Past Events
Friends' Annual Victorian Tea Party with Penelope Keith CBE DL
Saturday 19 June, 2-5pm
Enjoy a traditional afternoon tea of sandwiches, scones and jam and cakes on the lawn of Watts’s Great Studio, with an exclusive tour of the privately owned, Limnerslease, the home of G F Watts and Mary Watts in Compton.
Our host Penelope Keith will read from the diaries of Mary Watts and then guests will have an opportunity to see the home she and GF Watts created together including the elaborate ceiling designs, a precursor to the Watts Chapel.
The afternoon tea will be served on beautiful period crockery (those who came last year will remember it well!).
Don't miss this unique day and if you are not a Friends of Watts Gallery you can still attend at a slightly higher ticket price or why not take the opportunity to join more than 1000 Friends of Watts Gallery.
Mr G F Watts and Sir Peter Blake
present
A Fairy Fair at Watts Gallery
Sunday 20 June 2010
10.30am-6pm
Enjoy a day of fun and fairies. Children can book to make fairy wings and magic wands whilst adults meet the Father of Pop Art, Sir Peter Blake (famed for his Sgt. Pepper’s cover and his love of Victoriana) on the CCA Art Bus (www.ccaartbus.co.uk) where there will be a special exhibition. There will also be a special exhibition of Victorian fairy paintings for one day only. Not to be missed.
Dreweatts Auctioneers will be offering antique valuations from James Braxton of BBC Flog It! and Bargain Hunt fame, whilst the Tea Shop will offer home-cooked food. Take a hard-hat tour of the restoration and a guided tour of the Watts Chapel.
Visit to the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum
Wednesday 16 June, 9-5.30pm
A day visit with Watts Gallery Curator Mark Bills to Russell-Cotes, Bournemouth, home of Victorians Sir Merton & Lady Russell-Cotes, which contains a wealth of art and beautiful objects.
Photography Collections at the National Portrait Gallery, London
Wednesday 14 April
We visited the archives and saw items not normally seen by the public, including Victorian albums and also the personal album of George Scharf. We also saw lots of photographs of Watts himself as well as a picture of Mary Watts in old age. We also had a very informative visit of the Galleries including items on show for six months in cases in the Victorian Galleries next to the Watts portraits. We were very honoured to be welcomed by Director of the National Portrait Gallery, Sandy Nairne.
Anne Vardon - Volunteer Friends Events Coordinator
Friends Trip to Farringford on the Isle of Wight
Tuesday 8 September to Thursday 10 September 2009
Join a small group and visit Farringford, home to Alfred Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate and friend of Watts, in his bicentenary year. Leaving Compton on the afternoon of Tuesday 8 and returning to Compton at lunchtime on Thursday 10 September, we will travel by coach and ferry to stay at the newly refurbished country hotel, Farringford, Freshwater, Isle of Wight.
During our two-night stay there will be talks by Martin Beisly, owner of Farringford and Head of Victorian Art at Christies; Prof. Leonée Ormond, world authority on Tennyson, and Elizabeth Hutchings, local author on the Freshwater Circle. Works by Watts will be seen as part of an exhibition in the hotel. We will visit Dimbola Lodge, home of the leading 19th-century photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron, for a talk and tour, and, weather permitting, a walk to the Tennyson Memorial. Perdita Hunt, Director and Mark Bills, Curator will accompany the trip.
Friends Summer Party
‘Let’s Make Friends’: 
A Victorian Tea Party with Penelope Keith CBE
Saturday 18 July: 2 - 5.30pm
The actress Penelope Keith CBE will be hosting a Victorian Tea Party. There will be the opportunity to take an exclusive guided tour of the Great Studio. It is also your chance to sign a new roof tile for Watts Gallery. Friends are encoraged to book with a prospective Friend who may wish to join on the day for just £10.
Watts Gallery's First Business Networking Event 
Friday 17 July 2009, 12-2pm with special guest Anne Milton MP
To launch the 2010 Friends’ Campaign
at Watts’s Great Studio, Down Lane, Compton
Mark the moment
Sign a roof tile for the restoration of Watts Gallery
See the Studio
Take an exclusive tour of Watts’s Great Studio
Book your event
Hear about the first opportunitues for businesses
to hold events in the newly restored Watts Gallery
Discover Watts as a Friend
· Enjoy our exclusive Friends programme
· Become a Friend and an angel will treble your fee
· The Friends will be the first to visit the restored Gallery
Your National Gallery in the Heart of a Village
Guests will be asked to join the Friends of Watts Gallery on the day for a reduced price of just £10. Please help us to reach 2,010 Friends by 2010.
RSVP
If you represent a local business and would like to attend this event please email Martina Spence at rsvp@wattsgallery.org.uk giving brief details of your business and how many people you would like to attend. Please forward this event onto colleagues in other businesses for whom it may be of interest.
The event is to be held at:
Watts’s Great Studio,
Down Lane, Compton,
Nr. Guildford
GU3 1DQ
A Tour of Two Gertrude Jekyll Gardens
Tuesday 2 June 2009
A small group of Friends had an enchanting afternoon in the world of Gertrude Jekyll. Starting at the Church of St John the Baptist, Busbridge, to view the Jekyll family grave, the beautiful East and West windows designed by Burne Jones and made by Morris & Co and the Lutyens’ screen. This was followed by tours of two beautiful private gardens, both originally designed by Gertrude Jekyll, in radiant sunshine and ended with a delicious cream tea. We are indebted to the owners for kindly opening their gardens to us.
The final Visit for 2009 will be from 8th to 10th September to Farringford, Isle of Wight to celebrate Tennyson and the Freshwater Circle.
Anne Vardon
A Tour of the Victorian Galleries
at the National Portrait Gallery, London
Thursday 2 April 2009
2nd April 2009, the Friends first visit of 2009 was to the National Portrait Gallery where they were met by the Director, Sandy Nairne, who gave them a warm welcome before they started their tour of the Victorian Galleries led by Peter Funnell, 19th Century Curator & Head of Research Programmes. His talk was most illuminating covering not only descriptions of the paintings, with their historical and social context but also an overview of the Gallery’s history and workings. Many said that they will return to further explore this exciting and sometimes overlooked Gallery.
Friends Visit to London to see
St James the Less and St Paul's Cathedral
8 December 2008
The last Friends’ Visit of 2008 took place on Monday, 8th December when Friends visited the exquisite church of St James the Less in Pimlico, built between 1859 and 1861 by the three daughters of the late Dr James Monk Bishop of Gloucester. After a guided tour by the Vicar, Richard Dormandy, Mark Bills spoke about Doom GF Watts’ mosaic which is on the chancel arch. There was also an opportunity to view the church from nearby flats. In the afternoon the group went to St Paul’s where the newly cleaned interior shows the many riches of this great building to perfection. Mark Bills spoke on Time, Death and Judgement and Peace and Goodwill which are currently hanging in their rightful place in the Nave and Desna Greenhow presented the Exhibition, Parables in Paint, which she had helped to prepare. There followed guided tours of the Cathedral by St Paul’s Stewards.
Anne Vardon
