Furniture sales raise £6,000 towards river workshops

TWO yard sales selling leftover furniture at the now closed River & Rowing Museum in Henley raised around £6,000.

More than 200 people visited the museum in Mill Meadows on Friday last week and Saturday to pick up a bargain.

The museum’s café was still running, offering takeaway coffee and sweet treats.

Money raised from the sale will go towards the museum’s new “Flowing Forward” initiative to deliver river workshops, which will includes hands-on experiments, object handling and a guided river walk.

While the sale did not include anything in the museum collection, there were a myriad of items to be bought from the building’s office and café spaces.

They included children’s wooden counting toys and plastic multi-coloured pool balls, mannequins, which were bought by online retailers and picture ledges, bought mainly by local artists.

Smaller items on sale included fabric storage boxes, a whiteboard and yellow A-frame wet floor signs. Larger items sold for up to £60, including wooden indoor tables and café and garden furniture.

The museum shut its doors two weeks ago, due to unsustainable costs, which included a £1m loss in the previous financial year.

Now, it is exploring options for new users of the building and dealing with finding new homes or returning its collections, under strict regulations.

Sarah Tubb, general manager, said: “We’re really pleased that so many people came to still support the museum.

“This shows that people are still interested in the museum, even though it’s closed.

“Hopefully something will come out of it as we’re still a part of the community and everyone recognises that.

“The funds show that people are supporting and it means children can still come for visits and we can plan activities for them.”