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Antiques Roadshow at Dartington Hall
Having been invited by the BBC, three of us went along with our “valuables” to the filming of the Antiques Roadshow programme at Dartington Estate last Sunday 31 May. Shirley Musgrove, Lucy Stretton and I got up at the crack of dawn and we were on set being filmed at 8:30 inside the fabulous Dartington Estate grounds. We were warmly welcomed by the lovely Fiona Bruce and all the various camera teams, producers and directors were exceptionally supportive.
Lucy brought along a lovely old original picture taken from her great grandfather’s house (the most valuable of all our exhibits) and Shirley and I took some items lent to us by Clinton Currie, a long-standing member of the DSA who was – and still is – a keen diver at the age of 86! He has amassed nearly16,000 dives and over the years has been a real help in recovering winch handles, car keys and other valuables we inadvertently drop overboard!. The only reason he couldn’t go with us is because he was diving in Cornwall last weekend! However, he lent us his vintage diving helmet and some treasures he’s found around the local coastline including an early nineteenth century storage pot and some glass bottles of about the same age.
To cut a long story short – the diving helmet was one of the stars of the show. It was placed on a trolley along with other iconic items from the day’s filming including two Greek statues, an old postman figure and a vintage costume. Fiona Bruce was then filmed pulling the trolley into the show. On that basis we are hopeful that we will make the final cut for the programme itself as our diving helmet was front and centre on the trolley! The even better news is that Shirley was able to give a good account of the work we do at the DSA which I hope they will include in the final edit. All in all, it was a very worthwhile trip and will hopefully give the DSA some good coverage. We were told that the show would be going out later this year so we will let you know nearer the time when we hear from the BBC.
