Hertfordshire toilet roll wins museums award

An 80-year-old toilet roll has been voted the most-loved object owned by a county's museum.

The object beat 10 other museums which nominated items for the Hertfordshire Association of Museums' Object of the Year award.

The roll, manufactured in 1936 by EE Russell, is on display at the Garden City Collection in Letchworth.

The museum's collections officer, Sophie Walter, said the "roll captured the imaginations of young and old".

"We would really like to thank everyone who voted, we are so pleased you chose to support our quirky entry," she said.

"We decided to nominate this object as visitors were often amazed it had withstood the test of time, considering the throw-away culture that surrounds us."

At last year's inaugural awards, it was won by Charlie the Chimp from Watford Museum which got more than 65% of the public vote.

This year's nominations also included the Royston Tapestry at the Royston & District Museum and Art Gallery, and the Offley fire engine at the new North Hertfordshire Museum.

The Mill Green Mill and Museum nominated a 1950s cocktail dress made by Cresta Silks of Welwyn Garden City, and Verulamium Museum in St Albans has put forward the Roman shell mosaic discovered during the Wheeler excavations in 1930.