Special exhibition to celebrate 50 years of Holst Victorian House

What was Holst Victorian House like before it was a museum? To celebrate 50 years since it opened its doors to the public, the museum will host a new temporary exhibition, From Bombs to Bellbottoms, which will see two of its 19th-century spaces turned into 20th-century room sets.

Through these rooms, carefully curated to tell the stories of past inhabitants, visitors will gain a fascinating insight into the house’s domestic life during the past century.

Wander into a 1940s sitting room inspired by the Doxey family, who lived in the house from 1935 until 1956. Retired coachbuilder Andrew, his wife Annie and children Evelyn, Harold, Hilda and Jack lived in the building alongside several lodgers throughout the 1930s and 40s. Discover their lives, together with histories of Cheltenham during WWII, including the bombing raids on Gloucester Road and St Paul’s nearby.

In 1956, Violet and Reginald Garlick moved into the house with their two adopted children, one of whom, Peter, studied at the Royal Academy of Music and became an accompanist for actress and singer Diana Dors.

Like the Doxeys, the Garlicks also rented out their surplus rooms, this time to students from the local college – now the University of Gloucestershire. As part of the exhibition, explore a 1970s fashion student’s bedroom based on the memories of a student who lived in a similar Pittville house.

In addition to the room sets, 1950s and 1960s labour-saving devices, which the Garlick family would have been familiar with, such as a fridge and washing machine, will be juxtaposed with Victorian items in the Kitchen and Scullery.

A specially designed newspaper will help guide visitors around these exciting spaces, supplementing the Victorian Room Guide for the other rooms. In addition, there will be a case display, 50 Years of the Museum, with items drawn from the archives telling the story of the museum’s early years and beyond.

Appeal for period objects

Holst Victorian House is keen to involve the local community in the From Bombs to Bellbottoms exhibition and is asking Cheltenham and wider Gloucestershire residents to loan objects for the rooms and share their stories and memories of living in Cheltenham in the 1940s and early 1970s. Please contact the Museum by email with photographs if you have any domestic items suitable for a 1940s sitting room and/or a 1970s bedroom – we are particularly interested in ornaments and textiles.

Also, if you lived at 4 Clarence Road (formerly 4 Pittville Terrace), the Museum would love to hear from you!

”We are very excited to share a whole different aspect of the Holst Victorian House with visitors this summer. The house wasn’t only home to Gustav Holst – many people made it theirs over its nearly two hundred year history. We hope that the 20^th-century rooms will be a catalyst for memories and conversation about more recent domestic lives and also be a source of enjoyment and fun.”

“It is also wonderful to involve the public in creating the display. We can’t wait to see what items people have from the 1940s and 1970s to help bring the room sets to life.”

Laura Kinnear, Curator, Holst Victorian House