Duchess of Cornwall meets artists and schoolchildren during Ditchling Museum visit

Ditchling welcomed a royal visitor today (Thursday, October 16) as the Duchess of Cornwall returned to the village for the first time in several years.
The Duchess of Cornwall visits Ditchling Museum where she has been the President of Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft since 2006.

Ditching, Horsham, West Sussex. 

Picture: Liz Pearce  16/10/2019

LP191600The Duchess of Cornwall visits Ditchling Museum where she has been the President of Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft since 2006.

Ditching, Horsham, West Sussex. 

Picture: Liz Pearce  16/10/2019

LP191600
The Duchess of Cornwall visits Ditchling Museum where she has been the President of Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft since 2006. Ditching, Horsham, West Sussex. Picture: Liz Pearce 16/10/2019 LP191600

Schoolchildren, artists and volunteers were among those who welcomed the Duchess to Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft.

The Duchess, who has been president of the museum since 2006, arrived on site today to view two exhibitions.

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She was greeted by Stephanie Fuller, director and chief executive, and Jenny KilBride, chairman of the museum friends.

The Duchess of Cornwall visits Ditchling Museum where she has been the President of Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft since 2006.

Ditching, Horsham, West Sussex. 

Picture: Liz Pearce  16/10/2019

LP191600The Duchess of Cornwall visits Ditchling Museum where she has been the President of Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft since 2006.

Ditching, Horsham, West Sussex. 

Picture: Liz Pearce  16/10/2019

LP191600
The Duchess of Cornwall visits Ditchling Museum where she has been the President of Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft since 2006. Ditching, Horsham, West Sussex. Picture: Liz Pearce 16/10/2019 LP191600

Led by the director through the museum, the Duchess viewed the typography exhibition Kitching in Ditchling: The London Series as well as the new show Disruption, Devotion + Distribution.

The latter exhibition is due to open on Saturday in the museum’s Main Gallery, and features never before seen work by Eric Gill, an artist who moved to Ditchling in 1907.

The Duchess also met the museum’s board of directors, staff and volunteers, artists and craftspeople, and Adam Richards, the architect who designed the museum.

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Pupils from Ditchling (St Margaret’s) CE Primary and Nursery School, who were taking part in a drawing activity, also had the opportunity to meet the Duchess.

The children were sketching items from the museum’s collection that represented the history of the village, including a copper tea kettle, awarded during the annual Ditchling Gooseberry and Redcurrant show.

The Duchess went to school in Ditchling, at the co-educational Dumbrells School.

She last visited Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft on March 26, 2014, the year the museum underwent a major redevelopment.