Now until the 8 January 2005
The new temporary exhibition now showing at
Penrith Museum is 'Cut and Come Again. Barbering and Hairdressing
in and around Penrith'. Researched by Penrithian Mrs Julie Bartle,
who has produced a booklet which allows one to follow up the story
in more detail, the display gives an overview of the subject
supported by a wide variety of objects, documents and
photographs.
Most of the items are on loan through the generosity of local
proprietors or individuals who worked in the various businesses
whose existence is documented from the eighteenth to the present
century. The material assembled includes some good examples of
equipment, old signs and some very 'art deco' looking electric
heaters for curlers. Some exhibits date back to the time when a
visit to the barber, who doubled up as the local surgeon, could
involve having your blood 'let' (a sure cure it was thought for a
plethora of ailments - it was certainly hair-raising!). The more
recent past still held its horrors; undergoing mild electrocution
to stimulate your hair follicles!
You can see how some of the
fantastically-conceived hairstyles and the paraphernalia
surrounding wigs and wig-dressing (smothering these luxury and
status items with powder) were perfect subjects for the cartoonists
of the day.
One of the more interesting figures described is John Thompson
whose business was in Angel Lane in the town. As well as cutting
hair he was an enthusiastic amateur artist who has left a legacy of
drawings of Penrith and its surroundings which local historians
still find invaluable. A more ambitious work permanently on display
in the museum is his oil-painting of a dog-cart in which Billy
Pickering would to drive him to the various sites which he
sketched.
'Cut and Come Again' is open until 8 January 2005. Take time out
from your Christmas shopping and enjoy discovering this overlooked
aspect of Penrith's local and social history.
Mrs Bartle's booklet 'Cut and Come Again' is on
sale in the Penrith Tourist Information Centre telephone: (01768)
867466.
For further information on the exhibition contact
museum@eden.gov.uk
