The Sidney Sime Gallery

at Worplesdon Memorial Hall
   


   

Sidney Sime Gallery wins Heritage Fund grant!

The Trustees of the Sidney Sime Gallery are delighted to announce that the Gallery has been awarded a grant of £42,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
     

This award will enable the Trustees to create a sustainable programme of funding and management aimed at securing the future of this important - indeed unique - archive of more than 800 artworks, letters, notebooks and items of memorabilia, thereby ensuring that Sidney Sime's legacy is preserved for the enjoyment and fascination of future generations.

Full details of this exciting development can be found in the Trustees' recent press release.

As well as expressing their gratitude to the Heritage Fund for this generous grant, the Trustees would also like to thank the many local organizations and individuals who provided so much essential support during the application process.

FANTASTIC SEPTEMBER WEATHER FOR THE 25TH HERITAGE WEEKEND

Worplesdon’s Sidney Sime gallery marked this with opening for fourteen hours over three days WITH 195 VISITORS . Mary Broughton and Stephen Cranstone both spoke on Saturday lunchtime -the theme was “From coal mines to castles” Sime's associations from humble beginnings down the coalmines to his aristocratic patrons, explored through artwork, letters and caricatures . The Ta Ta café was open and thanks to the many volunteers in both the gallery and the café we met not only locals from the borough of Guildford and Woking and even a visitor form Lancashire, BUT WE also had the honour of The High Sheriff of Surrey Bridget Biddell and Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey Mr Bill Biddell DL visiting for the first time. They had come to visit St Mary’s Church to experience our natural heritage in the churchyard, so close to Whitmoor Common, and were delighted they were also able to visit the gallery. We had descendants of Cliff Heather, former caretaker of the Worplesdon memorial Hall and grounds who held this role from 1933 for 53 years, as well as being part of the family who served for nearly 150 years over three generations of the family as verger of St Mary’s church until his retirement in 1977. His family who visited have very happy memories of the village of Worplesdon.

The Sidney Sime Gallery at Worplesdon, near Guildford in Surrey, houses a major collection of the fascinating and highly characteristic work of Sidney Sime (1865-1941), the famous artist, illustrator and caricaturist.


Sidney Herbert Sime
 

Sime owned a cottage at Worplesdon - Crown Cottage - and spent much of his time there during the latter part of his life.

The gallery is on the first floor of Worplesdon Memorial Hall and was opened in 1956 with proceeds from the sale of Crown Cottage, on the death of Sime's widow Mary.

Mary bequeathed all those of her late husband's pictures that remained in her possession to the Trustees of the Worplesdon Memorial Hall for the creation of such a gallery.

The Trustees continue to make improvements to the Gallery, the most recent of which (2013) has been a complete, and extremely successful, renewal of the lighting system.  This was made possible by a grant from Surrey County Council and Guildford Borough Council through the Surrey Community Buildings Grant Scheme - support which is very gratefully acknowledged.

Paintings and drawings

There are 88 hung works on view, including theatrical caricatures, caricatures of local Worplesdon residents and landscape paintings in oil and watercolour.  In total there are over 500 catalogued items.

To view a selection of our pictures online, go to our online gallery page.  The oil paintings in our collection can be viewed in their entirety through the Art UK website.

The Trustees pursue a continuing programme of restoration and conservation.  They would like to express their gratitude to the many organizations and individuals who have supported this programme through grants and donations.

Furniture

The gallery also contains some furniture used frequently by Sime:  a gate-leg table, which contains two portfolios of Sime's work and also various publications of interest;  a Windsor chair;  and a tallboy containing his original sketch books, numerous oil paintings, etchings, watercolour sketches, drawings and caricatures, and press cuttings.

Visiting the gallery

The Gallery is normally open, from 2 to 4 pm, on Bank Holiday Mondays and on the first Wednesday of each month.

The Gallery is also open throughout the annual Guildford Heritage Weekend in September and can be visited at other times by appointment.  For details of where we are and how to contact us, see our visiting the gallery page.

Worplesdon Memorial Trustees

The Memorial Hall and the contents of the Sidney Sime Gallery are in the care of the Worplesdon Memorial Trustees, a registered charity.  More details can be found on the Worplesdon Memorial Hall website.

 

KEEPING IN TOUCH

If you would like to hear about forthcoming events and the latest developments at the Gallery, then please join our mailing list by completing this form and returning it to us.

Our May 2018 newsletter can be found here.  As well as the latest news from the Gallery, this also contains important data protection information


"The Art of Sidney Sime, Artist and Philosopher"

This 50-page illustrated booklet is available at �5 plus postage and packing. Please contact us for details.


BOGEY BEASTS

The Gallery has produced the first ever video presentation of the 1923 book Bogey Beasts by Sidney Sime and Joseph Holbrooke!  Find it on our YouTube page.

       © Worplesdon Memorial Trustees 2019