HASLEMERE Museum was visited by the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, Michael More-Molyneux, who opened the GladRags exhibition.

The GladRags exhibition was a community record of how the people of Haslemere overcame the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr More-Molyneux had seen some of the panels during his visit on the museum’s reopening day in May. He was so taken with the project that he was happy to open the exhibition, which showed all of the panels together for the first time.

The opening event was attended by many of the people who had contributed to the project, and the deputy mayor of Haslemere Cllr Jacquie Keen, along with museum trustees and staff.

The exhibition was the culmination of a project which started during the first lockdown in 2020.

Devised by artist Diana Burch and Kay Topping, Haslemere Museum’s education officer, panels based on the idea of a community patchwork were created to show the community’s resilience and creativity. The patchwork reflects all the things which made the community glad during the Covid-19 pandemic.

People were invited to contribute six-inch patchwork squares which could be stitched together. The panels will be a lasting legacy to how the community coped during these unprecedented times.