River Thames Historical Cruise
Tuesday 3rd September 2024
5-hr Cruise – depart Maidenhead 10am, return 3.15pm
Tickets are now on sale for the ever-popular annual River Thames Historical Cruise!
Enjoy a different view of the river, as you cruise along the beautiful River Thames from Maidenhead to Marlow and return.
En route a live commentary will tell you about the history, buildings, wildlife, legends, gossip and scandals of the river.
Tickets are £35, or £30 for ‘Friends of the MHC’
Tickets are available to purchase online https://maidenheadheritage.org.uk/shop/ or in person at the Maidenhead Heritage Centre.
“Isambard Kingdom Brunel – the Entrepreneur Who Made Maidenhead”
New Exhibition
1921 GWK CAR NOW ON DISPLAY
The car pictured below was built in Maidenhead 102 years ago – in July, 1921 – and it is still in driving condition! It was bequeathed to the museum by the late Keith Shaw, grandson of one of the founders of GWK, Arthur Grice. It is now on permanent display and is well worth a look! We dispayed the car at Maidenhead Festival in 2022, and in 2023 we drove it to the Waterways Fun Day on Chapel Arches on Saturday 22nd April, as well as to Phylis Court in Henley! We hope to take it to other events in 2024, including Maidenhead Festival on Saturday 20th July and Sunday 21st July!
REMEMBER RADIOGRAMS?
The radio manufacturer Dynatron, based in Maidenhead, also made elegant ‘Radiogramophones’ in beautiful wooden cases, and this 1950 model has just been added to our collection and is now on display – and worth admiring! The case is walnut, the gramophone works (and produces a wonderfully full rich sound) and the radio has 5 bands: Long wave, medium wave and three short wave bands. The tuning dial has scores of radio stations to choose from including the BBC Home Service, Light Programme and Third Programme – known to today’s listeners as Radios 4, 2 and 3. Stations on the dial include Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Bombay, Peiping (modern Beijing) and Suva, the capital of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. Quite a geography lession for us all! The radio part of our machine doesn’t work yet but it will – provided we rig up a very long aerial wire!
