The first exhibit for the display arrives

Collections & Objects   Collections Management   Design   Exhibitions   Local History   Social History
Posted by administrator on October 11, 2011     Permalink     Leave a comment

Another milestone in the Wagon Refurbishment Project has been reached with the delivery of the first exhibit for the displays, other than the wagons themselves of course. It is also quite a big exhibit….a 1963 Rover P4 model 110 that has been acquired on loan from the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu,  in Hampshire. It was delivered by a specialist car transporter company in an enclosed car transporter early on Friday 23 September 2011 and was received by a small team of curatorial and conservation staff, as well as front of house staff and large object handling specialists from Dowse Cranes, to ensure that it was received and put in its new home safely. The operation of receiving, checking and maneuvering it into place took just under two hours.

It is 8am and the Rover P4 arrives in its car transporter from Hampshire.

It is 8am and the Rover P4 arrives in its car transporter from Hampshire.

 

It is carefully offloaded by the driver of the delivery wagon.

It is carefully offloaded by the driver of the delivery wagon.

As it is too heavy to push up the bank into the car park it is towed in by the specialist lifting company hired to ramp the Rover into the CCT.

After checking its condition the car is pushed to the ramp through the folding doors that were designed into the building with this type of operation in mind.

After checking its condition the car is pushed to the ramp through the folding doors that were designed into the building with this type of operation in mind.

The Rover is connected by its rear axle to the line from the winch and it is slowly hauled up the ramps provided for the occasion into the CCT.

The Rover is connected by its rear axle to the line from the winch and it is slowly hauled up the ramps provided for the occasion into the CCT.

Slowly the car is hand winched into the CCT using a Tirfor winch.

Slowly the car is hand winched into the CCT using a Tirfor winch.

It is 10am and the car is safely positioned in its display position where it will be seen by visitors within the wagon.

It is 10am and the car is safely positioned in its display position where it will be seen by visitors within the wagon.

As it will be seen by visitors outside of the wagon through one of the side doors.

As it will be seen by visitors outside of the wagon through one of the side doors.

The car is typical of those carried on British Railways Motorail services in wagons like our Covered Carriage Truck during the late 1950s and 1960s. As such it is a great object to put on show in the displays.

Made in Solihull, near Birmingham, Rovers were in their time top-of-the-range family cars built to high standards of quality and luxury. They became known as ‘the poor man’s Rolls-Royce’. This model has a 2.6 litre engine and a top speed of just over 100 mph. 

It became part of the National Motor Museum’s collection in 2005, having had only one owner, who lived on the Isle of White, from new.

David Horsefield

Arbeia South Shields' Roman Fort   Collections & Objects   Discovery Museum   Exhibitions   Great North Museum: Hancock   Hatton Gallery   Laing Art Gallery   Segedunum Roman Fort   Shipley Art Gallery   Social History   South Shields Museum & Art Gallery   Stephenson Steam Railway   The Archives   Volunteering
Posted by administrator on October 3, 2011     Permalink     Leave a comment

David after winning an award for his outstanding contribution to customer care at the 2010 North East Regional Museum Hub Volunteer Awards with Councillor Ged Bell

We’re fast approaching our annual volunteer awards in November of this year. David won an award for his Outstanding Contribution to Customer Care last year after volunteering with us for over 8 years across all of our venues. I asked David, a true star volunteer, to share with us a little bit about his experiences so far…

David: “I started volunteering about 8 years ago with carers from the Alzheimer’s Society. We went out once a month on trips with the carers and a disposable camera each, to take lots of photos.

At the end of the six months we put an Exhibition on at the Discovery Musum in the Peoples Gallery. This involved using the workshop in the Peoples Gallery, which was really full of things! So I started to help to tidy the workshop up too.

Then one day I was asked by Lucy Cooke, Volunteer Co-ordinator, if I would like to help do some other volunteering in the Discovery, and also at other museums  I said yes. It was the best thing I did!

I’ve volunteered at all the museums including,  Sunderland, South Shields and in Newcastle. I’ve helped with allsorts including the Tudors Exhibition and two Open Days at Sunderland in Mobray Park. I even helped  to pack all things away at the Hancock when it closed for refurbishment.

I was presented with a certificate for doing what I like best, meeting and welcoming people to the Discovery Museum which, I was very surprised and grateful for. I would like to thank all those who voted for me.

I am now on the front desk where I meet lots of people and new faces and try and make them feel welcome.

The Museum over the last year has a new venue called Mediatheque, which lets you watch British made films and programs so if you have time to spare call in, it will keep me busy on my Tuesday afternoons and  also keeps me out of trouble!”

Thank you very much David for all of your enthusiasm and support!

Hair Rollers and Horseshoes

Discovery Museum   Great North Museum: Hancock   Segedunum Roman Fort   Social History   Volunteering
Posted by administrator on September 27, 2011     Permalink     Leave a comment

I’m currently preparing to present at the Culture Shock conference at the end of September and feeling rather nostalgic. Looking back at some of the stories that the volunteers from Culture Track created I’m so impressed with the work that they produced, many using Macbooks for the first time. This was such a fantastic experience. We learnt a lot during this time and got to know each other, as many of the volunteers had just joined Culture Track.

Culture Shock, not to be confused with Culture Track, was a digital storytelling project that brought diverse groups of people together to explore the museum collections and use the objects to reflect on and inspire their own digital stories.

Richard and Lauren with feather capes

John, Colin and Malcolm examining Chinese shoes

It’s funny how the museum objects spark so many memories. Our stories have now been accessioned into the museum collections and will remain as a permanent object in the collections.

We had a big celebration event at the end of the project where we screened all of our films at the GNM:Hancock Museum in the Culture Shock Exhibition

There are some really thought provoking stories that I’m sure you will enjoy. If you would like to see the stories that we made please follow the links to the Culture Shock Website….

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/learning-the-hard-way.html

David Paterson – Learning the Hard Way

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/activities-made-accessible.html

Paul Casson – Activities Made Accessible

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/clutter.html

John Nicholls – Clutter

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/mary-o-neil.html

Brian Thompson – Mary O’Neil

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/football-at-segendunum.html

Colin Armstrong – Football at Segedunum

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/changes.html

Malcolm Hunter – Changes

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/ted-the-pipes-and-the-matchstick-pyramid.html

Sam Richardson – Ted the Pipes and the Matchstick Pyramid

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/blow-up.html

Richard Hindmarch – Blow Up

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/train-journey.html

Stephen Watson – Train Journey

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/curls.html

Lauren Prince – Curls

Volunteering, Employability and Accessibility – Paul Casson

Discovery Museum   The Archives   Volunteering
Posted by administrator on September 26, 2011     Permalink     Leave a comment

Paul is one of the fantastic Culture Track volunteers, who has continued volunteering with us even after securing paid employment. Paul began volunteering with us at the Discovery Museum and is now volunteering within BFI Mediatheque in the Archives. He’s also a very active member of the BFI Mediatheque film club.

Paul Casson volunteering at Discovery Museum

Paul and Steve created and edited this short film about Pauls’ volunteering experience. Please follow the link below to hear Paul explain more in his own words…

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/activities-made-accessible.html

Thanks very much for all your efforts Paul and for letting me share your story!

Monkwearmouth Station Museum Railway Wagon Restoration Project – The Beginning of the End!

Design   Local History   Technology
Posted by administrator on September 20, 2011     Permalink     Comments (1)

 

I am pleased to report that the conservation and refurbishment work on the wagons is now complete. The final job that had to be done, after the completion of the painting of the wagons in their LNER and NER colours, was the sign-writing. This done the wagons look ready to go back put onto the railway to do an honest days work. But of course that is not to be their future and we are now entering the third stage of the project: designing and producing the displays, interactives and audio-visuals that are going to bring the story of the wagons to life in a way that people can enjoy learning about them and the role the railways have and must continue to play in the transport of goods.

After a tough competitive tendering process the contract has been awarded to Haley Sharpe Design, a company with a long history of designing museum galleries within the UK such as Experiencing Northumberland at Woodhorn, Kennilworth Castle, Northern Spirit at the Laing Art Gallery, Designs for Life at the Shipley Art Gallery and internationally such as Renaissance ROM at The Royal Ontario Museum in Canada and Dubai Maritime Museum in the United Arab Emirates (http://www.haleysharpe.com/projects).

Before any design company can be approached a detailed brief has to be developed by the museum team that includes the curators, the learning officers, conservation officers and managers who take on board any discussions that they have had with the users of the museum as to what they would like to see there. For example, a working model railway has been asked for at the museum since the completion of the refurbishment of the main site in 2007. The model railway that had been in the Children’s Gallery could not be used again because it had just worn itself out and the funds to make a new one were not available. The new display in the Wagon Shed includes a high level ‘0’ gauge model train consisting of a steam locomotive and two covered carriage trucks similar to our real one.

From this the story that needs to be told and how it will be told has to be expressed in a way that the contractors that who come along will be able to turn the ideas into plans and then physical reality. This is called the brief. The brief is developed with the contractors and they go away produce the displays and install them. The discussions have taken place and the work to produce the graphics, films and interactives has started.