Rustington Museum's new manager looks to build on its success, starting with an exhibition themed around the home

Tamlyn Smithers took over from Claire Lucas in January and brings extensive experience in education and museums.

A former teacher, she has worked at a number of museums in Sussex and gained a Master's degree in curating collections and heritage from Brighton University in 2022.

Tamlyn said: "I have done a lot of freelance projects before but this is an opportunity where I get to really drive the future of the museum, making it as open and accessible as possible. Claire has done a lot of the groundwork to establish the museum here and that has given me a platform to grow.

"It is all about the community. What I really want to do is to get more people in, and get us out into the community with a schools programme. There are quite a lot of interesting bits coming up. I am aiming to get the collection out to be used in the community."

The role includes overseeing the management and development of the museum, including the care of the collection.

Tamlyn's first exhibition, At Home In Rustington, is an exploration of domestic artefacts dated 1750 to 1950 from the combined collection of Rustington Heritage Association and Rustington Museum.

She said: "It was a chance for me to get to know the collection a bit more, and people who come in will be able to relate to the items on show."

She decided to use tea towels, rather than posters or information boards, to fit in with the theme and has hung these around the exhibition room to provide more information about items on show.

There are artefacts linked to children, education, leisure pursuits, the kitchen, laundry, working from home and household labour.

Keen for there to be an interactive element to her exhibitions, Tamlyn has placed a donated doll's house for people to play with and created a matching game.

Tamlyn has also introduced new touch tours, designed for partially-sighted and blind visitors, so they can be guided to feeling some of the larger exhibits and find out more about them.

Going forward, the seasonal programme will feature quarterly exhibitions and monthly talks, with linked family activities. The aim is to vary the exhibitions, so an in-house theme alternates with displays from an outside source.

To maximise space in the museum, the local studies area will be adapted so pictures can be displayed and outreach boxes will be created, so they can be easily taken into schools.