Bourne Hall’s Museum Curator Jeremy Harte has been with the council since 1989 and is responsible for around 17,000 artefacts and 45,000 pictures that represent the lives of tens of thousands of people who’ve lived in the area since the Ice Age.

The role might conjure up images of a quiet office-based job simply moving objects in and out of display cabinets, but Jeremy has shown it’s much more than that!

“My job has involved climbing the Clock Tower for photo-opportunities, rubbing shoulders with a Zulu princess, providing a home for incendiary bombs and herding irate swans back onto the waters of Bourne Hall lake.

“I’ve relived the 1914 Christmas truce, eaten bread which would have made a Tudor peasant retch, scythed the outline of Nonsuch Palace, photographed two dozen Derbies, struggled back to Bourne Hall with chemists’ carboys, riot shields, political placards, and horses’ leg bones, and put out paper for children to do brass-rubbings. Lots of paper!”

After 35 years, Jeremy still retains a love for this important community role.

“I’m grateful to everyone who has entrusted us with their precious family relics. I’m grateful to the kid who, when the Roman Army was coming down Ewell High Street, shouted: ‘THIS IS AWESOME!’. And I’m forever grateful to our colleagues at Bourne Hall who keep everything working.”

Don’t miss Bourne Hall’s Festival of Archaeology, 15 - 27 July 2024