Wombwell Pride of Place Project 2019

Barnsley Museums commissioned The Caravan Gallery to shine a spotlight on the South Yorkshire town of Wombwell. Our Wombwell Pride of Place Project residency, which ran from September to October 2019, saw our well-travelled yellow caravan pop up outside Gabby’s Florist at the end of Wombwell High Street. Additional exhibits and activities – including a closing celebration on 10 October marked the end of the residency, hosted by Wombwell Library. 

The Caravan Gallery itself became a temporary mobile museum and gallery, devoted to Wombwell past, present and future, with input from local people. We set the scene with our own photos of local people and places, and added to the display along the way, with loans and donations of Wombwell-related artwork, photos, objects and ephemera! Some exhibition contributions – especially fragile and valuable items – were exhibited in a secure museum display case in Wombwell Library and in a special exhibition in the Cooper Gallery, Barnsley from September to December 2021. We heard and recorded local stories and memories, your ideas and hopes for the future, news of community initiatives and much more. Visitors made their mark on our hand drawn Map of Wombwell by commemorating everything from where they fell in love or fell in the canal!