appointed, part
Lottery Heritage Fund project called World Heritage funded by the Apprenticeship Levy, working in
Youth Ambassadors. This started but had to be put on rotation with the Visitor Experience team including
hold in March. Retail Sales, and the Operations team at the Roman
Baths & Fashion Museum.
We started our community programme funded by the • Amy Brown and Abigail Bradford successfully
Arts Council to accompany the Toulouse Lautrec completed their apprenticeships and have both been
exhibition at Victoria Art Gallery. We worked with employed as Seasonal Visitor Experience Hosts.
members of the Genesis Trust and held an Evening • Six students had long term placements, two from
Explorers event for people with autism before we had to America, one from Italy and three from Farleigh SEN
stop in March. College.
• Two students attended an extended placement as part
Accessibility of Project Search and one of them is now employed
as a Museum Porter.
We hosted our fourth Evening Explorers event at the • An MA Heritage Management student helped to
Roman Baths, welcoming 77 visitors to the museum facilitate British Science Week events in March.
after hours. At the event we provided our usual visit, but • Six Bath Spa University 3rd year Heritage Students
by limiting the ticket numbers we created a more relaxed worked on the Archway Activity Plan project Digital
environment, which we know is important to some of our Heritage Explorers.
visitors with autism and other related conditions. The • An MA student from Bath Spa University helped to
Visitor Experience team have all attended Autism develop the Roman Baths Places of Poetry project.
Awareness training and were able to help with any • The Roman Baths Collection team welcomed a long
queries. term placement from Australia, and two students on
The event is primarily for families with children on the bursaries from both the Roman Society and the British
autistic spectrum. We also invite some local schools and Numismatic Society. 26 volunteers assisted the
support groups, who work with children with autism. Collections team with cataloguing, changing displays,
collections care and events work.
• Two MA Museum Studies students developed family
Feedback from visitors:
trails for the Fashion Museum and Victoria Art Gallery.
“This was wonderful! It’s so nice to come when it’s all • The Fashion Museum’s long-standing skilled
quiet! Thank you!” volunteers continue to support and work with the team
on a variety of tasks from sorting the reference library,
“Massive thank you for Evening Explorers! Very happy making box liners, organising archive collections, and
kids.” conserving objects for display.
• The Fashion Museum welcomed a student from
“Thank you for organising such a special event. It is Leicester University Museum Studies, who worked on
memorable and educational.” The Magazine Store Location Project, to locate and
improve accessibility for a new storage space housing
part of the Fashion Museum Archive Collection.
• Bath Spa University student from the MA Arts
We are still helping to promote accessibility and Management course worked on the Triumph of Pan
inclusivity at the Roman Baths and have been sharing project at Victoria Art Gallery.
best practice through hosting visits from representatives • An MA Arts Management Student assisted workshop
of other attractions including: Tiger de Souza, Director of leaders at the Victoria Art Gallery with our Arts Council
Inclusivity and Hilary McGrady, Director General of the project for the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition.
National Trust; Noah’s Ark Zoo near Bristol, and
Tredegar House in Wales. • The Gallery’s 71-strong team of volunteer guides put
in a massive 4,554 hours of service in the building,
At the Fashion Museum we have introduced new enabling the venue to maintain excellent customer
signage and directions to allow lift users to have an service levels throughout the entire year.
independent self-directed visit. This has been • Bath Record Office Archives and Local Studies has
appreciated by visitors with mobility impairments and supported over 25 volunteers who have been
those with baby buggies. contributing to a variety of projects ranging from
cataloguing, transcribing, indexing to helping with
As well as our usual range of customer service training, conservation work. Their dedication and commitment
staff took part in some new training to help support has resulted in over 3,000 hours of their time.
visitors and other staff, including Mental Health First Aid
training and the Stroke Awareness training sessions. We are very grateful to all of our volunteers who give
Training resources were also created by one of our their time so willingly.
Visitor Experience Hosts for Recycling and
Sustainability Awareness.
7 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
Financial and Business Review 2019/20
Financial Performance
2019/20 +/- 2018/19
£000 % £000
Admissions 17,798 9% 16,261
Sales 2,399 (1%) 2,421
Room Hire 594 10% 541
Catering 684 (3%) 705
Other Income 363 (24%) 475
Internal Income 2,891 (0%) 2,903
Total Income 24,729 6% 23,307
0 0
Employee Costs (4,959) (4,702)
Premises Costs (626) (678)
Transport Costs (34) (31)
Supplies & Services (1,416) (1,289)
Purchases for Resale (1,088) (1,089)
Voluntary Sector (11) (10)
Contracts (832) (828)
Investment (956) (1,276)
Total Variable Costs (9,922) (0%) (9,903)
0 0
Rates (969) (843)
External Insurers (251) (256)
Divisional Overheads (2,891) (2,899)
Corporate Overheads (555) (582)
Finance & Debt Charges (529) (514)
Total Fixed Costs (5,195) (2%) (5,093)
Easter Reserve Adjustment 0 156
Release of Bad Debt Provision 0 72
One-off Adjustments 0 100% 228
Surplus / (Deficit) 9,612 13% 8,538
Operating Margin 39% 37%
Employee Costs % 20% 20%
Capital expenditure 2019/20 2018/19
£000 £000
VAG Air Conditioning (211) (2)
Archway Centre (1,677) (34)
Energy Capture Scheme (7) 0
Pump Room Piano Repairs (23) 0
King’s Bath Conservation 0 (81)
Total (1,918) (117)
8 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
Financial Summary
Heritage Services operates as a business unit within The Victoria Art Gallery’s revenue growth builds on a
the Council and prepares its accounts on a full strong year in 2018/19; the timing of the COVID-19
absorption basis, including a full allocation of overhead closure was particularly unfortunate as Toulouse-
and debt finance costs. Lautrec and the Masters of Montmartre had only been
For the first time in eight years Heritage Services saw a open for 33 days. However it had already welcomed
fall in visitor numbers, which dropped 3%. This is 12,435 visitors and was proving to be one of the
entirely due to the impact of COVID-19, which affected Gallery’s most popular shows ever.
visitor numbers from February 2020. On 18 March 2020
our buildings closed for an indefinite period of time. Up Performance Measurement-
to this point visitor numbers had been strong at the
Roman Baths, Fashion Museum and Victoria Art Profitability
Gallery, with the Roman Baths having its busiest ever
calendar year in 2019. Heritage Services measures its business performance
against comparable large UK visitor attractions through
During 2019 there was strong growth in UK visitors as the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA).
well as international audiences from both China and the This financial benchmarking showed that the Roman
US, supported by a relatively weak pound. However Baths and Pump Room is the most effective site at
there was a drop in visitors from mainland Europe. The converting income to profit within ALVA and generates
strong admission income performance was principally the highest level of profit per visitor of all Heritage sites
driven by a new pricing strategy at the Roman Baths, within the ALVA benchmarking group.
introduced in 2019.
The Roman Baths and Pump Room also generated the
Corporate Hire enjoyed a very successful year, highest income and profit per employee, as well as the
supported through significant filming revenue at the lowest labour cost as a percentage of turnover.
Assembly Rooms and the continuing popularity of our
spaces as unique wedding venues. During 2019/20 39% of the income taken in Heritage
Services was returned as profit, up from 37% in
The Roman Baths and Pump Room is a member of the 2018/19.
Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) and
during 2019 maintained its position as one of the
leading attractions in the UK. The site is the 25th most Visitor enjoyment
popular attraction in the UK and 3rd in England, outside
London. How visitors rate their experience is crucial to sustaining
excellent performance and is also tracked through ALVA
benchmarking. The table (below) summarises the
Admission Income ‘quality of visit’ benchmarking.
Admission income (£000s) 2019/20 +/- 2018/19
Roman Baths 16,895 10% 15,427 Enjoyment Value Net Promoter
Fashion Museum 691 9% 631 for Money Score
Victoria Art Gallery 213 7% 199 All attractions 8.8 8.5 + 58
17,798 9% 16,258 Roman Baths 8.7 8.1 + 59
Museums & 8.8 8.8 + 59
A revised pricing strategy was introduced in 2019 at the
Galleries
Roman Baths; this pricing structure offered visitors the
choice of a price, visit date and booking method which Heritage Sites 8.8 8.4 + 56
best met their needs and budget. Leisure Attractions 8.9 8.4 + 61
Highest score 9.4 9.4 + 79
This new approach to pricing and continued promotion
of the shoulder months has resulted in more sustainable
revenue growth, with a 2.4% drop in visitors during the
peak months of June - August compared to the Roman
Bath’s previous record year in 2017 and 12% growth in The Roman Baths’ value for money, visitor experience
April, May, September and October, also compared to and net promoter scores all increased in 2019/20,
2017. indicating that as well as welcoming more people (prior
to COVID-19 closure) they have had an even better time
Our admissions revenue growth in the calendar year than those who came last year.
2019 was £2.33m; some of this was eroded by the
impact of COVID-19 in the final quarter of the financial It is pleasing to see the improvement of the Value for
year. Money score (from 7.9), indicating that the new pricing
strategy has provided the opportunity for visitors to
At the Fashion Museum visitor numbers and admission choose a price that meets their needs, whilst also
income grew through increased awareness of the delivering significant additional revenue.
significance of the museum and its collection, following Our scores are marginally lower than the ALVA
the National Trust’s announcement that they are benchmark; it is also worth noting that many of our ALVA
invoking the break clause in B&NES’ tenancy at the peers are national museums offering free entry, which
Assembly Rooms in 2023. will be reflected in the results.
9 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
Retail
The sales productivity statistics for the busiest day/hour
in July 2019 at the main Roman Baths shop show that
our amazing Sales Team processed the sale in Epos,
packed merchandise and answered questions all in
Income (£000s) 2019/20 +/- 2018/19
good cheer for an average of 2.55 customers every
Roman Baths 2,115,000 -1% 2,128,000 MINUTE selling 2.5 items per sale with average spend
Fashion Museum 146,000 +3% 141,000 of £12.38 – impressive!
Victoria Art Gallery 73,000 -15% 86,000
Fashion Museum Shop
Total 2,334,000 -1% 2,355,000
We have developed a branded range of products
At the end of February, prior to the site closures, the including fridge magnets, shopping pads and a pocket
Roman Baths and Fashion Museum were both ahead of mirror featuring images from the collection. The
the prior year and all three attractions were ahead of packaging has been well thought through: it uses FSC
budget. This performance was supported by the card, is BPA free and the wrappings are made of corn-
development of new product ranges at the Roman starch so are biodegradable.
Baths and Fashion Museum and the investment in
“active selling” training for retail staff. A new guidebook for the Fashion Museum was
published which has been well received by visitors and
The results of the ALVA Quality retail survey exceeded has been outselling our previous guide.
those of all ALVA heritage sites in the country, and our
own scores from previous years. This exit survey
included ratings for the range of merchandise sold, staff
friendliness and helpfulness, and the shops overall.
The Roman Baths Shop
We have sourced a replacement for the plastic bottles
of mineral water on sale introducing a new Tetra style
pack with a closure made from sugar cane, providing a
sustainable and recyclable option for the customer.
We commissioned a bespoke double-sided souvenir
coin/medal featuring the iconic view of the Great Bath
one side and the Gorgon’s Head on the reverse. Since it Above: Souvenirs on sale at the Fashion Museum featuring
arrived in September we have sold 2,651 coins with objects on display
sales at £8,797.
Victoria Art Gallery Shop
As a tie in with Bath Children’s Literature Festival we
negotiated a money off customer promotion with one of A book published in conjunction with the James Tower
our best-selling book publishers. The books were exhibition at the Gallery sold 120 copies. The retail
featured in our windows and we increased sales by over team developed a great range of products from fridge
£500 on the previous year, whilst also increasing our magnets to jewellery to support the Toulouse-Lautrec
gross profit; our customers bought 163 more copies and Masters of Montmartre exhibition featured in an
than in the same period last year. extended pop up shop at the Gallery.
For the Christmas season we sourced two new
additions to our successful Minerva’s Pantry alcohol
range, both from local suppliers: a 10 year- old
Somerset Brandy and a Rum Caramel. This contributed
to a 29% increase in sales overall for the range, selling
477 more items in the festive season.
Above: The Roman Baths
souvenir coin
Left: New rum and brandy
ranges on sale at The Roman Illustrated book of posters accompanying Toulouse-Lautrec
Baths shop and the Masters of Montmartre
10 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
Visitor Management System
Over the last year the Visitor Management System
(VMS) has processed over £17.5 million of admissions
with over £2.3 million online ticket sales. The Systems
Team has worked with different areas of Heritage
Services and third parties to support the development of
new commercial opportunities. These included Carpe
Noctem, a packaged visit to the Roman Baths with a
glass of Champagne; Moulin Rouge and the Masters of
Montmartre, a cinema and exhibition package.
The focus for the Systems Team has been the 12-month
tender process for the Visitor Management System. This
included site visits to assess the suppliers’ systems in
use at the London Eye, National Postal Museum,
London and Bournemouth Council’s Smugglers Cove
Crazy Golf. The final decision was made with the
selection of our current supplier, Gateway Ticketing Ltd.
Wedding held at The Roman Baths: credit Amy Sanders
Venue Hire Marketing
The Assembly Rooms were £40k up on budget (14%) Easter Evenings performed really well with over 2,000
for this year, in most part due to the amount of filming people (16% over forecast) visiting the Roman Baths
which took place. The number of weddings at the after 5pm. The campaign generated 1,297,777 media
Roman Baths and Pump Room increased by 30 this impressions. Summer Lates at the Roman Baths was
year, although the average venue hire spend per also successful. We ran our first TV campaign across
wedding was down by just under 5%. Birmingham, Bristol and Gloucester. This generated
263% increase in online transactions from Birmingham
Sunrise Weddings at the Roman Baths have proved and Bristol. Over the whole campaign, online revenue
increasingly popular with a total of 30 taking place, some was up 76%+ while transactions were also up 64%.
at very short notice. Sunset Weddings continue to be
buoyant and this trend is set to continue. The Roman Baths Kids App which is free to download is
Filming was lucrative for the venues, with both Belgravia now available in Chinese for our growing
(currently being shown on ITV) and Bridgerton (coming Chinese family audience.
soon) having scenes filmed in the Assembly Rooms.
We also welcomed Wheel of Fortune to the Roman The marketing campaign for Glove Stories contributed to
Baths for an early morning shoot for their ‘prize show a strong year for the Fashion Museum in visitors. In
reel’ which will be aired in the USA shortly. May—August when the campaign was running, there
was an average increase in visitors of 11.75% a month.
At the Victoria Art Gallery, we were able to capitalise on Royal items continue to be popular. Our Queen
the Toulouse Lautrec and the Masters of Montmartre Charlotte dress post for the Fashion Museum got nearly
exhibition by combining a special evening view of the 25k reach and 157 shares on Facebook, with 885 users
show with a private viewing of Moulin Rouge at the Little linking through to the news story.
Theatre Cinema. This proved popular and we hope to
be able to offer similar packages with other exhibitions in At Victoria Art Gallery, our Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition
the future. started off with impressive visitor numbers but was
Business was impacted at the end of March and early unfortunately cut short by COVID-19. Our campaign
April by COVID-19 and we expect this to continue into performed well with press coverage reaching 6.7m: two
events through the summer before public confidence is highlights being a review in The Telegraph and a photo
restored. on the Guardian website.11 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
News from the teams
Investigating Keynsham display Learning at the Roman Baths
The Archway Project on developing community programmes and recruiting
volunteers ready for when the Clore Learning Centre
and the new World Heritage Centre open.
This major development project at the Roman Baths is
fundamentally a learning project, intended to create a
fantastic new resource for use by visiting schools and The Roman Baths —
local people. It does this by:
• Creating more local events, learning programmes Energy Capture Project
and community activities.
• Developing stimulating new spaces for schools and Preparatory works on site have been completed to take
groups. heat from the King’s Spring to serve the Roman Baths,
• Transforming part of the Roman site into a hands-on Pump Room, the new World Heritage Centre for Bath
archaeological investigation zone for school children. and the new Clore Learning Centre. This replaces a
• Converting old spa buildings into a new Clore much smaller scheme installed in 1993, and will reduce
Learning Centre. the carbon footprint of the complex of buildings
• Revealing more of the Roman site to the public. significantly.
• Creating a new World Heritage Centre for the city of
Bath. The Roman Baths
In 2019-20 the project completed the following activities:
• The main building works started on site to transform
Collections Team
the historic buildings into the Clore Learning Centre The Collections team upgraded the Collections
for the Roman Baths and a World Heritage Centre Management Database, Micromusée, to the latest
for the City of Bath. version and have been busy recording objects, with
• Conservation works were completed on the Victorian 3799 new records and 6261 updated records this year.
arch spanning York Street and the Victorian chimney
in Swallow Street, including cleaning, repointing The team is heavily involved in supporting the Archway
mortar and sealing metalwork. project. It has supplied digital content to the Roman
• Conservation work was undertaken on the Roman Baths website and supported the training needs of Front
monument in the areas that will be transformed for of House and Learning staff. It also worked on a series
the public to enjoy. The Exercise Yard will be opened of new temporary displays in the Sun Lounge, An
for public visitors and the Investigation Zone will be a Alphabet of Objects, which explores collection objects
hands-on learning space for schoolchildren and through letters of the alphabet, and put on two small
learning groups. displays in the One Stop shop in Keynsham.
• Conservators consolidated the large pieces of
Roman ceramic building materials (originally roof A major collections move of Roman stonework to
tiles) and safely moved them into storage. Keynsham took place in advance of re-development
works at the Roman Baths site. The team also
• Progress was made in developing content for the
supported a three year research project with
World Heritage Centre and staff uniforms.
Bournemouth University investigating a new scientific
• At the very end of the year a new Community approach to the study of Roman ceramic and stone
Engagement Officer was appointed and began work building materials. Throughout the winter months,
bimonthly cleaning and maintenance sessions of the
archaeology and displays have been conducted
alongside ongoing environmental monitoring of the
monument.12 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
Building a Healthier City records held at Bath Record Office
Bath Record Office
Our current grant-funded project Building a Healthier The long-anticipated World Heritage Centre is under
City is enabling researchers to discover how the health construction with work underway on interpretation and
of people in Bath was improved from the 1700s to the display material. The aim is to succinctly explain the
1900s, through the introduction of amenities such as genius of historic Bath, then encourage people to go out
paved streets, lighting, safe drinking water, sewerage to explore it. The Centre will open in 2021.
and rubbish disposal as well as the building of the Pump Finally the World Heritage Enhancement Fund won a
Room. The project, funded by the Wellcome Trust, will national Georgian Group Award in 2019 for the
be complete by the end of 2020. Archivists are programme of historic street sign renovations. This 10
cataloguing 72 metres of unique documents while a year programme continues with over 50 signs row
conservator is repairing and re-packaging them. At the restored.
end of the two-year project, new information about the
collections will be available through online catalogues
and they will be preserved for researchers to use for Bath in Time
years to come.
The Record Office was awarded another grant from the Bath in Time increased its presence on social media this
Wellcome Trust of £169,000 to catalogue and conserve year and started to look at new ways to develop the
records relating to slum clearance and council housing. website. This year’s revenue total: £8,729.98
The project will run from 2020-2022 and will further
The revenue is from prints bought via the website for
increase accessibility to our collections.
personal use and digital images purchased for
In September the Record Office received a visit from
commercial purposes.
Jeff James, Keeper of The National Archives.
The team has also been working on a number of other
initiatives and projects including a digital records audit
and scoping for a potential digital asset management Bath Film Office
system; cataloguing the Local Studies rare books and
special presses collections; re-locating Local Studies The Film Office had a busy year with a major new period
collections to the Guildhall; improving storage for our drama Bridgerton being filmed in Bath for Netflix. The
extensive maps and plans collections. show is expected to be broadcast later in 2020.
Two feature length episodes of McDonald & Dodds, a
new detective series, were also filmed in Bath and
The World Heritage Site shown on ITV in March 2020. The opening ballroom
sequence of Belgravia, another new ITV series, was
World Heritage Day has been celebrated in Bath every filmed at the Assembly Rooms.
April since 2009. In 2019 a rare indoor event on the
theme of architecture and engineering excellence was
staged at Green Park Station. The range of talks, walks
and stalls was well attended and provided a great
opportunity to connect with local audiences.
In September 2019, UNESCO-appointed inspectors
visited Bath to assess the Great Spas of Europe World
Heritage bid. Thanks to excellent contributions from all
local partners they left with good impressions and will
report back to the annual UNESCO World Heritage
Committee. Following postponement of the June 2020
Committee in China we await news on when that will be.
Bath World Heritage Site has agreed to be a pilot project
for the Lottery funded Youth Ambassadors Programme.
Heritage is used to engage teenagers in informal
learning in this two year project, which if successful,
could be rolled out nationally. Filming Belgravia at the Assembly Rooms13 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
Exhibitions
Fashion Museum Endangered and Extinct: Creative recycling, Val Hunt
23 February – 7 May 2019
Glove Stories
Artist Val Hunt created colourful sculptures of flora and
2 March 2019 – 1 March 2020
One of the best collections of gloves in the world, on fauna out of recycled materials. The popular exhibition
loan to the Fashion Museum from the Worshipful raised awareness of endangered and extinct creatures.
Company of Glovers of London, went on display
on 2 March 2019. Woven throughout A History of Annual Open Exhibition: Bath Society of Artists
Fashion in 100 Objects, visitors were able to see 18 May – 29 June 2019
exquisite examples of historical gloves from the past The exhibition proved as popular as ever with paintings
400 years; many of which had never been displayed to and sculptures by the region’s best artistic talent. 101
the public before. exhibits were sold during the show.
Collection Stories War and Rumours of War
A new display, Collection Stories, opened in May 2019 6 July – 15 September 2019
shining a light on the outstanding collection of historical
This thought-provoking exhibition featured artworks
fashions. It also showcases a special space for
regularly changing displays called Fashion Focus. The produced before, during and after the war which
first of these opened in May. Titled Little and Large, it responded to a decade of anxiety, austerity and
highlighted the Museum’s collection of historic fashion idealism .
dolls displayed alongside beautiful
life size fashions from the same Bernard Ollis: A Tale of Two Cities
historical period. 6 July – 15 September 2019
These colourful paintings of Bath and Paris re-imagined
Dress of the Year 2019 the cities in unexpected and delightful ways.
Donna Wallace, Fashion and
Accessories Editor at British James Tower: a Centenary Celebration
Vogue, selected a pleated pink 21 September – 24 November 2019
tulle dress by Giambattista Valli James Tower was one of Britain’s most important 20th-
for H&M. The dress is now on century studio potters. This exhibition showcased the
display, becoming the ‘grand best of his work, and those pieces that inspired him,
finale’ exhibit and 100th object in including six objects by Picasso.
the Museum’s headline exhibition A History of Fashion Sally Muir: The Dog Show
in 100 Objects. 30 November 2019 - 9 February 2020
Sally Muir has drawn dogs all her life and this show
The Roman Baths celebrated her love of them with portraits of dogs using
many adventurous materials.
The Roman Baths continued the display, An A-Z of
Collections in the Sun Lounge showcasing the weird and Peter Brown:
wonderful objects in its care. Bath Is It
At Keynsham One Stop Shop the display, Investigating 30 November 2019 -
Keynsham showcased the variety of objects that have
been found in recent excavations. The Adorning 2 February 2020
Keynsham display highlighted medieval decorative More than 100
techniques, from Keynsham Abbey’s delicate carvings to paintings by the ever-
fragments of stained glass. popular Bath artist
‘Pete the Street’ were
Victoria Art Gallery displayed, including some well-loved Bath locations. The
show was very successful and 45 paintings were sold.
Sharmanka Travelling Circus
Richard Twose: Experiments with Flying
23 February – 7 May 2019
21 September – 24 November 2019
This mechanical theatre brought magical performances
Acrobats, birds and animals featured in these paintings
featuring objects incorporating scrap metal and carved
and prints that conveyed continuous motion.
figures moving in time to a music and light show.
Toulouse-Lautrec and the Masters of Montmartre
Louise Bourgeois Prints
15 February 2020 – 18 March 2020
23 February – 7 May 2019
Bringing the sights and sounds of Bohemian Paris to
This Hayward Touring print exhibition was by one of the
modern-day Bath this exhibition featured over 80 iconic
most important and influential artists of the 20th century.
colour posters by Toulouse-Lautrec, Alphonse Mucha,
Pierre Bonnard and others.14 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
Acquisitions
The Roman Baths
• 14 archaeological archives from Avon Archaeology. from Bath Printshop (1970s).
• A small group of local history items and a small disc, • Medallion (cased) commemorating 50 years of the
possibly used for keys, in the Roman Baths. Pastorate of Rev. William Jay at Argyle Street
Congregational Chapel.
Victoria Art Gallery Fashion Museum
• Two works by James Tower (1919-88): Rectangular 106 new objects were accessioned to the Fashion
Dish, 1979 and Sketch of Tall Tree Form, 1965, Museum Collection between April 2019 and March
donated by Theresa Hallgarten and Nick Tower. 2020. These are some of the new pieces:
• An oil of Broad Quay, Bath in 1929 by J. T. Whitaker, • 1978 – Summer dress by Dress of the Year 1978
donated by Harriet Oldridge. designer Gordon Luke Clarke.
• Five watercolours by Peter Potworowski (1898-1962) of • An ensemble by Etro worn by Sir Roy Strong for an
Corsham Court and Italian subjects executed in the mid interview with Lucy Worsley When Lucy Met Roy on
-1950s, purchased with the aid of the ACE/V&A BBC Four.
Purchase Grant Fund and Friends of the Victoria Art • A pair of Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Shoes.
Gallery.
• Fashions from the 1960s and 1970s, including pieces
by brands Mary Quant and Biba.
Bath Record Office • 1960s purple printed playsuit from the iconic Bus Stop
• 18th century deeds for property in James Street, Bath boutique by Lee Bender.
and Batheaston. • 10 garments of traditional Yemeni design ca.1980s.
• Records of the Royal Bath & West of England Society.
• Records of Hay Hill Baptist Church and Walcot
Methodist Church.
• Bath Federation of Townswomen’s Guilds and Bath
Ramblers Club.
• Records of Bath Arts Workshop including material
James Tower, Rectangular Dish,
1979.15 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
Loans
Fashion Museum
Barnsley for their exhibition Venice, Paradise of Cities:
• The Museum loaned nine ensembles and three hats to Gertrude Crompton’s Regatta on the Grand Canal
the record-breaking Victoria and Albert Museum Venice and Santa Maria della Salute; Joseph
exhibition Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams. 595,000 Southall’s San Giorgio Venice.
visitors saw this exhibition which ran February to • The River Bank (Ophelia) by David Inshaw was lent to
September 2019. Southampton Art Gallery and Russell Cotes Art
• Gloves associated with Queen Elizabeth I, King James Gallery, Bournemouth for the exhibition Beyond
I, King Charles I, Queen Victoria and the original Brotherhood: The Pre-Raphaelite Legacy, until 21
Coronation Glove worn by Her Majesty Queen June 2020.
Elizabeth II were loaned to the Bendigo Art Gallery in
Australia for their exhibition Tudors to Windsors: Bath Record Office
British Royal Portraits.
• 26 pieces were lent to the Victoria and Albert Museum • The Ellis Family Collection was lent to Chippenham
exhibition Mary Quant, including one minidress worn Museum’s exhibition Strange and Wonderful Beings:
by leading New Brutalist Architect Alison Smithson. The Work of Clifford and Rosemary Ellis.
After being displayed in V&A London, the exhibition
• A bronze ingot from the Ellis Collection was sent on
travelled on to V&A Dundee.
long-term loan to Chippenham Museum.
• Three rare birds prepared for millinery were borrowed
• The Echo Catch by William Herschel, a bound music
by the Natural History Museum of Denmark as part of
collection, was lent to Herschel Museum of
the award-winning Fashioned from Nature exhibition,
Astronomy.
previously on display at the Victoria and Albert
Museum.
• A rare 18th-century fashion doll travelled to New York The Roman Baths
to be displayed at The Museum at the Fashion
Institute of Technology (MFIT) exhibition Paris, Capital The replica of Bag Four of the Beau Street Hoard was
of Fashion. sent to the British Museum for the touring exhibition:
• Selected garments from the wardrobe collections of Hoards: a Hidden History of Ancient Britain.
ballerinas Margot Fonteyn and Alicia Markova were
also lent to MFIT for their Ballerina: Fashion’s Modern
Muse exhibition which opened in February 2020.
• A Bill Gibb hand-printed silk kimono from 1977, the
same style once worn by Bianca Jagger, for Kimono at
the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
• A pair of gloves associated with the famous Moulin
Rouge singer and dancer Mistinguett for Toulouse-
Lautrec at Victoria Art Gallery .
• Two Helmut Lang ensembles for Off: Austrian Fashion
Design at the Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna.
• Hats worn by Lady Ottoline Morrell for Let’s Misbehave
at Blenheim Palace.
Victoria Art Gallery
• The portrait of William Herschel by Lemuel Francis
Abbot was lent to No. 1 Royal Crescent for the
exhibition Image Control.
• Howard Hodgkin’s Silence, was sent to the Kistefos
Museum and Sculpture Park in Norway for the
exhibition Hodgkin and Creed: Inside Out.
• Chippenham Museum’s exhibition Strange and
Wonderful Beings: The Work of Clifford and Rosemary
Ellis received a loan of 28 artworks from the Ellis
Family Archive.
• Various artworks from the teaching staff of Bath
Academy of Art were also lent to this exhibition at
Chippenham Museum.
Queen Elizabeth I glove, courtesy of Dents
• Three paintings travelled to the Cooper Gallery,16 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20
Staff News Contact Details
Mike Marsh was appointed as Facilities Manager in Bath Film Office
September 2019 as successor to Iain Johnston. t. 01225 477711
We said farewell to Wendy Niles, who retired after e. bath_filmoffice@bathnes.gov.uk
almost 20 years’ service in the Business Analysis team. w. bathfilmoffice.co.uk
Lucinda Dixon moved on to another role within B&NES f. facebook.com/BathFilmOffice
and we welcomed Hayley Barker and Lucille Liric. tw @BathFilmOffice
Maisie Hillier, one of the Function Managers for Bath’s
Historic Venues, left in December 2019 to take up a new Bath Record Office
position managing events with Greenwich Museums. t. 01225 477421
After 10 years as Business Support Officer Caroline
e. archives@bathnes.gov.uk /
Lavington left in December 2019 and was replaced in
local_studies@bathnes.gov.uk
February by Kate Major. w. batharchives.co.uk
Vivien Hynes retired in March 2019 after 10 years
f: facebook.com/bathnesBRO
working as Administrator at the Fashion Museum and
tw @bathnesbro
Assembly Rooms.
Bath Record Office welcomed Veronica Howe as part-
time Collections Manager (Archives) and Holly Trant in Fashion Museum
the new role of part-time Assistant Local Studies t. 01225 477789
Librarian. e. fashion_enquiries@bathnes.gov.uk
Laura Nicholls joined as Community Engagement w. fashionmuseum.co.uk
Officer in March 2020. She will be working with local f. facebook.com/fashionmuseum
communities and looking to recruit volunteers to the tw. @Fashion_Museum
World Heritage Centre.
After over 40 years of wonderful service working for the The Roman Baths
Council we said goodbye to our Commercial Support t.01225 477785
Officer Angela Payne who took early retirement. We e. romanbaths_enquiries@bathnes.gov.uk
welcomed Elizabeth Rawling as our new Commercial w.romanbaths.co.uk
Support Officer. f. facebook.com/theromanbaths
Clare Langrishe was appointed in August to cover the tw. @RomanBathsBath
Heritage Marketing Manager position while Rebecca ig: @theromanbaths
Clay went on maternity leave.
Sophie Woodward completed British Sign Language Victoria Art Gallery
Level 1 and is working towards Level 2 and Olivia
Richards is working towards Level 1. t. 01225 477233
The whole Retail Sales Team successfully completed e. victoria_enquiries@bathnes.gov.uk
the Sales through Service training programme which w. victoriagal.org.uk
was created especially for Heritage Services and has f. facebook.com/victoriaartgallery
led to greater confidence for the team in engaging with tw. @VictoriaArtBath
customers and helping them to get the most out of their
shopping experience. City of Bath World Heritage Site
t.01225 477584
e. world_heritage@bathnes.gov.uk
w.bathworldheritage.org.uk
f. facebook.com/bathworldheritagesite
tw. @BathWHS
1. Queen Elizabeth I glove, courtesy of Dents
3. Bath’s Historic Venues won Gold for Business Events Venue of the
Year for the Assembly Rooms, and Bronze for Wedding Venue of the
Front cover pictures Year for The Roman Baths
4. Family activities at The Roman Baths
1 2 5. ITV’s McDonald and Dodds was filmed in Bath
6. Kendall Jenner wears Giambattista Valli for H&M; this design was
chosen as the Fashion Museum’s Dress of the Year 2019
7. Filming for Summer Evenings Skycast advert at The Roman Baths
3 4 8. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril, 1899 Photo © Musée
d'Ixelles-Bruxelles / Courtesy of Institut für Kulturaustausch, Tübingen
9. Easter Evenings 2019, The Roman Baths
10. Nicolas Poussin, The Triumph of Pan © The National Gallery,
5 6 7 8 London
11. The Deathly Secrets of Sydney Gardens event held as part of the
Festival of British Archaeology
12. Dressing up at the Fashion Museum
9 10 11 12 13. Royal Gloves display as part of Glove Stories at the Fashion
Museum
14. Bath Record Office
13 14 15 16 15. Making Merry with Merels event held at The Roman Baths
16. Toulouse-Lautrec in the Upper Gallery, Victoria Art Gallery.
Exhibition created in partnership with Bath Carers Centre.You can also read
