6 September 2023

By Tim Koch

On 26 July, there was a reception at Henley’s River and Rowing Museum (RRM) to welcome the new Director, Steve O’Connor.

The Henley Herald covered the reception pictured above and quoted Steve as saying: 

Initially people congratulated me on the role but then followed it up with this sentence, Museum – great opportunity, big challenge…

Over the past six months in the conversations we have been having there are four themes that have been coming out…

First we need to get back into the centre of the community. We need to help all the Henley events, community groups, the Business Partnership etc and we also need to get the residents to feel that it is their museum. 

Secondly we need to re-imagine the galleries; sport of rowing, the river and the history of Henley but I think it is about time to re-imagine what stories we are telling and give equal weight to all three of those areas. I’ve got a particular interest in technology and digitisation and can we provide attractive stories that will give our visitors something new to think about. 

Thirdly, the river; there is a very live debate about the health of our river, climate change, ecology and we like organisations like River Action and the Henley Mermaids we hold the moral high ground on that debate and we should be in the area that can host debate and hold those organisations to account. I firmly believe the Museum has a huge part to play in that story. 

Fourthly, fundamentally we are an education charity. I believe we will have a world-leading educational offer. In the last seven weeks we have taught 800 students about the river and the feedback we’re getting is unbelievable. We’ve already got a forward plan in place to renovate the outdoor classroom but also to look at a mobile classroom to go to schools. The educational part will be a key part going forward.

Plan your RRM visit here.