Would you like to help Henfield Museum and the exploration of local heritage? Please consider supporting the Friends of Henfield Museum for just £10 per year. Submit your details below or make a one off donation.
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Annual General Meeting
Talk: The Secret Sussex Resitance' by Stewart Angell
Thurs 22nd April 2025, 19:00
Non-members £5 on the door, or £10 to join the Friends

We covered the official business and update on the year, followed by refreshments and a talk by Stewart Angell on the WW2 Auxiliary units.

​Stewart has interviewed many of the brave and highly secret 'stay-behinds' who had their Sussex HQ at Tottington Manor and were expected to sacrifice themselves behind the lines to delay any invasion attempt by the Germans. Several locals were involved with groups such as that based at Small Dole.

Some of our projects...

Our History

From an initial steering group, the Friends of Henfield Museum formed in 2014 under the first Chair, longtime local resident and supporter of the museum Wynn Saunders - to whose initial energy the group owes its existence. From 2017-21 and again from 2022, Robert Gordon served as Chairman, with Leo Jago serving from 2021-22, and Robert subsequently returning to the chair.

From amongst their members, the Friends are run by their committee, the Chair & Vice Chair also sitting on the Parish Council Museum management committee.

Our Projects

In addition to providing a funding source for museum acquisitions, the Friends carry out various projects and visits to historical and cultural attractions as well as occasional talks. A few of the projects currently organised or supported include:
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  • The Oral Histories Project
  • The Roving Display Case
  • 'A Favourite Object' community memories project
  • Year of Natural History & Green Action projects inc. 'Arborea', the William Borrer Transcription project, wellbeing trails and article research, and the Boundaries of Henfield project
  • TASH Memory Trail - short walks for the elderly and those with memory problems including display and brief talks on museum items.
  • Prep, publication and sale of books (such as Henfield Commons book), DVDs and cards/prints from paintings from the museum collection
  • Maintaining the Museum website (which you're reading now!)
  • Providing funding for museum acquisitions, hardware an software upgrades
  • Development and maintenance of this website
  • Running the museum social media channels
  • Capture of audio field recordings such as of St. Peter's Church change ringers
  • Research into Henfield personalities and stories past for publication online and in local publications
  • Holding occasional talks (see also Henfield History Group's regular talk schedule) and trips to cultural heritage sites
  • Involvement in Horsham District Year of Culture project: The Heritage of Horsham District in 100 Objects (book and exhibitions)
  • Photographic projects inc. Mystery People, Ghosts from the Past and Henfield Past in Colour
  • Our Friends newsletter posted to members

We sincerely hope that you might be tempted to join us in supporting the museum's mission of bringing Henfield's history to life for the whole community.

Robert S. Gordon
Chairman, The Friends of Henfield Museum
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Friends visit to East Grinstead for a tour of the new Guinea Pig exhibit and statue of Archibald McIndoe, July 2018.
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Wynn Saunders (1935 - 2019), founding force and first Chair of the Friends of Henfield Museum
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The second and fourth Chair Robert Gordon finds his calling with a cabinet of crime on a visit to Brighton Old Police Cells Museum, November 2018
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3rd Friends Chairman Leo Jago caught kidnapping a costume, Village Evening, March 2020
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A museum volunteer shows off the Luto Collection in 2019. Photo: Christophe Fernandez
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A sepia Friends outing to Seaford Museum followed by Trawlers Fish & Chip restaurant, July 2015

The Friends Newsletter Archive

We periodically release newsletters to our members. They feature leading articles on aspects of local history, historical images and museum and heritage project updates from the Chair, Curator and Costume Curator.
Newsletter 1, Spring 2015
fohm_newsletter_001_spring_2015.pdf
File Size: 581 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Newsletter 2, Autumn 2016
fohm_newsletter_002_autumn_2016.pdf
File Size: 999 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Newsletter 3, Winter 2017-18
fohm_newsletter_003_winter_17.pdf
File Size: 1106 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Newsletter 4, Winter 2018-19
fohm_newsletter_004_winter_2018-19.pdf
File Size: 1487 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
fohm_newsletter_004_winter_2018-19__insert_.pdf
File Size: 140 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Newsletter 5, Winter 2019-20
fohm_newsletter_005_winter_2019-20.pdf
File Size: 2893 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Newsletter 6, Winter 2020-21
fohm_newsletter_006_winter_2020-21.pdf
File Size: 1943 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Newsletter 7 (2021 Retrospective), Winter 2021-22
Newsletter 8 (2022 Retrospective), Winter 2022-23
fohm_2021_retrospective.pdf
File Size: 228 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Newsletter 9 (2023 Retrospective), Winter 2023-24
fohm_2023_retrospective.pdf
File Size: 2591 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
fohm_2022_retrospective.pdf
File Size: 3288 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Newsletter 10, Winter 2024-25
fohm_newsletter_010_winter_2024-25.pdf
File Size: 2241 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
​Website funded by the Friends of Henfield Museum, built & maintained by R. S. Gordon. Credit to Mike Ainscough for moving the website idea from discussion to reality.
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