Museum to shut its doors

THE River & Rowing Museum in Henley will close for the last time on Sunday.

For its final weekend, entry will be free for visitors as part of the nationwide Heritage Open Days event.

It will be hosting a number of activities, including colouring-in sessions, a gallery trail and Members of the Henley Archaeological and Historical Group will be available in the Henley Gallery all weekend to answer questions on the town’s history.

At the time of announcing its closure, the museum had a staff of 44, although most of these worked on a part time basis, and many will be made redundant.

The museum’s foundation trust made the decision to shut down the operation in July, following a consultation with its staff in May.

This was due to unsustainable costs, which included a £1m loss in the previous financial. Its trustees decided that it was no longer financially viable to remain open.

A yard sale to sell off the building’s office and cafe furniture and equipment, and unsold shop stock, will be held next Friday and Saturday.

This will not include any items from the museum’s collections. There are strict regulations on how these items are dealt with and it will be the job of the few remaining museum employees will be to find new homes for them.

The museum’s trustees say they are already exploring options for new users and possibly new owners for the building. They also hope that there might be opportunities for the foundation to support a new, much smaller, museum in Henley in the future.

From October 2025 the museum will move into a “mothballed” state, to reduce the level of financial losses while the trustees and team work to find new homes for the collection.

The museum held a closing celebration for its patrons and supporters yesterday (Thursday) evening.

David Worthington, who chairs the trustees, described the closure as “a very sad occasion”.

He said: “It has affected museum employees, most of whom will be leaving at the end of September — the impact is considerable, many employees and volunteers have had long standing associations with the museum.

“A more positive reflection, the museum has brought a huge amount of enjoyment and education in its 27 years.

“It has been visited by more than two million people, hosted well excess of 100,000 school children and many regular family visitors are second and even third generation Wind in the Willows’ fans.”

In addition to the museum’s employees, which he described as “hugely loyal”, Mr Worthington said that the town also owed a “huge debt of gratitude” to it’s original founders which include the Arbib family and Sir Martyn Arbib, founder of Perpetual.

He said: “That gratitude should also be extended to the hundreds of patrons, supporters, volunteers and trustees who have given freely of many hours of their time and money in support of the museum.

“Mention must be made of Henley Town Council, which has consistently supported the museum whether as councillors or serving museum trustees. It will only be with the town council’s continued support that a successful future may be formed from closure.”

Mr Worthington said that the trustees will continue to deliver hands-on workshops to school groups and informal learning activities to families.

It has created a new initiative, “Flowing Forward” to deliver river workshops, which will include hands-on experiments, object handling and a guided river walk.

The museum foundation also intends to continue its work with Rivertime Boat Trust, a charity which provides accessible boat trips.

The joint initiative launched by HRH Princess Anne during her visit to the museum 2023 provides opportunities for pupils with special educational needs to find out more about the river.

For its final weekend, the museum will open from 10am to 4pm.