Watts Gallery, in Compton, is delighted to announce that global reputation and brand analysis company, Echo Research, is to lend its support to the Gallery's fundraising campaign. Echo, which has headquarters in Godalming, will provide funding to digitise Watts Gallery's collection of Victorian Photographs - The Rob Dickins Collection - and on Monday members of the Echo team attended a reception at Watts Gallery to celebrate the partnership.

Commenting on the sponsorship, Sandra Macleod, Group Chief Executive, Echo Research, says, "Watts Gallery has faced a mammoth task in raising enough funds to start the vital restoration that will begin this autumn. We recognise the enormous efforts that have been made to date, but alongside this is the need to secure on-going funding."

"The Rob Dickins Collection, which comprises more than 4,000 photographs of the most eminent Victorians, including Tennyson, Ruskin, Gladstone and even Queen Victoria, provides 'echoes of the past'. We are delighted to help Watts Gallery make this fascinating collection more widely available, and by employing the latest technology, Echo Research will facilitate global access to this extraordinary archive for generations to come."

Sandra concludes, "We are proud of our heritage in Surrey, and indeed the majority of our staff live within the county. As a Godalming company operating internationally day-to-day, we hold a firm belief that it is our responsibility to draw on this experience to benefit our local community. Supporting a national gallery in the heart of this community is just one of the ways this can be demonstrated."

Perdita Hunt, Director of Watts Gallery, adds, "Now that we are addressing the needs of the building, we need the support from the local business community to ensure that our collection reaches as wide an audience as possible. We welcome this pledge from Echo Research to enable us to share the riches
of our archive, and very much look forward to working together to ensure that Watts Gallery's collection is made more accessible to more people, more of the time."

More than 200 photographs from The Rob Dickins Collection are currently touring in the 'Victorian Artists in Photographs - Selections from The Rob Dickins Collection' exhibition. The exhibition opens at The Forbes Galleries in New York in November and at The Ruskin Library in Lancaster in April 2009.

For further information, please visit www.wattsgallery.org.uk or telephone 01483 810235.