Diss Museum prepares for double celebration this year

A museum is gearing up to celebrate a double milestone this year.

Diss Museum will mark its 50th anniversary, with manager Basil Abbot into his 20th year at the site.

Mr Abbott, who was born in Church Street, was invited by the museum’s trustees to run the venue in September 2005.

“The museum is part of the heartbeat of the town and its main tourist attraction,” he said. “It preserves and celebrates local heritage and helps to keep the town centre alive.

“It has been the most fulfilling time of my life, as I am able to use so much of my skills and experience.”

His first exhibition, Secrets of the Butcher’s Attic, featured a forgotten hoard of material from Brown’s shop in St Nicholas Street.

Having previously created the 2004 Skelton Festival, he ran projects on poet-laureate John Betjeman, Rights of Man author Thomas Paine, the Manning family of rectors and the R34 airship.

The Manning project resulted in a meeting with the Dalai Lama, recreating with Robert Manning the occasion when his ancestor, Thomas, met the head of the Tibetan Buddhism in 1811.

Mr Abbott and his team have had a number of great successes, including two East of England Market Towns Culture Awards

In 2009, the site, located in The Shambles in Market Place, won a Museums and Heritage Award for Excellence.

The accolade was given for a Thomas Paine Festival that the museum organised, with Mr Abbott made the town’s Honoured Citizen in the same year.

“Through all of this, I am grateful for the work of the trustees, friends, collections staff, stewards and the people who have supported projects like the Ghost Walk,” he said.

“As the museum no longer received any statutory funding, but is one of the best things about the town, I hope this can change in the future, enabling us to carry on our work.”