Curator's Corner

Maundy Money

The custom of the British monarch distributing silver coins to the "deserving poor" rose from the of Jesus washing his disciples' feet at the Last Supper.

In the Church the ceremony was perpetuated with senior clergymen washing the feet of the lower orders, but in England the practice of the monarch distributing alms was first recorded in 1210. On this occasion King John donated gifts to the poor in Knaresborough, Yorkshire on the Thursday before Easter.

Later, special coinage of one, two, three and four pence denominations was minted and amounts equal to the age of the monarch were given to a selection of people in a ceremony. This became lnown as Maunday Money

The Old School Museum has been given 8 of these coins, which belonged to Ken Weston's grandmother. One set of four was minted in 1931, with other coins dating back to 1888, 1919, 1923 and 1928,

Shirley Bazley

What a pity our National Trust Festival event for 2008 had to be cancelled! I apologise to all who must have been disappointed - and we did have many bookings, not all from the Society. The Sinbad was out of commission because of engine trouble which was going to take some time to repair. However we shall look forward to Spring and History Week and hopefully make another attempt at the historic cruise.

Dates to Remember
Tuesday 6 May new display in RSL, WIRES, NANA & Wombat Protection.

Saturday 17 May - SERC meeting Berridale.
Monday 26 May - Merimbula-Imlay Historical Society Meeting. Tapes of oral histories from Museum archives.