YEARS of trawling through archives has resulted in two exhibitions by Bradford on Avon’s Preservation Trust to mark its 50th anniversary.

The first exhibition, Past, Present, Future, reviews what the trust has achieved in the town over the last 50 years, illustrated with archive photographs and press cuttings about the trust’s building restoration projects.

It celebrates the trust’s collaboration with local artists over the years, and marks its contribution to the town’s civic life through its management of, now, three barns.

The exhibition, created by trust member Andrew Rolph, also looks to the future, inviting visitors to contribute their own ideas about what sort of town they want to live in.

Past, Present, Future starts in the Priory Barn in Newtown tomorrow and Sunday, before moving to The Vaults in Lamb Yard from Tuesday to next Saturday. It is open from 11am-5pm every day.

The trust’s commemorative activity has focused on Barton Farm, which is the focus for the second exhibition. Barton Farm: A Thousand Years of History, is the story of the farm, its many owners and tenants, and the changes that have taken place since Anglo-Saxon times.

The exhibition, created by trust member Simon Relph, opens on Tuesday in the West Barn, and runs until September 21, from 11am-5pm every day.

David Moss, chairman of the Preservation Trust, said: “It is important to keep the heritage of Bradford on Avon alive.”