A Radio and TV Pioneer
Inspiration for Montacute TV Radio Toy Museum
This museum illustrates the amazing world of radio and television and their programmes since the 1920s to the present. Inspiration for the collection came from Dennis Greenham and his wife Mauvyn. In 1930 at the age of 16, Dennis began his accumulator/radio repair business, in Norton-sub-Hamdon. He cycled around the villages collecting & delivering accumulators (wet batteries for radios) that he recharged for customers every week at 6d each.
During the 1937 coronation of George VI, as celebrations were held throughout the country, Dennis devised a double turntable and played records for his fellow villagers (perhaps the first DJ!). In 1953 he again delighted locals by rigging an aerial on the church tower & setting up a TV in the village school so they could watch the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. After the Coronation TV really started to take off and Dennis was one of the first people to fulfil a great demand to supply TVs & fit aerials so that people could receive pictures on their new TV sets.
As well as an Electrical Shop in Norton-sub-Hamdon Dennis also purchased this shop, workshops & stores here in Montacute in the 1950s. He bought the property from Mr Old who had a carpentry & joinery workshop on the premises as well as selling radios and bicycles. The previous owner to Mr Old was Gilbert William Cole, a wireless engineer who established a radio and bicycle shop & repair workshops here in 1936 that he ran until 1951. Consequently this property has been associated with radio since the Golden Age of Radio when wireless came to the mass market in the 1930s. Indeed some visitors to the museum have recalled visiting Mr Cole’s shop. Radios & cycle dealerships were a common combination and Dennis continued with this & TVs as well as his repair workshops (early TVs were not as reliable as today) and aerial rigging. He also employed electricians to fit electrical installations both domestic & commercial. Dennis was responsible for re-wiring Montacute House in the 1960s. Dennis rented a store from the National Trust in buildings in the Old Estate Yard close to the entrance of Montacute House. His lease ran out in the 1960s and the National Trust converted the buildings into dwellings, now the Old Granary.
In the 1950s when TVs became more available they still were not accessible to all, a set would cost around £50 which was about 2 months wages for the average worker. Dennis had a brainwave, to rent out TV sets, before long he had hundreds of TVs out on hire. As the business flourished Dennis started selling what is now known as white goods; fridges, freezers, cookers, washing machines, and also other domestic appliances such as; vacuum cleaners, irons, food mixers, kettles etc. By this time Dennis had between 10-20 people working for him.
The basis of the collection came from items that Dennis had stored in the outbuildings at Montacute and the Old Granary, these were then put together as a foundation for the museum in the outbuildings on the current site of the museum in the early 1980s. Dennis and Mauvyn Greenhams’ son in law, Alan Hicken established the ‘Montacute TV Radio and Toy Museum’, based in what were Dennis’s workshops & stores. Alan was also the Post Master for nearly 14 years running Montacute Post Office from the same premises. The collection is now maintained by Alan and since 1989 has been open to the public as a private museum.
Dennis continued working tirelessly in his business right up until the day he passed away peacefully on the 20th May 2002 at 88 years of age. Inspired by Dennis, the museum celebrates his working life as he brought radio and TV into the lives of thousands of local people.
The museum, which enriches the lives of visitors, is believed to be a unique collection, the only one of its kind in the country, bringing together memories of the sets and programmes that have entertained the world since the 1920s.
During the 1937 coronation of George VI, as celebrations were held throughout the country, Dennis devised a double turntable and played records for his fellow villagers (perhaps the first DJ!). In 1953 he again delighted locals by rigging an aerial on the church tower & setting up a TV in the village school so they could watch the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. After the Coronation TV really started to take off and Dennis was one of the first people to fulfil a great demand to supply TVs & fit aerials so that people could receive pictures on their new TV sets.
As well as an Electrical Shop in Norton-sub-Hamdon Dennis also purchased this shop, workshops & stores here in Montacute in the 1950s. He bought the property from Mr Old who had a carpentry & joinery workshop on the premises as well as selling radios and bicycles. The previous owner to Mr Old was Gilbert William Cole, a wireless engineer who established a radio and bicycle shop & repair workshops here in 1936 that he ran until 1951. Consequently this property has been associated with radio since the Golden Age of Radio when wireless came to the mass market in the 1930s. Indeed some visitors to the museum have recalled visiting Mr Cole’s shop. Radios & cycle dealerships were a common combination and Dennis continued with this & TVs as well as his repair workshops (early TVs were not as reliable as today) and aerial rigging. He also employed electricians to fit electrical installations both domestic & commercial. Dennis was responsible for re-wiring Montacute House in the 1960s. Dennis rented a store from the National Trust in buildings in the Old Estate Yard close to the entrance of Montacute House. His lease ran out in the 1960s and the National Trust converted the buildings into dwellings, now the Old Granary.
In the 1950s when TVs became more available they still were not accessible to all, a set would cost around £50 which was about 2 months wages for the average worker. Dennis had a brainwave, to rent out TV sets, before long he had hundreds of TVs out on hire. As the business flourished Dennis started selling what is now known as white goods; fridges, freezers, cookers, washing machines, and also other domestic appliances such as; vacuum cleaners, irons, food mixers, kettles etc. By this time Dennis had between 10-20 people working for him.
The basis of the collection came from items that Dennis had stored in the outbuildings at Montacute and the Old Granary, these were then put together as a foundation for the museum in the outbuildings on the current site of the museum in the early 1980s. Dennis and Mauvyn Greenhams’ son in law, Alan Hicken established the ‘Montacute TV Radio and Toy Museum’, based in what were Dennis’s workshops & stores. Alan was also the Post Master for nearly 14 years running Montacute Post Office from the same premises. The collection is now maintained by Alan and since 1989 has been open to the public as a private museum.
Dennis continued working tirelessly in his business right up until the day he passed away peacefully on the 20th May 2002 at 88 years of age. Inspired by Dennis, the museum celebrates his working life as he brought radio and TV into the lives of thousands of local people.
The museum, which enriches the lives of visitors, is believed to be a unique collection, the only one of its kind in the country, bringing together memories of the sets and programmes that have entertained the world since the 1920s.