William Morris Wins

Congratulations to the William Morris Gallery in Lloyd Park, Walthamstow, for winning this year's £100,000 Art Fund prize for Museum of the Year, following a major refurbishment (CLICK). Yesterday, Private Eye editor Ian Hislop took time off from lampooning the Establishment to join the Establishment in the V&A to announce the winner (CLICK). I'm especially pleased with this result, because I played a small part in the campaign to save the Gallery when Labour-run Waltham Forest Council decided to close it in 2007 (CLICK). In 2008 a beautifully bound petition containing more than 11,000 signatures and messages of support from all over the world was handed in at No 10 Downing Street (CLICK). Shown is a detail from Praising Angel (1878), designed by Edward Burne-Jones for William Morris & Co's stained-glass window, versions of which were installed in a private home, in Salisbury Cathedral and in at least two churches.