About 'The Friends'
Make A Difference
Together with your help we can continue to raise awareness of the Collection, create opportunities to display the Collection and raise funds for Conservation.
Join Us, Join In
Become a member and look forward to joining us at social events, trips to museums and art galleries, talks, exhibitions and more. We also contribute at local events such as arts festivals and Heritage Open Days.
The Friends of the Lytham St Annes Art Collection has a strong, active committee and we’ve over 120 members!
Membership Benefits
Events
As a member you’ll be able to enjoy all the organised events, some of which are FREE such as Preview Nights when a new exhibition of items from the Collection is on display.
Newsletters
Receive two Newsletters a year which are full of information about the Friends and their activities. Letters are also sent to members throughout the year giving details of events which are approaching.
ENJOYMENT
Volunteers get the opportunity to invigilate at exhibitions, become a researcher or help out at events such as Heritage Open Days. Our members really enjoy getting involved.
Conserving The Collection
Prior to creating the Friends, Margaret Race learned that the local Council had only a very limited amount of money to spend annually on the Collection.
Maintenance costs ate away at most of it with just a little left for the costly conservation work which was so desperately needed.
Friends Plans Announced
It was knowing this, and the fact that there were so many paintings and sculptures waiting to be cleaned and repaired, that made Margaret determined to raise money so that more artworks could be conserved.
On announcing her plans it was suggested to her that rather than just fund-raising perhaps the Collection as a whole needed a ‘Friends’ group.
It made sense and so the Friends of the LSA Art Collection was born and as can be seen on our Collections page, several artworks have been or are in the process of being conserved as a direct result of the work of the Friends.
Generous, Public-Spirited Individuals
Over £22,000 has been or is about to be spent on conservation with funding via the Friends. Most of this has come from very generous, public-spirited individuals or organisations who have become aware of the Collection and answered our call for help, donating large sums of money to enable specific items to be conserved.
The most recent generous promise of funding has come from The Arts Society Fylde, formerly Fylde DFAS, who have chosen to fund the conservation of several pieces of ivory.
Would you like to leave a legacy? Find out more here…
Spread The Word
The word has spread and the Membership has grown. With a strong and active committee the Friends have organised social occasions, fund-raising events, exhibitions, talks and trips to Art Galleries and Museums.
All this activity and publicising it has helped to make more individuals aware of our very own most beautiful Art Collection.
Friends of the Friends
Friends of the Lytham St Annes Art Collection has a close relationships with other local societies, particularly, the Lytham St Annes Civic Society, The Arts Society Fylde, Lytham Heritage Group and the Lytham St Annes Art Society.
Join The Friends Today
Together, we can make a difference
The collection
Discover how the Collection began
EXHIBITIONS
Art Exhibition Dates
Latest News
Artworks, events & insights