‘Above the Clouds – Mallory & Irvine’s Quest for Everest’
The Salt Museum in Northwich, Cheshire, is a quality assured visitor attraction and this autumn it is staging the first major exhibition since 1999 devoted to the story of George Leigh Mallory and Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine. You might well be asking yourself what the possible link could be between salt and Mount Everest. The short answer is ‘not an obvious link’. However there is a link between the two men and Cheshire.
George Mallory was born and grew up in Mobberley. His father was the local clergyman and we know from anecdotes that Mallory was an inveterate climber of trees, walls and roofs around the vicarage. Sandy Irvine was born in Birkenhead on the Wirral and he spent many of his childhood holidays near Capel Curig. When the two men left Liverpool on 29th February 1924 the local press heralded the possibility of ‘Two Cheshire Men’ standing on the top of the world. Their names have been linked ever since.
In a tragic twist Mallory’s father conducted a memorial service to the two men in St John’s Church, Birkenhead, just six days after the news of their disappearance had been announced. ‘How brave would you have to be,’ Sandy’s sister once asked, ‘to take the memorial service of your own son?’
The mystery of what happened on Mount Everest has continued to fascinate mountaineers and non-mountaineers alike and opinions on whether they did or did not reach the summit on 8th June 1924 are as deeply divided as they were immediately after their disappearance. So much is written about their last climb that it is easy to forget the men themselves. There is also an interesting booklet about the clothing they wore published by the Mountain Heritage Trust.
This exhibition at the Salt Museum will focus on the lives and achievements of these two Cheshire men. The exhibition will uncover their links with the county, their upbringing and their university years. The focus of the seventy objects on display will be the 1924 expedition but the two earlier expeditions will also be touched upon in order to give the contextual history of the early Mount Everest expeditions. The story will be told in photographs and original artefacts loaned from the Alpine Club, Magdalene College, Cambridge, where Mallory was a student before the First World War, Merton College, Oxford, where Sandy studied in the early 1920s, the Royal Geographical Society and from the collections of other individuals and organisations.
A selection of the items found when Mallory’s body was discovered in 1999 will also be featured. There will be a display of replica 1924 expedition clothing loaned by the Mountaineering Heritage Trust and some modern climbing equipment provided by Berghaus.
The exhibition will later tour to the Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead until the end of January 2010.
Matt Wheeler, Curator for Cheshire West & Chester Council said, ‘We are delighted to stage this exhibition as it is the first time that personal items relating to both men will have been seen in the county of their birth. It represents one of the most comprehensive displays ever undertaken on the subject which, of course, still arouses great interest.’
Entry to the exhibition is free of charge, though there is charge of £2.50 (with concessions) to see the Salt Museum’s permanent collection. The museum is open Tuesday – Friday 10am – 5pm (10am -4pm in November) and 2-5pm at weekends (1-4pm in November). The museum is open on the Mondays of October half term from 10am to 5pm.
11 September – 8 November 2009 - Salt Museum, Northwich
162 London Road, Northwich, Cheshire, CW9 8AB.
Contact: Matt Wheeler, 01606 271640
Email: matt.wheeler@cheshire.gov.uk
14 November to 31 January 2010 - Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead
Slatey Road, Birkenhead, Cheshire, CH43 4UE
Tel: (0151) 652 4177