Thursford Collection
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farming heritage | |
Visitors | 250,000 |
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Website | Thursford Collection |
The Thursford Collection is a
The Thursford Collection is a registered charity under English law.[2]
George Cushing
George Thomas Henry Cushing
Laurel Farm
By the late 1930s, steam was on the wane from commercial usage as diesel lorries became more popular. To Cushing, it was "as though the crown jewels were being sold for scrap", and he began to buy up redundant steam engines, storing and then restoring them at Laurel Farm in Thursford, where he had worked as a boy and now owned. This was also where he raised his own family of three boys with his wife Minnie.[3]
Thursford Museum
As Cushing's collection grew, more enthusiasts travelled to Thursford to help restore and then view his collection. Thus, in the early 1970s Cushing opened his museum in what was then a series of old farm sheds, and would personally tour the audience between exhibits, most often dressed in a countryman's flat cap, tweed jacket and muffler over baggy jumper, trousers and gumboots. He would then shake each visitor's hand, and ask departing guests with a blunt "Did yer loik it, then?"[3]
The original museum had limited opening times, but Cushing expanded the attraction to include a gift shop and tea rooms, and opened seven days a week during the summer season. In 1982 he co-wrote, with Ian Starsmore, Steam at Thursford.
Thursford Collection
In 1976, Cushing realised his collection could be subject to death duties when he died, and so set up the Thursford Collection as a trust-endowed charity which took effect in January 1977. Now run by George's youngest son John, the Thursford Collection attracts 170,000 visitors a year. George Cushing died on 26 February 2003, aged 98.[3]
The collection today includes a Mighty
In popular culture
One of the mechanical organs in the collection, a Wellershaus, was seen and heard in the Dad's Army episode Everybody's Trucking, originally aired on 15 November 1974.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ "Thursford". www.thursford.com. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
- ^ "THE THURSFORD COLLECTION, registered charity no. 272307". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
- ^ a b c d e "George Cushing". The Telegraph. 21 March 2003. Retrieved 6 May 2008. [dead link]
- ISBN 9780715381540