Historian Michael Wood backs Hoard campaign as 3,700 queue to see exhibition in Stoke

15 February 2010

Historian and broadcaster Michael Wood has pledged his support for the Staffordshire Hoard campaign. His support comes as 3,700 people have queued to see an exhibition of the Hoard at the Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent. The number of visitors is a record for an opening weekend for an exhibition at Museum and marks the first time the Hoard has been on display in the country in which it was discovered. 

Local people, and some from as far afield as Essex and Cornwall, queued at times for over an hour-and-a-half to see the 1,400-year-old Anglo-Saxon treasures. 

Michael Wood, who has made more than 80 documentary films and presented a programme on Beowulf on BBC FOUR last year, launched the exhibition on Friday. So far the campaign to save the Hoard has raised £750,000, with over £200,000 coming from members of the public. 

Stoke-on-Trent City Council museums strategic manager Keith Bloor said: "We are thrilled with the number of visitors to the exhibition. It far and away exceeds the numbers we would normally receive for a weekend at the museum. We have carried out a great deal of planning to cope with expected demand, and those plans have really paid off."

The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery is exhibiting 118 items from the hoard, including 40 artefacts that have never before been seen, such as a filigree gold horse's head, gold snakes, what is believed to be gold helmet eyebrow adornments, and detailed helmet fragments showing warriors and animals. The exhibition is open between 10am - 5pm seven days a week until Sunday 7 March. 

The campaign which is being spearheaded by The Art Fund, has until 17 April to raise the £3.3million needed to save the Hoard for the West Midlands. To make a donation, please visit www.artfund.org/hoard

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