Winter sale to raise funds to preserve Dagenham’s Fanshaw paintings

A winter sale is being staged to help raise funds to preserve Dagenham’s unique Fanshaw Collection of paintings.

The annual fundraiser at the end of the month is being staged in the Valence House centre in Becontree where all the archives for Barking and Dagenham are kept.

Money raised by Friends of Valence House is to pay for things wanted by the Museum and Archives and for the herb garden at the Valence Library in Becontree Avenue, where the Saturday sale is being held on November 30.

The Friends are concentrating on conserving paintings in the Fanshawe Collection, most being donated by Royal Navy captain Aubrey Fanshawe in 1963. Several are by famous painters such as Sir Peter Lely, Marc Gheeraedts and William Dobson.

The Friends this year have also funded the conservation of the painting of Katherine Ferrars and having a painting on ivory restored to its former glory of Thomas Fanshawe who was Vicar of Dagenham from 1816 to 1857.

They have also paid for a digital microfilm scanner for the local studies centre and a portable photographic studio for the museum.

Stalls at the winter sale from 10am to 3pm include home-made cakes, fancy goods, bric-a-brac, books, CDs, DVDs, maps, jigsaws, toys, a tombola and a raffle.

The Friends, celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2014, run four fundraising second-hand book sales a year, the next being February 15.