Nell Hoare MBE

Nell Hoare MBE, Director of the TCC from 1991 to 2009

To contact Nell Hoare please click here.

Nell has been working on a freelance basis since 2009, focussing on heritage, museums, trust management and fundraising. Among her current and recent projects are: the management of The National Manuscripts Conservation Trust; membership development and fundraising for the Friends of the National Libraries; advice to Fox Brothers on their textile archive and strategic advice to the Museum of Leathercraft.  Nell is also helping Northamptonshire Record Office raise £760,000 to secure the nationally pre-eminent Westmorland of Apethorpe archive.

Nell continues to work on a consultancy basis for the TCC Foundation. She successfully helped to establish the new Centre for Textile Conservation and Technical Art History (raising nearly £700,000 in the process) and so ensured the TCC's work did not end when Southampton closed the Textile Conservation Centre.  She now helps the Foundation with management and with ongoing fundraising for the new Centre.

Nell has had a long career in the museums, conservation and heritage sector, having taken her degree in Archaeology and then trained as a curator. She first worked in museums in Oxford and London and then became Assistant Director of the Area Museums Service for the South East (AMSSEE) heading the development, grant giving and training functions of this, the largest of the Area Museum Services.

Nell took over as Director of the Textile Conservation Centre in 1991 when it was still an independent charity based in Hampton Court Palace. She successfully led major change, including the move from the charity to HE sector and the merger with Southampton University. She also ran a successful capital campaign to support the move and led the TCC to increased international recognition and success in the decade following the merger. Following the University of Southampton's decision to close the TCC she has made every possible effort to find a future for its work - a task she is still heavily engaged in.

Nell has worked as a consultant in the UK and overseas, she was also an Expert Panel member at the Heritage Lottery Fund, reviewing grant applications of over £1m and helping to monitor grant implementation. She has a deep knowledge of, is highly regarded within, the heritage and conservation sectors. Nell also has considerable experience in trust administration and grant giving, as an officer and a trustee. She has an outstanding reputation as a leader and manager.

Nell is a Fellow of both the Museums' Association and the International Institute of Conservation (IIC). She was appointed MBE in 2003 for services to museums and textile conservation and in October 2009 was admitted to the Honorary Freedom and Honorary Livery of The Clothworkers' Company.