This month's choice is the Steyning poem by John Stanley Purvis, written in 1915.

"Chance Memories" is an evocation of life in the trenches and of longing for the quiet beauty of the English countryside, specifically Mouse Lane in Steyning.

The poem can be seen engraved in stone half way up Mouse Lane and also on the outside wall of the Museum, as it formed part of Steyning's Millennium Project.

The hand-written original of this moving poem and more Purvis poetry are on display, together with details of his life.

He was wounded at the Somme, but you must come and read about the mystery of where he was when he actually wrote the poem, which includes the line "we assault in half an hour."

Our special summer exhibition is "Tracing Family Histories". It concentrates on four local families: the Woolgars, Wests, Michells and Worsfolds.

The displays show how the use of the Museum archives, objects from our collections and enthusiastic help from the families, unravelled the fascinating lives and times of their ancestors. The exhibition raises many questions and not a few smiles.

For example, the Michells were brewers, but they had a teetotal tract in their home. The Wests were printers, who advertised "Loose Literature for Languid Loungers" in one of their staid little pamphlets. 

The Worsfold story was revealed when three Wiston school samplers were researched. The first, dated 1890, led on to school log books, attendance records and internet discoveries.

The Woolgar family is quite remarkable in the completeness of their family history records, tracing their origins far beyond their emergence as Bramber and Beeding wheelwrights in 1779.

Having seen these cleverly linked and co-ordinated displays we are sure our visitors will be inspired to start their own family research or to renew their efforts.