2019 Heritage Services Annual Review 2020

For learning, inspiration, and enjoyment 2 Heritage Services Annual Review 2019/20 2019/20 at a glance Visitors 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 -3% Total 1,450,658 -3% 1,488,838

£24.7m income £62,012 £45 £103 net profit per Heritage Net income £9.6m Net income Services staff member per B&NES per B&NES profit resident household

13% increase on last year people attended private or 53,126 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 objects viewed at the Roman Baths, community 3,311 research sites by the Roman 151 study Fashion Museum activities appointments Baths Collections 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

Events5 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

The sales productivity statistics for the busiest day/hour in July 2019 at the main Roman Baths shop show that Retail 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

on developing community programmes and recruiting The Archway Project 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: Collections Team • The main building works started on site to transform 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 Rooms

13 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 th tulle dress by Giambattista Valli James Tower was one of Britain’s most important 20 - 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. [email protected] 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. [email protected] / Lavington left in December 2019 and was replaced in [email protected] 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. [email protected] 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. [email protected] 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. [email protected] 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. [email protected] 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.