The Collection is entering a new and potentially exciting phase. The vision is that
it will become still more of a source of inspiration to all those who seek knowledge
and understanding, widening its appeal still further to include even more young professionals
and designers as well as the apprentice craftsmen and women of the future.
Over the last 20 years students of Charles Brooking’s Continuing Professional Development
Courses have frequently stressed the burning need for a major teaching facility based
around The Collection. With this in mind, the mission is to establish still more
fully The Collection’s status as a museum and national teaching centre of excellence
for anyone involved in the conservation, repair and study of historic buildings in
Britain. International links with museums and associated bodies overseas will follow,
as will the availability of The Collection in on-line reference form.
An important cornerstone has been set into place with the new charity which now owns
the whole Collection . A new and dynamic group of Trustees is formalizing a new Friends
Of The Brooking Collection which it is hoped will develop into a major Friends body.
The Collection is now being refined and redefined, and the immense task of comprehensive
cataloguing is now in view. In this and related tasks there is wide scope for help
from volunteers – and previous experience has shown that this is just one type of
involvement that gives back handsomely in terms of knowledge.
The Collection always welcomes new ideas and inspiration, of course. They can lend
a new impetus to realizing the vision for The Brooking National Collection.
But as so often in any complex exercise, The Collection needs funding. It has many
supporters and visionary benefactors who are impassioned by its potential and impressed
by its scope. It is a Registered Charity, No. 1155363. Anyone interested in any aspect
of The Collection can find more information or make direct contact via the Contact
button on this website.
A recent arrival (above) is a Queen Anne Revival top-hung conservatory window, of
the 1890’s, from a country house in Shamley Green, Surrey.
