I received this this morning, and I thought I'd pass it along.

Of all the cool places in England, Barley Hall is one of my favorites. I think this is because it's not a museum or historic site in the conventional sense, where visitors are kept behind velvet ropes and can only view what's on display. The intention of Barley Hall was to fully outfit and furnish the Hall and allow visitors "free run", i.e. one can sit on the furniture, get close to the walls and pick up the pottery on the tables.

Jeff and I sponsor the Hall with periodic donations of clothing for both their interpretation staff, as well as with child sized clothing which is used in outreach and educational programs. Just recently, we donated reproduction linens, some of which will be used for display in the Great Hall. The balance will be sold in the museum shop to generate funds for the Hall.

Since I consider Barley Hall to be one of my "favorite charities", I'd like to add my voice to Gill's and ask for your help for Barley Hall. Although she's asking for larger group donations, contributions of any amount are always gatefully received.

As a fan of the 15th C., please consider putting Barley Hall on your list of charities this Christmas season and "Give a Present to the Past".

Thanks for your consideration-

Gwen
Historic Enterprises / Black Swan Designs
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Dear Re-enactors

I'm writing from Barley Hall to see if you can help us out. We have just launched a special appeal which ties in with Christmas - it's called "Give a Present to the Past" and basically we are making a special request for donations and sponsorship at the end of what has been a pretty difficult year for tourism in York and at Barley Hall in particular. You can find lots more details at our website - Barley Hall

As history lovers, I thought it would be worth approaching re-enactment groups, especially those who focus on the Middle Ages. Many of you will already know Barley Hall, and indeed quite a few groups have appeared here over the last few years. Barley Hall is all about living history and we love to have live interpretation here.

I have a special offer in mind for groups like yours - basically, we would like to offer groups a special group membership of our Friends organisation. This would cost £50 for membership in 2006 and your group would receive a membership card entitling up to four people at a time to free entry to Barley Hall. This card could be passed among your members if anyone is planning a visit to York.

There's two ways you can handle this. Firstly, just send a cheque for £50 (or more if you want!), made payable to Barley Hall, to the Hall, with a covering note saying that you would like your group to sign up for group membership of the Friends of Barley Hall. Alternatively, send a donation online through the website and follow it up with an explanatory email.

Thanks for your time, and I hope you don't mind me bothering you! Any help you can give Barley Hall - which is entirely self-financing and run by a small charitable trust - would be very much appreciated.

Thanks again,

Gill Page

Dr Gill Page
Museum Manager
Barley Hall
2 Coffee Yard
Off Stonegate
York YO1 8AR
barley.hall@btconnect.com
01904 610275

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