Uncovering Letchworth

04/07/2025

Last Saturday 28th June we hosted the Uncovering Letchworth Young Curators Film Showcase at Broadway Gallery. The event included a project introduction, the Young Curator film screenings plus short Q&A with each of them - Violet, Lou, DAK and Leon have done so well with four short films and displays about their interest and experiences of living in Letchworth Garden City, having completed workshops over 12 weeks. James from HNE Media delivered the filmmaking workshop and it was great to welcome him to the Gallery on Saturday to watch the finished films, provide his feedback and present the curators with certificates.
During the 12 weeks, the curators learnt about Garden City History, collections care & handling, filmmaking and editing skills. As well as the skills learnt and their incredible development over the three months, I am really proud of the friendships they formed, their willingness to help one another and all the work to bring new perspectives from a young, diverse group to the collection - I hope this work long continues and in the near future we can confidently say, there are no gaps, our collection represents our local community! The exhibition was really well received yesterday, we have had lots of visitors to the gallery and some fantastic feedback, please do come along for the last Young Curators exhibition day in the studio space today.

Garden City Collection
Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation
Broadway Gallery
The National Lottery Heritage Fund
HNE Media


Leon Woolcott
Violet Hawkins
Lou Cook-Allen

26/06/2025

Join us at Broadway Gallery’s Studio to see the Young Curator showcase!
Our local team of Young Curators, DAK, Leon, Lou and Violet will be screening their short films following three months of weekly workshops where they gained skills in collections care, research, video editing and production. They drew on items from the collection, contributions from the community and their own personal reflections and experiences, producing four short films on the theme, Great Place to Live.

The exhibition will be on display at Broadway Gallery from 10am to 5pm on the following dates:
Friday 27 June
Saturday 28 June, 4pm Q&A with the curators
Thursday 3 July
Friday 4 July

25/06/2025

On Monday we were visited by Jackie's Drop-In Centre and it was great to welcome all eight visitors who live locally but had never visited the Micro Museum before. The group enjoyed looking around the recently refurbished space and were delighted to see old photographs of what is now Jackie's Drop in charity shop on Station Road. They added key dates from Jackie's Drop in to the timeline on the wall and made postcards addressed to future LGC visitors about the town and their favourite things to do. It was lovely to welcome new visitors, hear their own stories, memories of growing up and living in Letchworth Garden City and we hope to grow this relationship with Jackie's Drop in and centre users to better our museum service and ensure the collection reflects everyone in our town!

25/06/2025

Join us for a Coffee Morning this Friday from 10am at the Museum & let us know if there is anything in particular you would like us to bring from the Garden City Collection to 'show and tell?'
We look forward to hearing your stories of living in Letchworth Garden City and about the objects you bring in. A reminder that this year's Hertfordshire Museums Object of the Year - the Tava is on display along with some interesting migration stories. We look forward to seeing you on Friday!

09/06/2025

Still tickets available for our Illustrated Talk tomorrow night - Letchworth History 101 with Josh Tidy

Discover a brief history of Letchworth Garden City, with local historian, Josh Tidy. 7pm for 7.30pm start

02/06/2025

The Letchworth Festival opened on Saturday with Lion Dancing, a workshop and performance hosted by UK Shing Hing Lion Dance. This was organised by us as part of the 'Uncovering Letchworth,' project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Aman from the Garden City Collection team was honoured to be one of four to take part in the 'Waking the Lion' ceremony alongside Councillor Daniel Allen, Chair of the Letchworth Festival Hilary Kemp, and Charles Chong founder of Hong Kong Connect.
We had a fantastic turnout for both the workshop that took place at Broadway Gallery and for the performance in Leys Square.

Participants were able to learn about the history, tradition and importance of Lion Dance in the Chinese culture. They were able to join in, take part in the performance, wear costumes, take photographs, play the instruments and engage with the UK Shing Hing Lion team. The event was thoroughly enjoyed by all those that attended. The Hong Kong community is an integral part of the town and as we continue with Uncovering Letchworth we hope to capture more stories for the Garden City Collection. The Hong Kong Community members that were present said it felt great to feel included in the festival and town celebrations, they have always wanted to see Lion dancing locally and hope there will be future workshops.

Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation
Garden City Collection
Letchworth Festival

29/05/2025

29/05/2025

Great event on this Saturday - Lion Dancing

Workshop at Broadway Gallery in the morning (some tickets still available)
Then a public parade/ceremony on Leys Square after lunch

Come join us - this Saturday!

Join us for a Lion Dance Workshop at Broadway Gallery

📅 Saturday 31 May
🕚 11am–12.30pm
📍 Broadway Gallery, Letchworth

Discover the vibrant tradition of Lion Dancing—a spectacular Chinese folk art combining music, movement and martial arts, believed to bring good luck and prosperity.

Led by UK Shing Hing Lion, this fun and energetic workshop includes a short presentation and hands-on dance practice. Suitable for ages 6+ (children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult).

Participants will be invited to perform in a live Lion Dance to kick off the Letchworth Festival in Leys Square at 1.30pm the same day!

This event is FREE, donations are welcome. Book your space here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lion-dance-workshop-tickets-1343910134389?aff=oddtdtcreator

This event is part of the Uncovering Letchworth project, funded by the National Lottery and in partnership with the Letchworth Festival.

Garden City Collection Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation

08/05/2025

Meet Uncovering Letchworth's Young Curators

Our Young Curators are local Letchworth Garden City residents, from different backgrounds who bring a younger voice and fresh perspective to the Garden City Collection! Today we are halfway through the project, having completed Workshop 6 of the 12 paid weekly workshops where the curators have been busy gaining skills in collections care, video editing/ production, researching and producing short films around the theme of Great Place to Live, drawing on reflections from the collection, contributions from the community and their own personal reflections and experiences. We can't wait to see their final productions!

It's a Social Media Take Over...

The Young Curators have taken over the Instagram page where you can follow and over the next couple of months, find out more about what they have been up to and get all the behind the scenes gossip!

Their short films and work will be premiered at Broadway Cinema and showcased at Broadway Galley June/July.



Garden City Collection
Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation
The National Lottery

From left to right, Leon Woolcott, Dakarlain McFarlane (Dak), Violet Hawkins and Lou Cook-Allen.

24/04/2025

Join us tomorrow for our monthly Uncovering Letchworth Coffee Morning taking place at the Micro Museum from 10am. We will be providing an update on the project and showing you around the recently updated museum!

14/03/2025

A reminder that Coffee and Chat mornings have moved to last Friday of the month and the next one will be Friday 25th April at the Museum at 1 Garden City. In the meantime there will be some changes made to the Museum and we can't wait to show you what we have been working on!

There is therefore no Coffee and Chat meet up today or this month.

Thank you and have a great weekend!

13/03/2025

Earlier today we interviewed Sarwan Singh Shergill who was the first to settle in Hitchin from Jhingran Village in Punjab, many followed hoping he would put them up and help them find work. One of whom was Gurdev Singh Shergill and they would have used the Tawa he made at K&L in the house they and many others shared.

Sarwan who turns 100 next year, being one of the first South Asians to settle in the area and work in Letchworth Garden City, we went to meet him to find out more. He gave an incredible insight into what life was like cycling from Hitchin to Letchworth to begin work early morning and carrying out heavy manual work. He talked about working and living conditions, the challenges he faced and the support he had. He worked in a number of places in Letchworth including K&L, a bakers which was behind Broadway cinema and at George W King.

There is just so much valuable insight and we look forward to translating and transcribing this for the collection.

If you have a migration story connected to Letchworth Garden City get in touch [email protected]
Garden City Collection

Photographs showing:

Sarwan Sing Shergill today
The Younger Sarwan Singh Shergill
With friends and early South Asian immigrants that worked in Letchworth from the 1960s.