For many of us, the sound of a handbell ringing recalls the dreaded childhood alert that school playtime was over and it was time to line up in single file and return to lessons.

In the 1980s this bell was also used to signify that a period of all too brief pleasure was drawing to a close. Staff at the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery would ring it at closing time each day, to warn visitors that they should be making their way to the front door.

It’s a reminder of how long the museum has been up and running in Swindon, and how many visitors have passed through its doors.

The museum was founded by Charles Gore, a former coachbuilder at the GWR works and clothier, who was an obsessive natural history collector with a particular penchant for fossil hunting.

Gore’s love of geology quickly developed into a broader curiosity and by 1919 he had acquired stuffed animals, curios, military costumes and equipment and ancient artefacts. That year Gore established Swindon’s Museum at Victoria Hall in Regent’s Circus, roughly where the Morrison’s store now stands, and became its first curator.

Evening Advertiser editor and proprietor William Morris donated his own collection to Gore’s new museum, and local alderman James “Raggy” Powell added his collection of art and pictures.

In 1930 the museum moved to its current home at Apsley House, Bath Road, the former home of corn and coal merchant John Toomer.

Eleven years later the art collection was established by an impressive donation of 21 works by a local businessman HJP (Jimmy) Bomford, and since then the collection has been built on to become a British modern art collection of outstanding quality and importance.

Fast forward to the1980s, and the museum and art gallery was extending its reach, hosting exhibitions such as The Art of Flight, The Roaring Twenties and The American West. The museum launched a bus, the Mobile Museum, to take collections to schools and special events – and museum objects were even put on display at Princess Margaret Hospital and the old council rates office.

The museum bell is also a reminder of the recent increase in opening hours, thanks to an initiative by the Friends of the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery which encourages supporters to volunteer at Apsley House.

As the museum is now able to open until 5pm from Tuesday to Saturday, there is no longer a need to ring the bell to encourage people to leave.

There is also plenty to look forward to over the coming weeks.

Today the gallery is taking part in the national Get Creative Festival which encourages everyone to try their hand at something new and creative.

Inspired by the current exhibition, The Euston Road School, visitors can have a go at creating their own still life drawing, collage or photograph at today’s free family drop-in workshop. The gallery will have still lifes and an atmospheric 1930s ambience to help everyone discover their creative side.

A temporary mini-exhibition of New Acquisitions opens next Wednesday, bringing together eight works by three fascinating contemporary British female artists: Nicola Tyson, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd and Eileen Cooper. It runs until April 14 and admission is free.

The Art Gallery will be closed from 5pm on April 14 for an exhibition changeover, and will re-open on April 25 with An Uneasy Peace: British Art between the Wars. The interwar period was an important time for modern British art, and this exhibition explores the innovation and tradition, harmony and tension that marked the 1920s and 1930s. This exhibition continues until September 1.

And finally, the archaeology gallery has been undergoing a refresh, and reopens on April 3. If you’ve ever wanted to know more about Swindon’s very long history, there’s no better place to start.

For full details of the events, exhibitions and talks, go to swindonmuseumandartgallery.org.uk

  • The Swindon Museum and Art Gallery is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm.