Hertfordshire toilet roll wins museums award

The toilet roll has been described as the Letchworth's oldest, and was manufactured in 1936 by Letchworth chemists, EE Russell

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".

Last year's winner Charlie the Chimp from Watford Museum had swung in Gordon Scott's shoe shop in the town for about four decades

"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."

This peach coloured silk cocktail dress was handmade in the 1950s by Cresta Silks of Welwyn Garden City

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.

Built in 1793, this fire engine from Offley last battled the flames in 1920

The shell mosaic was discovered during the Wheeler excavations of Verulamium in 1930 and became the image most associated with the roman town