The other night we dropped into the Trinity Theatre for the launch of The Tunbridge Wells Project which is an online showcase for historic buildings and architecture in the town. It's the brainchild of two local photographers, David Bartholomew and local blogger anke, and the idea is to preserve memories in an easily accessible archive for future generations.
We were invited because our B&B is one of the 'historic buildings' in two respects - it's the add-on to a Grade II listed Georgian building, having been added in 1912, initially we reckon as one great big ballroom in which The Lancers was danced! That large ballroom ended up being built over a somewhat larger area than the original surveyors' plans and is split into three floors, with the later addition of the Annexe in the garden. It did remain part of the main house until 1982.
But getting back to the TW Project, there are some interesting interior and exterior shots of The Lancers in our section in the gallery. Other intriguing 'galleries' as they are called include behind-the-scenes shots of the town hall, the Opera House (which is now a Weatherspoons pub) and the local crematorium. Some of the photos are the closest any of us are going to get to seeing what the inside of the dome in the Opera House actually looks like, or the clock in the clock tower at the Trinity Theatre.
I'm uploading some images taken from The Lancers' gallery on The Tunbridge Wells Project which show you rooms that aren't pictured on our website.
I went to the launch night and had a thoroughly good evening.
ReplyDeleteThe project is an interesting concept.
It is really interesting seeing aspects of buildings that the public would not normally see.
I agree Blueminty, it was a lovely evening and fascinating to see so many behind the scenes images.
ReplyDeleteIn future they are planning to 'Wiki' the website so that people can add memories and thoughts to the individual images that will build up into a 3D archive. Chris says this is an idea that apparently is going to be spread out UK wide with TW the start of the idea. Does make you wonder, what place museums. This would be a much cheaper archiving idea for the future. But ... hope it isn't used as an excuse to get rid of parts of our heritage that are valuable.
ReplyDelete