Royal Crown Derby - not just any china!
Siobhan Spencer MBE, from the Derbyshire Gypsy Liaison Group, with her Royal Crown Derby © Charles Newland
Liz Woledge, Director of the Royal Crown Derby museum, talks about their latest project
A year ago, I was at a conference in Darlington where I had the pleasure of meeting Romani story teller, Richard O’Neill. He told me that many of the Gypsy, Romany and Traveller people he knew collected Royal Crown Derby and we talked about where this tradition might have come from and why. As we talked, I knew I wanted find out more.
Roll on six months and I was enjoying my job at the museum despite a global pandemic doing its best to ruin things. We were fortunate enough to get support from the Arts Council to collect and more importantly showcase stories from Gypsy, Romani and Traveller collectors of Royal Crown Derby. As we started to collect the stories, I realised that Richard had been one hundred percent correct there were some fantastic tales out there, from teething babies soothed by porcelain to a generous shop owner who delighted a young couple.
These stories are now being made into a brand-new interactive exhibition for the museum so that all our visitors can find out about this important part of the history of Royal Crown Derby alongside the Royal commissions and the stories of the artists who have worked for us over the years.
These stories are now being made into a brand-new interactive exhibition for the museum so that all our visitors can find out about this important part of the history of Royal Crown Derby alongside the Royal commissions and the stories of the artists who have worked for us over the years.
The stories we have collected so far are just the start, you can submit and share your stories at any time and we will add them to our story archive. **‘Sadly we find we are unable to open in July as planned but we are working as hard as we can behind the scenes to open in September. So keep your fingers crossed for us and I hope we can welcome you soon”
The winner of our prize draw was Michael, who’s story was told by his brother Chris. Their story is about a Royal Crown Derby piece which helped reconnect someone with their family. Michael wins a stunning Solid Gold band Butterfly paperweight. (pictured above)
by Liz Woledge, Director of the Royal Crown Derby museum
** Editors note, in Issue 68 of Travellers Times print magazine the re-open date was advertised as July 2021