Last month our Chairman, Dr Rosemary Irwin was delighted to welcome Bryan Oates, great nephew to Lawrence to the museum. He kindly presented a fascinating collection of his family’s artefacts to be included in the new displays. Included in the artefacts is the beautifully kept 1880 diary belonging to Lawrence’s mother, Caroline Oates, recording his birth on St Patrick’s Day with the neatly written words ‘baby is born at 6.20’. There is also two original letters bearing the British Antarctic Expedition letterhead, sent from Lawrence whilst on the Terra Nova voyage to the Antarctic in 1911, and two document cases engraved with his name.

Of particular interest are transcriptions of Lawrence’s diaries, the originals of which Caroline Oates insisted were destroyed following her son’s tragic death, but which his sister Violet painstakingly copied without her mother knowing. An extract from his Antarctic diary dated 17^th January 1912 reads “A wretched day, temp at start -22° S.W. wind low drift. We followed Amundsen’s tracks for about 1 hour but had to give it up as were nearly obliterated by snow. His tracks went in S. Westerly direction and then we steered due South for the Pole. Had to halt at 12.15 as Evans’ hands were getting very cold.”

Our ambitious project to create the new galleries has been enabled by funding from a ‘Your Heritage’ National Lottery Grant and together with match funding from the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust, plus donations and fundraising. We are looking forward to the unveiling of the new displays which will bring the Terra Nova expedition to life and provide fascinating and sobering evidence of Lawrence’s experiences in the Antarctic. We hope that our new galleries commemorating his life will be of interest to lots of visitors when they open in March 2012, so please come along!

A Very Gallant Gentleman

Oates famous last words, “I am just going outside and may be some time” were uttered before he stepped out into a blizzard never to be seen again. His body has never been found.  2012 will mark the centenary of his tragic but brave death, which earned him the title ‘a very gallant gentleman’. Co-author of the biography on Oates, Major General Patrick Cordingley, will give the lecture offering an intriguing insight into the character and background of Oates, and is also leading the fundraising effort that Gilbert White’s House & Garden and The Oates Collection recently launched, to enable the Lawrence Oates gallery within the house to be redesigned to tell his story in a more engaging and interactive way.

Like Captain Oates, Major General Patrick Cordingley began his army career, which spanned four decades, with the Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, and in 1991 he became well known for leading the 7th Armoured Brigade (also known as the Desert Rats and comprising of 12,000 men) in the Gulf War, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his leadership and bravery.  Previous to this, with his interest in Captain Oates growing, he had formed part of a small expedition to Antarctica, and now widely lectures on the subject, as well as being a motivational speaker, military commentator for the BBC and last month was a guest at the Royal Wedding.

Tickets for the lecture are £18 which include wine & canapés served during the interval, and can be purchased by telephoning Gilbert White’s House & Garden and The Oates Collection on 01420 511275.

BCC2’s Springwatch Easter Special last Monday was greatly enjoyed by us all, as Gilbert White, as the first ever ‘springwatcher’ was featured!   As is always the way, much more was filmed here at his home than time allowed to show, but it was a fantastic opportunity to introduce a wider audience to Gilbert White, his garden and the amazing work he began.

Gilbert was a meticulous recorder of what happened around him – the arrival of birds, their song patterns, where they nested, what they ate, the weather day by day, the state of growth of every natural plant in his beloved village of Selborne, and the beautiful countryside beyond it. He described his own scientific method as “watching narrowly”, which is a very good way to describe it and here at his home we have exhibited may examples of Gilbert’s success of spending time ‘watching narrowly’ from his discovering and naming of the harvest mouse in 1767 to being the first person to establish that the Chiff Chaff, Willow Warbler and Willow Wren where three different species. Unlike those who went before him, who killed and dissected specimans in order to learn about them, Gilbert allowed them to just ‘be’ and studied them over days, weeks, months and years in order to educate himself and others.

Thanks to programmes such as Springwatch, and popular presenters such as our own Patron Chris Packham, and Kate Humble (who we would love to have as a Patron!) birdwatching and appreciation of the natural world is enjoying a revival, so come along to Gilbert White’s House & Garden to see how the worlds first ecologist, not only studied but recorded the natural world.

We are hopeful that this and other press coverage, will increase awareness of, and interest in, the centenary of Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova expedition, as for many months we have been putting together exciting plans to create a new permanent exhibition to celebrate the life of Captain Oates who accompanied Scott and who heroically lost his life after uttering the famous words ‘I am just going outside and may be some time.’

We plan to launch this exhibition in time for the 100^th anniversary of Oates death on 17^th March 2012, and have already received very generous support from the Heritage Lottery Fund in the form of a Your Heritage grant, and match funding from the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust but fundraising is ongoing for those individuals and organisations who wish to support us. We are keen to include strong educational and interactive elements if we are able to further boost our funds, so please support us if you can by helping us to raise awareness of this worthwhile and exciting project!

All are welcome to join us, not only for a glimpse of our loyal Patron, but to help us celebrate the wonderful legacy of ‘the man who started us all birdwatching’.

Bells Library has new interactive displays including the chance to see if you identify birds by their song, and the Great Parlour -stripped of its beautiful Georgian furniture in a night time burglary three years ago- now has a new lease of life and boasts a purpose-built bookcase to house an incredible and extensive collection of ‘Natural History of Selborne’ which has kindly been donated to the museum by local historian and actor Ronnie Davidson-Houston.