Lowry, David Bellamy and more in new Sunderland exhibition belatedly celebrating 'Fosums' 40th anniversary

It has been two years in the waiting but a new and significant Sunderland exhibition is finally under way after the pandemic.
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Members of FOSUMS, the Friends of Sunderland Museums, have launched a 40th anniversary display which includes features on some of its most famed personalities.

Get along to the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens to see tributes to the FOSUMS founding President, David Bellamy, and John Grundy, the architectural historian, author and broadcaster who became President after David’s death in 2019.

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There is a trail around different galleries which highlights some of the exhibits which FOSUMS helped to buy for the Museum and the displays they contributed to. The exhibits include Sunderland pottery and glass, paintings by LS Lowry, geological specimens and model dinosaurs for the Winter Gardens.

The Friends of Sunderland Museums 40th anniversary exhibition is finally under way after the pandemic.The Friends of Sunderland Museums 40th anniversary exhibition is finally under way after the pandemic.
The Friends of Sunderland Museums 40th anniversary exhibition is finally under way after the pandemic.

Officials at FOSUMS, which was formed in 1980, say the exhibition highlights the role of the society in supporting the museum.

It has raised funds to support the development of new galleries and to buy exhibits.

Ashley Sutherland, Chairman of FOSUMS, said: “We had originally planned to have the 40th anniversary display in the summer of 2020 but of course in common with other public buildings the Museum closed down in March that year in response to the pandemic.

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"I am very grateful to FOSUMS committee members Paula Short, Anne Elliott, Elsie Ronald and Edmund Foster for their hard work in producing the display.”

Sybil Reeder with the bowl presented to her when she retired as Chairman of FOSUMS in 2006.Sybil Reeder with the bowl presented to her when she retired as Chairman of FOSUMS in 2006.
Sybil Reeder with the bowl presented to her when she retired as Chairman of FOSUMS in 2006.

A major figure in the development of the Friends was Sybil Reeder who was Chairman from 1993 to 2006, said Ashley.. A particular achievement was the Museum Guardians scheme which raised £10,000 which was twice the original target.

It went towards the major expansion of the Museum which re-opened in 2001. The display includes a glass bowl presented to Sybil on her retirement as Chairman.

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FOSUMS also holds monthly meetings which have resumed after a break caused by the pandemic. A newsletter, FOSUMS News, is produced and there are copies in the exhibition, including the first issue from 1980.

The exhibition in the Museum Street will be on show until the end of August.

More details on FOSUMS can be found on its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/fosums

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