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A Victorian body drag used to find dead bodies in the Thames, a 250,000-year-old axe and some fossilised dinosaur poo - just some of the unusual exhibits that were on display at the River and Rowing museum to mark its 10th birthday.

Rachel Wragg with figurehead from a Thames launch

The This Inspires Me exhibition, which ended on 4 January 2009, showed you the weird and wonderful collection the museum has built up over the decade, including artefacts chosen by local celebrities such as David Suchet.

Perhaps unsurprisingly the Hercule Poirot actor selected the body drag as his object of choice.

"Usually I am drawn to the beauty of the River Thames," he says, "but this gruesome object made a startling impression and reminded me of the darker and more dangerous side of the waterway.Ìý

"Who knows how many poor souls this dragged out, having died by accident, misadventure or even foul deed?"

Eel butt

Curator Rachel Wragg adds: "It came from the Thames Conservancy and it was part of their remit on a fairly regular basis to drag the River Thames for any dead bodies that might have been lurking there."

Another curious item on display is a huge wicker contraption hanging from the ceiling.

"That's an eel buck," says Rachel. "They were designed to catch eels. The eels can swim in but once they were in they couldn't get out."

The eel bucks were owned by the Hedson estate at their weir near Cookham.

She adds: "Eels were very big on the Thames, a lot of people ate them, there was a big trade in eels and I understand that people were even known to pay their rent in eels at one time!"

Hawkins shop in Henley

Visitors can also touch and hold a fossilised dinosaur excrement - should they so wish - and marvel at a 250,000-year-old axe from the bronze age found near Henley.

On the rowing side there are artefacts present from lady's rowing pioneer Amy Gentry, and also an early rowing machine.

"It's an American invention and identical to the one they would have had on the Titanic and on the Olympic," says Rachel. "They were developed in America and Canada where often the sea was frozen for two or three months a year, rowing crews couldn't train if they couldn't get out on to the water so they were developed to continue their training."

Exhibits relating to Henley include a luxurious yellow ostrich feather fan, that ladies would have used to keep cool during the Henley regatta, and chinaware from a local shop called Hawkins, "visited and patronised by Queen Mary during the Regatta".

Henley-on-Thames Townwomen's Guild embroidery

Want to contribute to the exhibition? The museum would be interested to hear from you.

"It's about visitors getting involved and choosing their own special objects," says Rachel of the user-generated side to the exhibition, "and to give them an opportunity to bring in their own material from home that they'd like to see displayed in the exhibition."

This Inspires Me also opens as part of the launch weekend for the Cultural Olympiad, a four-year programme looking towards London 2012 that highlights the country's diversity using both culture and sport to create works and events.

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