Royal Watercolour Society Friends and Patrons

Bankside Gallery, the home of the Royal Watercolour Society, has a thriving Friends organisation. Friends are invited to all Royal Watercolour Society exhibitions held at the Gallery. They also receive discounts on paintings and on a wide range of courses and talks about watercolour.

The Royal Watercolour Society is keen to promote watercolour painting throughout Britain. To this end, the Society has been instrumental in the foundation of a regional Friends organisation in East Anglia, which has recently evolved into an independent exhibiting Society called the Society of East Anglian Watercolourists (SEAW), which is based in Cambridge. The RWS take an active interest in the work of this new Society by teaching on its courses and sponsoring the 'RWS President's Prize' at their annual exhibition. For more information on SEAW please contact their Chairman Roy Hamilton seawnew@googlemail.com.

Friends of Bankside Gallery

For more information about becoming a Friend please contact Sali Davies, the Friends Administrator, on 020 7928 7521 / sdavies@banksidegallery.com. Friends Membership starts from £30. As a Friend you will receive:

• 5% discount on framed Members’ works
• 10% discount on unframed Members’ works
• 10% discount in the gallery bookshop
• Diary of forthcoming exhibitions
• Private view invitations
• A regular newsletter with a large RWS section
• An exciting programme of free talks and events

Friends Sketching Days

Friends Sketching Days are organised by a small committee of Friends. They take place once a month on Sundays at 11am and are open to all Friends. The group meet in the morning to sketch at interesting places, followed by a lunch.

Dates for 2010:

17th January | Canary Wharf

21st February | London Eye and Westminster

21st March | Bankside

18th April | Chelsea Physic Garden

16th May | Kensal Green Cemetery

20th June | Holland Park

If you would like to join the group please email Libby Tomlinson for details - libbytomlinson@yahoo.com.

Corporate Friends

The Corporate Friends programme offers your organisation a wonderful opportunity to form a relationship with the Royal Watercolour Society that could enrich the lives of your employees and clients while providing funds to develop our art education programme, particularly where it benefits local schools.

Donations

The Royal Watercolour Society welcomes donations from individuals and organisations that will help preserve the Diploma Collection. The Royal Watercolour Society regularly exhibit historical works of art on paper requiring strict environmental controls. Their archive, one of the oldest art archives in the world, also require a temperate environment. Donors will be publicly acknowledged for their support of the RWS in the Gallery and elsewhere.

Legacies

Individuals may also wish to consider including the Royal Watercolour Society in their will. If you would like to support us but have other priorities at the moment, a charitable bequest allows you to make a lasting contribution without immediate financial outlay. Legacies of any amount are most welcome - no gift is too large or too small. Your gift will make a difference to our present and our future.