The createROSS Group was thrilled to learn two weeks ago that Arts Council England had awarded it a £12,000 grant to develop a third exhibit for The Museum Without Walls and a weekend festival in 2020. Support for the project has also been received in a grant from Ross-on-Wye Town Council.

The exhibit will form part of the Gilpin2020 celebrations. It recreates, in augmented reality, an 18th century river pleasure boat of the type used by William Gilpin and other Wye Valley tourists. People will be able to see it via an app on their smart phone on the river from May onwards.

This new exhibit will join the existing Lost Fountain at The Prospect and Underhill in the town centre. 

Underhill is the second exhibit in The Museum Without Walls and will be launched later this year. It recreates a missing row of buildings beside the Market House and has been in development for the last few months. A lot of research has been carried out into how it would have looked and artist Jaime Etherington has been commissioned to produce a set of artists impressions based on contemporary illustrations. createROSS is able to finance it from fundraising work over the last two years.

Because of their digital nature it is possible to add extra features to the exhibits, known in the trade as Easter Eggs, and for a period of a few days either side of this year’s Remembrance Service red poppies will be seen around The Lost Fountain in an app update.

The website address for the Museum Without Walls is www.museumwithoutwalls.uk The app is available from both apple and android stores.See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.