The Friends of the Doncaster Museums
Report and Gallery
Annual General Meeting
Friends Will Be Friends
On September 5th 2026 the trustees were pleased to welcome our members to the Annual General Meeing (AGM), held at Danum Gallery, Library and Museum (DGLAM).
I was pleased to see so many in attendance and to deliver the annual report and accounts together with a brief update on The Friends recent activities. Overall the past year has been a successful one with increaed funds and membership.
It was an honour to be re-elected as Chair of the charity and to continue, with my fellow trustees, the work of protecting and building on the herritage collections of the City of Doncaster.
After the formalities Neil McGregor (Collections & Exhibitions Officer) presented a very informative talk, with the title 'Friends will be Friends', on how The Friends have supported the art gallery over the last 30 years. In many cases our charity is able to back bids for large amounts of funding by providing small grants that demonstrate to funding bodies that the application is supported by local groups, which allows our charity to make a real difference even when the amount we provide may be modest. I would thank Neil for his presentation and contiued support.
The Friends could not exist with out our members and sponsors whom I would like to thank.
To read the annual report click on the link below.
Nathan Turnbull, Chair.
I'm pleased to report that The Friends have recently supported the purchase of a study by Charles Simpson
Nathan Turnbull
Chair
About the Acquisition
From Neil McGregor, Collections and Exhibitions Officer, Heritage Doncaster.
I am delighted to be able to let you know that with generous assistance from the Friends of Doncaster Museums we have been able to purchase a painting by Charles Simpson, which came up for sale at Chiswick Auctions in London last week.
The painting is a large-scale study for a painting of the finish of the 1931 St leger, by the same artist, which is already in the collection at Doncaster.
In our archives we have a letter from the artist in which he refers to the recently acquired study, stating that: ‘I got permission to paint a large study for the St Leger picture…I have this study here, an oil painting measuring about 40” x 30”……and from this I painted the larger picture”.
The painting stayed with the artist until 1954, at which time it passed to the Tyron Gallery in London. In the late 1990s it was sold through Christies to the current owners, who recently sent it for sale at Chiswick.
To acquire the painting we made a successful application to the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, and this money was added to some core funding, which came from the National Heritage Lottery Fund. The additional money from the Friends was vital in our application to the V&A, as they like to see that there is local support for any acquisition.
We hope that the painting will be with us in time to go on display in our forthcoming exhibition celebrating the 250th anniversary of the first running of the St Leger.
Charles Simpson was a renowned animal and landscape painter, and as a close friend of the great equine artist Sir Alfred Munnings, really knew how to paint scenes from the racing world.
Now on Display
The Great St Leger - 250 Years of a Racing Classic
As part of an exhibition, celebrating 250 years of the St Leger Race, Charles Simpson's study is currently on display alongside the painting he created from it, 'The Finish of the 1931 St Leger'.
The exhibition is on at Doncaster's art gallery; Danum, Gallery, Library and Museum (DGLAM) until the 7th November.
For more details visit the DGLAM website: www.dglam.org.uk/events/exhibition-the-great-st-leger