Disposals might sound alarming in a museum context, but at the Museum of Gloucester they’re anything but. As we continue reviewing our social history collection, we’ve recently rehomed around 100 objects, including an impressive 87 can openers, to the Ken Hawley Collection Trust in Sheffield. These items, once tucked away in storage, now have a new life within a nationally significant tool-making collection, where their stories can shine. This “delightful disposal” is a perfect example of how responsible collections care ensures objects find the places where they truly belong.

A rare discovery from the Museum’s timber samples has just been confirmed by Swansea University, marking an exciting milestone in our dendrochronology project. Find out why this result matters and what it means for future research.