Corsham Civic Society will be holding what it hopes will be the first in a series of events which mark its close association with the town’s Heritage Centre.  The "late afternoon" launch party for Civic Society members and guests will be from 4 - 5 pm this coming Saturday 28th February at Arnold House.

The Society was one of the two organisations which formed the Corsham Area Development Trust just over two years ago. It is the Trust that now runs Corsham’s combined Tourist Information & Heritage Centre located in the striking Arnold House at 31 High Street, Corsham.

As part of its commitment to the Centre, the Society now takes responsibility for ensuring that the heritage displays are changed regularly and provide visitors with something of interest the whole year round. It has recently installed an exhibition which it calls Behind Shop Windows – Corsham High Street Past and Present.

The display currently focuses attention on a small number of the buildings which are to be found in the centre of the town. There is plenty of scope to develop the exhibition – and the Society has access to all the material it needs to ensure that it continues to provide a major contribution to what the Centre has to offer.

The Society gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Mike Stone at the Chippenham Museum who has offered his advice with the project – and has loaned a collection of artefacts which are typical of what the shops featured in the display were selling in days gone-by.

Saturday’s event takes the form of a special out-of-hours viewing for Society members and their guests. Wyndham and Kathy Thomas, the display’s creators, will be on hand to explain their work to those attending.

The opportunity will be taken to update the Society’s membership on the current state of progress towards setting up a Friends Group for the Centre.

Notes for Editors:

1. The Corsham Civic Society aims to engender pride in the town of Corsham and to contribute towards the vitality and well-being of its residents and those of Corsham’s neighbouring villages.
2. The Corsham Civic Society is a registered Charity, a member of the Civic Trust and ASHTAV (Association of Small Historic Towns & Villages of the UK).  Current membership stands at about 150 – and continues to grow steadily.  New members are always welcome.
3. The Society maintains an active website – www.corsham-civic-society.co.uk.
4. For further info, please contact Peter Tapscott, Publicity Officer, on tel. 01249 714453 and/or on peter@charlwoodroad.freeserve.co.uk. 
5. This Press Release comes complete with a photograph of the particular exhibition upon which it is based.  A suitable caption for this photo would be “New Exhibition at Corsham Heritage Centre”.