Bob Renaut Blog No. 4 – Guest blog by South Shields Museum & Art Gallery Volunteers Jean and Wendy

Hi, Jean and Wendy here again with some more of Bob’s photographs. We hope you’ve enjoyed the ones that have featured so far, and that some of you may have even recognised yourselves.

Apart from photos taken in and around South Tyneside College, where he taught art and photography, Bob was also keen on recording the atmospheric and changing scenery around the River Tyne.

This first photo is of fishing boats and smaller ketches, moored at what was a busy North Shields fish quay.

boats moored at North Shields fish quay, 1970s

Boats moored at North Shields fish quay, 1970s. TWCMS : 2011.174

Bob has captured the day-to-day working surroundings of the fish quay, as you can see by this dilapidated looking shed with the name ‘Jim Dishman’ above the doorway.

A hard environment which probably hadn’t changed in many years.

shed at North Shields fish quay with ‘Jim Dishman’ painted above the door, 1970s

Shed at North Shields fish quay with ‘Jim Dishman’ painted above the door, 1970s. TWCMS : 2011.177

This photo shows the inside of the sheds where men and women cleaned and gutted the fish in very basic conditions; we think the picture speaks for itself.

cleaning and gutting fish at North Shields fish quay, 1970s

Cleaning and gutting fish at North Shields fish quay, 1970s. TWCMS : 2011.180

This shot shows how busy the river was when Bob was recording it in the 1970s. There are cranes in the background, and large ships and tugs docked to the left. But the boat in the centre still has sails and its fishing nets can be seen packed onto the deck. We think the capstans and ropes in the foreground are beautiful. Does anyone know if they are still there?

river tyne, 1970s

River Tyne scene, 1970s. TWCMS : 2011.173

Below is an industrial scene of the River Tyne, with cranes and ships in dock – a common sight in the 1970s which is today, sadly, no more. Don’t you agree it’s a nicely lit photo, with the birds contrasting against the water? We wonder, is that an old Robin Reliant car on the jetty?

industrial scene of the River Tyne, with cranes and ships in dock, 1970s

Industrial scene of the River Tyne, with cranes and ships in dock, 1970s. TWCMS : 2011.168

Our next blog will cover Bob’s busy sporting life, which included bowling, skiing and especially golf.

Creating Real Experiences Accessible to Everyone (CREATE) Volunteering

We celebrated the success of the CREATE (Creating Real Experiences Accessible to Everyone) Volunteering Project with a fantastic event at the Tyneside Cinema. We had popcorn, cheese boards and we even got to watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off! We were also treated to a special screening of 3 films produced by our CREATE volunteers of The Late Shows 2011. These fantastic films will be uploaded to YouTube and Facebook very soon!

CREATE Celebration Event @ Tyneside Cinema

The CREATE project was really exciting and innovative, recruiting and training volunteers to support our Learning and Communications teams within the museums. The volunteers also got involved in supporting events such as the Juice Festival and The Late Shows.

JUICE Festival final parade

Juice Festival photos courtesy of Dan Brady

Juice Volunteering in Discovery Museum's Great Hall. Image courtesy of Dan Brady

We organised really interactive training sessions based around role play for the volunteers. This was to help prepare them to interpret our galleries and to tell stories. We looked at public speaking, confidence building and voice projection. Volunteers were also involved in supporting family fun activities, photographing events, interviewing visitors, filming and editing footage and much, much more!

JUICE Festival Whaletone Opera Rehearsal 28th Oct 2010. Image courtesy of Dan Brady

Caroline and I volunteered ourselves to be the subjects in the Media Team photography training. Here are just a couple of examples of the more experimental photography techniques that Jack and Lidan learnt…

Volunteer Lidan on camera and Jack on flash. Some long exposure photography with a flash gun. Can you tell who it is?

Lidan on flash gun and Jack on camera. Some more long exposure experiments. Any ideas as to who this is?

The CREATE Project was funded by V and ran for 1 year. It was aimed at engaging with young people and encouraging them to volunteer. In total we engaged with more than 100 young people in a variety of part time and short term volunteering opportunities.

Question : How much does it cost to burn a witch? Answer : £15 19s 2d

We know this because in the Archives are stored the Newcastle Chamberlains’ accounts for the years 1508 until 1835.

 

The entry we looked at read…”bill of charges for the wiches for 2 weekes ending the 23th (sic) of August 1650 and other charges for executing the prisoners” was £15 19s 2d.

The Chamberlain was the 16th century equivalent of the City Treasurer. It was his job to account for all the City’s expenditure. Thankfully today’s City Treasurer does not have to account for witch trials.

Lask week Christina, one of the Archives Conservators, was cleaning and stabilising once of the volumes so that the fascinating information they contain can be accessed more easily by researchers and historians. Here are some pictures of her at work.

Using the shaving brush to remove dust and loose dirt

 
 

 

Tools of the trade! A clean shaving brush used for dusting and pieces of the conservation sponge before and after showing how much dirt has been removed

Other payments recorded in the volumes included:

“To the 4 students at Cambridge viz: Richard Stotte, Cuthbert Stotte, Edward Dobsonne & Rich: Handcocke £30” (1643 – early grants?)

“For wintering the Townes Bulles £8” (also 1643)

“Paid for wine for Mr Maior and Alldermen the 5th and 6th November and for my lord Newcastle and his gentlemen £6 4s 8d” (1642) (Guy Fawkes night?)

“Pade William Marshall ffor bookes viz the Annotations of the bible a dickenarie and a booke to copy letters in 44s 10d (1646 – they obviously needed the dickenarie)

17th century writing. Roman numerals showing payment amounts.

Colin Armstrong – Volunteering at the Discovery Museum

Colin has been volunteering with us at Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums for over 2 years now. He first joined volunteering as part of the Culture Track Project and has since progressed into volunteering across the museums, helping with everything from Family Fun Activities to The Late Shows.

Colin Armstrong volunteering at The Late Shows, Discovery Museum

Colin has been a fantastic volunteer; friendly, committed, keen to get involved and to try new volunteer roles out. He was even commended at the North East Volunteers Awards for his commitment to his skills development!

Colin Armstrong receiving his award at the North East Volunteers Awards ‘Commitment to Skills Development’.

As part of his volunteer training he participated in digital media skills training and produced a short case study about his volunteering experience so far. So follow this link to watch Colin’s film and to hear more from Colin himself…

And a huge thank you to Colin for all of the time, energy and enthusiasm that he has given us at Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums!!

Colin Armstrong’s Culture Track Case Study

Family History in Tyne and Wear

What’s Your Story? Discovering family histories in Tyne and Wear; sharing ordinary peoples’ family histories

Watching the new series of the BBC’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ has taken on added significance in the history team office at Discovery Museum this year as we are mid family history project of our own. Reading the executive producer of WDYTYA’s blog about the creation of the series inspired me to take a moment to share our family history journey (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/2011/08/who-do-you-think-you-are.shtml).

The idea for the project was suggested by avid ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ viewer, long time family history enthusiast and Assistant Keeper of History, Laura Brown. The idea was presented to senior managers at Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums who gave it the go-ahead thanks to the popularity of family history amongst our audience combined with the amazing resources in the archives and museums that could be drawn upon.

James Bannister who drowned in the Howdon Ferry disaster of 1896

James Bannister who drowned in the Howdon Ferry disaster of 1896

So in earnest, and with significant support from a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, we began the project in April 2011. My role is to project manage ‘What’s Your Story?’. I bring together people from history, outreach, learning, communications, design and collections teams to work on the project. For ‘What’s Your Story?’ we are delivering a series of workshops to help people get started with their family histories, a community run website, a temporary touring exhibition, a learning programme for schools and families and an outreach programme.

‘What’s Your Story?’ is different to other projects that we’ve worked on because although we had ideas of general themes that we wanted to cover such as war, migration and secrets but there was no way of knowing what stories would be told in the end. The idea for the exhibition and website was that they would be made of stories that people would tell us.

Thomas McLeod, a case of mistaken identity in World War One

Thomas McLeod, a case of mistaken identity in World War One

We did a few call outs in the press at the start of the project asking if anyone had a story they wanted to share with us. After that the phone rang off the hook! We had a brilliant response from the public. Lots of local people got in touch but we also had people from Canada and America contacting us with their stories of ancestors from the area. The people contacting us had already carried out their research. Often over years if not decades they had pieced together the stories of their ancestors.

This community-run village shop in Surrey is owned by a descendant of John Buddle

This community-run village shop in Surrey is owned by a descendant of John Buddle

After three months we had 38 stories. Then came the hard part, we had to decide which we could feature in depth in the exhibition. We chose 11 main stories to feature in the exhibition, which will open in January 2012. These stories were chosen because they represent some broader aspect of regional history and because we can illustrate the story with objects and material from the story teller, the archives and museum collections.

The other 27 stories will all feature on the ‘What’s Your Story?’ website. The launch of the website, in September this year, will not be the end of the story collecting. The website has been designed to be easily updatable and a team of volunteers are running it so we hope to read many more stories that are added by people over the coming months.

American naturalisation paper for Frank Hunter, 1894

American naturalisation paper for Frank Hunter, 1894

From ancestors who were interviewed as part of the 1842 Children’s Employment Commission about their work in the mine as a teenager, to Mayors of South Shields, generations of Tyne pilots, fortunes lost for reasons unknown, migrations to Canada and back in search of a better life and orphaned children this project has it all. With over 30 local stories of hope, tragedy, resilience, fallings out and hard work the family history team here at TWAM can’t wait to hear what you think of them and to read your story!