How the MFI sale helped our museum

It would have been taken in the early 1990s when our museum was then located at its first position at Paradise Park.

A lot of material had been gathered from so many sources; the departure of the MFI furniture store had made it possible to acquire so many unbelievably necessary items, which normally would never have crossed our minds. Suddenly, they became the most essential things for miles around.

We were faced with, to us, an enormous empty building. For sure, we would need a store room.

A store room had to have walls and here at this remarkable sale, display kitchens were being dismantled.

They had walls, so of course we had some of them, and those with the ability turned them into a fine storage place, so fine indeed that when we were requested to move into new and even larger premises at the site, the walls came tumbling down and were re-erected as they are seen today.

A lot of good fortune came our way. Even the impressive desk which confronts you when you enter, had only experienced a short life at a building society's High Street premises. Twice it has been dismantled and twice has it been reassembled, always looking most elegant.

Things kept going so right it was almost scary. Our humble little working party certainly pulled the stops out and performed miracles out of the impossible.

One incident I well remember occurred when I suddenly realised I had not pursued obtaining a carpet for our extensive present building and how I was expected to make a report on my efforts at a committee meeting the following day.

I shot round to a local carpet dealer where I was greeted with friendly abuse, but smiles beamed around when it was explained that I had in fact called at the very right time.

A large building in Brighton had suffered serious flooding and though much had been spared the wetting, all was to be replaced and there would be enough undamaged sections to more than cover our needs.

And so it came to pass; coconut matting at the main door entrance, because of weather problems, and the rest the lovely blue squares. How was it that one of our helpers just happened to be a carpet layer by profession?

Strange though it may seem, this story is a little piece of local history, because a suitable home had to be found for our ever enlarging collections.

Paradise Park had been more than generous in providing such wonderful premises with all the facilities to hand; we had to find the helpers and their skills and produce an attractive local museum.

We like to think we have achieved this and many of the comments in the visitors' book confirm this with their flattery.

Picture No I shows the 'Quarterdeck' at the first museum at Paradise Park.

The grey shelving so suitable for the large photo albums had come from MFI. Here our late treasurer, dear Charlie Robinson, looks with great interest at the miracle work being carried out on the computer by none other than Geoff Ellis, better known as the pioneer of the Heighton tunnels, HMS Forward.

Noble Geoff spent endless hours, usually in solitude, loading into the computer the fascinating information from the 63 albums of photographs housed in the museum.

There is a written index which the public may use.

Just two cogs who helped make our collections unique.