Blandford Town Museum - Curatorial Staff

Curator - Dr Peter Andrews

Dr Andrews is a research worker in human and primate evolution, palaeoecology of Neogene environments, and taphonomy of vertebrate bones. He worked for 25 years at the Natural History Museum, London, where he was Head of Human Origins until his retirement in the year 2000. Since then he has been the curator of Blandford Museum while retaining emeritus positions at the Natural History Museum and the Universities of London and York.

He has written and edited ten books and more than 200 articles in the scientific and popular press. At Blandford Museum he heads a team of one deputy curator (Dr Michael le Bas) and three assistant curators (Philip Le Bas, Carolyn Martin and Jack Greaves), and together they are responsible for the day to day running of the museum, the development and installation of exhibits, and managing the collections.

Deputy Curator and Archivist - Michael Le Bas

Dr Le Bas took early retirement after teaching geology, volcanology and mineralogy, for nearly 40 years at Cambridge, Leicester and The Open University. He holds honorary status at Leicester University and The Natural History Museum, London and formerly at Southampton University. His research focused on carbonate volcanism of Africa and Asia. He has been a Fellow of The Geological Society, London, since 1957 (Vice-President 1987-8), and has lectured world-wide.

Retirement brought him to Blandford and the Museum where he developed interests in the local history,
archaeology and architecture. He gives talks on these subjects and is currently re-writing with Ben Cox,
the former Curator of the Museum, his unpublished book 'The History of the Ancient Borough of Blandford', also writing on the Saxon origins of Blandford and a second edition of 'One Hundred Blandford Worthies'. He spends much time looking after the collections and building exhibits.

Assistant Curator - Philip Le Bas

Following art college and some years teaching and lecturing he was eager to sell his paintings. The Portal Gallery in central London took him on in 1966. It has represented him ever since, with exhibitions in Europe and the U.S., sent him around the world to work for an exhibition of the Grand Hotels of the Worlds, and sold to public and private collections. He now has another audience to please closer to home - those who visit the Blandford Town Museum. The work for the museum is more in the nature of arranging and painting installations requiring a very different approach from easel painting, but each feeds and stimulates the other. Which is good.

Assistant Curator - Carolyn Martin

Carolyn came down to Dorset in 2006 with husband Dan and lives in Milborne St Andrew. Equipped with a history degree from The Open University and using her computer skills, she is completing the catalogue of museum artefacts using the MODESplus computer package. This has entailed checking the lists of the many thousands of items on show and in the store. She is also much involved in building the new museum displays.

Assistant Curator - Jack Greaves

After a five year apprenticeship with Chloride Ltd and Technical College Jack qualified as a Mechanical Engineer and became a design draughtsman and later a project manager and finally Chief Planning Engineer with Porvair Ltd. After joining Volvo Cars UK Ltd and many years of managing businesses including extensive studies with London, Cranfield and Insead Business Schools during the time with Lex Service PLC, the owner of Volvo Cars UK Ltd, he took early retirement and went back to College to take an HND in Countryside Management and a BSc in Environmental Science.

Dorset was a natural choice for retirement, since much time was spent in his late teens training and qualifying as a Diver with the British Sub Aqua Club, at Swanage Diving School, so a full circle one might say, since Blandford Forum is so central for Dorset.

Assistant Archivist - Mark Churchill