The Friends of the Doncaster Museums
Throughout the year The Friends of the Doncaster Museums organises events and activities, for its members, to stimulate interest in the arts, history and heritage within Doncaster and surrounding area. From time to time we may promote events by other organisations that we think may be of interest to our members.
If any of our members have any suggestions in regard to speakers/events, please e-mail them across to: chair@thefriendsofdoncastermuseums.co.uk
Doncaster's Mansion House
Saturday 26th April
Jackie Gladden from The Friends of Doncaster Mansion House will give a talk about the Mansion House. Opened in 1749 Doncaster's mansion house is one of only three in the country, the others can be found in York and London. It is hoped will be able to arrange a follow up tour of the Mansion house at a later date.
The talk will take place in the Flying Scotsman room DGLAM, starting at 11am.
Event reminders and full details will be sent to our members closer to the date.
My Life in Books & My Journey to Publication
Saturday 10th May
A talk by actor, director, and author Angela Wren. For more information on Angela visit her website www.angelawren.co.uk.
The talk will take place at DGLAM and start at 11am.
Event reminders and full details will be sent to our members closer to the date.
Tuesday 20th May
The Friends are planning a day trip, for its members, destination Lincoln. A bus will pick you up from Doncaster Interchange stand C at 10:30am and proceed to Lincoln where you will be free to enjoy all that this wonderful city has to offer before heading back to Doncaster.
To cover the costs there is a none refundable fee of £10 (additional donations welcome) and places will be limited. We will be contacting our members with full details in the near future.
Saturday 5th July
The Friends are planning a summer social event, a chance to have fun, meet fellow members, and to get to know the trustees better.
Keep an eye out on this website and The friends Facebook page for more details.
July, Date to be Arranged
The Friends are planning a visit to Doncaster's Masonic Hall. This event is still being planned.
Keep an eye out on this website and The friends Facebook page for more details.
Saturday 29th November
The Friends ever popular Christmas Social is one to look forward to. As always there will be games, our annual raffle draw, and buffet.
11:00 to 14:00 in the Paddington Room DGLAM.
Past Events
On Saturday 8th March, 2025, Nicola Fox gave a talk recounting a number of murders that took place in Victorian Doncaster. We learnt about the victims and their killers, in a fascinating insight into the crimes of that period, how they were handled and the eventual outcomes of investigations.
Thank you to our members for attending, and to Nicola for the very informative and excellent presentation.
On Saturday 8th February, 2025, John Hope delivered a talk about the murder of Carolyn Susan Challenor. John, a retired Detective superintendent who served for 33 years, provided a fascinating insight in to the investigation of Carolyn's murder, her body was found in an orchard in Bawtry in 1993.
Thank you to our members for attending, and to John for the excellent talk.
Our annual Christmas social was a great success, and a big thank you to all those that attended, and for the hard work of trustees that made this event possible.
I hope our guests enjoyed the games, and lets not forget the buffet for which we would like to thank the staff of the 1910 café.
The annual raffle was drawn and winners will be notified.
There was also the craft store with a great selection of handmade gifts made by our trustees.
The annual raffle was drawn on Saturday 14th December 2024 and the lucky winners will be notified. A big thank you to everyone that bought tickets.
Saturday 2nd November.
A portrait of Ben Parkinson, Commissioned by The Friends of the Doncaster Museums, was unveiled by Ben in front of honoured guests.
We thank all those attended the event, and the staff at Danum Gallery Library and Museum (DGLAM) for their hard work in making this event a success. We also thank our members and sponsors.
The portrait is now on public display at the Art Gallery (level 2), DGLAM.
More photos and details can be found on our articles section.
Today was our Annual General Meeting held at the Danum Gallery, Library and Museum. We took the opportunity to thank David Adgar for his dedication and hard work during the past five years, as he stands down as our Chair, of course there was cake.
Dr Matthew Jones (on the left of the adjacent photo) has kindly stepped in as the new Chair of The Friends of the Doncaster Museums. I and the other trustees look forward to working with Matthew and our members to continue the valuable contribution we make to Doncaster's museums and archive. I'd like to thank all those that attended today and the museum staff.
The Trustee’s Report, April 2023 – March 2024, is now available in the Chair's Report section of this website.
Nathan Turnbull, Trustee.
Isabella's Garden
Wednesday 14th August saw a group of Friends join a guided tour of the Walled Garden and Lady Isabella's Garden at Cusworth Hall. Led by David Shore, the Head Gardener, the group were able to view recent developments and get an overview of plans to develop things further. It was a lovely morning and a number of us decided to make a day of it and retire to the cafe for lunch.
On Tuesday 9th July, a small group of members braved the torrential downpour to join the Head Gardener of the Walled Garden at St Catherine's in Balby.
Notwithstanding the rain , our members were fascinated by the way the garden is developing and future plans. The site is being developed to promote well being and our visit to the cafe for coffee and cake certainly improved ours! The final 'garden visit' organised for the summer will take place at Cusworth Hall on 14th August.
On Tuesday June 25th there was an organised tour of Brodsworth Hall and Gardens. Built in 1860s the hall is one of the most complete examples of a Victorian country house, with stunning gardens.
Celebrating Chinese Culture
Doncaster has a significant Chinese Community. To celebrate their contribution, to the city, The Friends are working with local community groups, businesses and individual practitioners to develop a programme of events and visits during 2024. The programme will culminate in the early months of next year, when The Friends will help develop an exhibition in the Community Gallery at DGLAM.
At the beginning of the year, artist Olivia Pang delivered two calligraphy workshops, and these were followed by two guided tours of King Asia Food factory. The programme continues with a Tai Chi workshop and then an examination of traditional Chinese medicine. The Friends would like to thank all those who have contributed to this programme of events.
THE FRIENDS OF THE DONCASTER MUSEUMS, Registered Charity Number 1189117
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