Please ask for Teresa Smith: Telephone (01362) 656295 email: [email protected]AGENDA NOTE: In the case of non-members, this agenda is for information only Committee - BRECKLAND AREA MUSEUMS COMMITTEE Date & Time - THURSDAY, 24TH OCTOBER, 2013 AT 2.00 PM Venue - THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, THETFORD TOWN COUNCIL, KING'S HOUSE, KING STREET, THETFORD, NORFOLK IP24 2AP Persons attending the meeting are requested to turn off mobile telephones Committee Members: Breckland Council Norfolk County Council Mr P.J. Duigan Mr C. S. Clark Mr P R W Darby Mr R.G. Kybird Mrs P.A. Spencer Mr S Hebborn Mr H Humphrey Mr M.A. Kiddle-Morris Mr W. R. J. Richmond Mr P Smyth Co-optees Mr D. Blackburn Mrs T Paines Ms C Walters Member Services Elizabeth House, Walpole Loke, Dereham Norfolk, NR19 1EE Date: Thursday, 17 October 2013 Public Document Pack
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NOTE: In the case of non-members, this agenda is for information only
Committee - BRECKLAND AREA MUSEUMS COMMITTEE
Date & Time - THURSDAY, 24TH OCTOBER, 2013 AT 2.00 PM
Venue - THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, THETFORD TOWN COUNCIL, KING'S HOUSE, KING STREET, THETFORD, NORFOLK IP24 2AP
Persons attending the meeting are requested to turn off mobile telephones
Committee Members:
Breckland Council Norfolk County Council
Mr P.J. Duigan Mr C. S. Clark Mr P R W Darby Mr R.G. Kybird Mrs P.A. Spencer
Mr S Hebborn Mr H Humphrey Mr M.A. Kiddle-Morris Mr W. R. J. Richmond Mr P Smyth
Co-optees
Mr D. Blackburn Mrs T Paines Ms C Walters
Member Services Elizabeth House, Walpole Loke, Dereham Norfolk, NR19 1EE
Date: Thursday, 17 October 2013
Public Document Pack
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Page(s) herewith
1. CHAIRMAN
To elect a Chairman of the Committee for the ensuing year.
2. VICE-CHAIRMAN
To elect a Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the ensuing year.
3. MINUTES
To confirm the Minutes of the meeting held on 1st February 2013.
4. APOLOGIES
To receive apologies for absence.
5. CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS
6. URGENT BUSINESS
To note whether the Chairman proposes to accept any item as urgent business, pursuant to Section 100(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act, 1972.
7. DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
Members are no longer required to declare personal or prejudicial interests but are to declare any new Disclosable Pecuniary Interests that are not currently included in the Register of Interests. Members are reminded that under the Code of Conduct they are not to participate and must leave the room, for the whole of an agenda item to which they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest. In the interests of transparency, Members may also wish to declare any other interests they have in relation to an agenda item, that support the Nolan principles detailed within the Code of Conduct.
8. ANCIENT HOUSE MUSEUM OF THETFORD LIFE 1 - 9
Report of Curator, Ancient House.
9. GRESSENHALL FARM & WORKHOUSE 10 - 80
Report by the Western Area Manager.
10. NEXT MEETING
To agree a date for the next meeting.
BRECKLAND AREA MUSEUMS COMMITTEE
24th October 2013 Item No.
ANCIENT HOUSE, MUSEUM OF THETFORD LIFE REPORT
Report by the Curator
1. Exhibitions and Interpretation 1.1 Thetford’s Lost Tudor Sculptures 27th July 2013 – 29th March 2014
The current exhibition at Ancient House displays the findings of a research project into the stone monuments of the Dukes of Norfolk at Thetford Priory, and features the return to Thetford of artefacts from the British Museum, Norwich Castle and Framlingham Castle. The sculptures are set in their Tudor context and the displays encompass the exhibitions room, Hall, the stairs and a part of one of the upper rooms. . A guide book to the exhibition has been written by the principal investigator of the research project, Phillip Lindley. This is a partnership project with the University of Leicester and English Heritage with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Engineering and Physical
This report provides information on activities at Ancient House, Museum of Thetford Life from
February 2013 to September 2013
If you need this report in large print, audio, Braille, alternative format or in a different language please contact Oliver Bone on 01842 752599 and we will do our best to help
Agenda Item 8
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Sciences Research Council and others. Project funding has allowed free admission at the Ancient House in August and September when normally a charge applies. An additional marketing push for the exhibition has included production of a leaflet with details of events, advertising in the monthly ‘About Thetford’ magazine, a street banner on the pedestrianised high street and door to door distribution of fliers August and September visitor figures are significantly increased. 1.2 Hard Times Earlier this year the Museum showed the Hard Times exhibition which looked at the poorest members of society around 100 years ago, covering topics such as sanitation, factory work, slum housing, and the workhouse. The display also made reference to the work camps for unemployed people set up in Thetford Forest after the First World War. A star object of the display was a rare workhouse doll on loan from Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse. 1.3 Toys 12th April 2014 – 19th July 2014 Museum staff are currently planning a more light hearted exhibition based on the theme of toys and games of the last 50 years or so. A public appeal has been made for objects and a photographer is lined up to take portrait shots of people of all ages with their favourite toys. 1.4 Thetford’s World War One 2nd August 2014 – June 2015 The Museum is actively involved in coordinating commemorations for the centenary of the Great War, which falls next year. We are working with colleagues in the town from a number of community organisations and interested individuals, with a view to creating exhibitions and events to mark the local version of an international anniversary. We plan to write a funding bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund this autumn for support to enhance the various activities.
Recruiting Sergeant Hall
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of Thetford
1.5 Future Exhibitions The Museum is included in a Stage Two bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund badged ‘Breaking New Ground’. The Ancient House is one of a large number of partners in this umbrella project led by the Brecks Partnership to conserve, enhance and promote better understanding of the Brecks area of Norfolk and Suffolk. Included for Ancient House in the bid are two exhibition projects (history of the countryside with the Norfolk Record Office, and All about Flint) and funding for learning activities for children and young people. 1.6 Japanese cultural exchange visit. Last October Thetford and the Museum were visited by a group from Japan keen to build cultural exchange with the Thetford area. Facilitated by Simon Kaner of the UEA School of Japanese studies, this was followed up in August by a visit to Nagawa Machi Japan by the Museum Curator and Deputy Head of Thetford Grammar School generously funded by the Japanese prefecture and partners. There are hopes of developing student exchanges, internet resources, exhibitions and other forms of connections using the rich archaeological heritage of both areas, particularly flint and obsidian. 1.7 Thetford Priory App In addition to the Thetford’s Lost Tudor Sculptures exhibition mentioned above, an accompanying app and digital teaching resources is being launched this autumn. This interpretive device provides talks from experts and actors, maps and reconstruction drawings to enliven and make sense of the Priory ruins. The app will be available for download onto mobile devices and the Museum has a set of ipads available for use at the Priory. Melissa Hawker, Learning Officer has been much involved in the development and testing of this educational resource working with colleagues from the Leicester team.
Using a trial version of the app at Thetford Priory.
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1.8 Social Media One of our Museum trainee’s contributions has been to set up and develop the Ancient House’s social media presence. These media offer an increasingly important way to promote the museum’s work and activities and to communicate with our audiences. Please join us on
2 Learning 2.1 Work with schools The Ancient House welcomes over 2,000 pupils each year for a variety of activities including: Traditional Tales, Toys, Romans and Iceni, Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, Castles, Tudors, 18th Century, Homes Long Ago, Sikhism, Victorians, WW1 and WW2, Maps, Shops and Shopping, Food and Healthy Living, 1970s life and the London Overspill Project. Feedback from teachers and pupils is valuable, here are two examples:
“...Thank You for a very well organised morning. The children really enjoyed it and were full of all the things they had found out when they got back to school!! Perfectly pitched for year 1.”
Year 1 Teacher visiting for WW2 Food and Healthy Living
“My favourite bit was the feather writing. I would like to use a feather for all my writing.”
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SEN pupil visiting for a Tudor event
The school events rely on a dedicated team of staff, volunteers and freelancers for delivery. They often use a ‘carousel’ of varied activities perhaps including object handling sessions, story telling, drama, cooking and craft with introductions and plenary sessions at the end. This format provides variety, enjoyment and memorable, effective learning. 2.2 Income generation and new themed souvenir bags for school groups Ancient House is trialling £2 pre-ordered goody bags for visiting school groups. It is often impractical for large school groups to visit the small museum shop but by offering these bags school, children will still be able to take home a souvenir of their visit and also help the Museum’s income generation. Orders have come in for Toys, WW2, Victorian and Roman goody bags. One teacher commented: “Love the goody bags. So easy to order and saved me the headache of worrying about the children bringing money.” Ancient House staff will be working with Maria Wong to explore some new shop stock specifically for goody bags. 2.3 Arts Award at Ancient House The Ancient House continues to provide a variety of ways for young people to gain Arts Awards from work with museum collections. This nationally recognised scheme offers a very good way for children to learn from museums and use collections as inspiration. Melissa Hawker, Learning Officer has developed this area of work, which has gained national recognition. For example, Melissa spoke at the 2013 Museums and Heritage Show to present a workshop on using Arts Award in museums, alongside staff from the Essex Police Museum and Caroline Bray from Trinity College, London which accredits Arts Award. The presentation was well received and Melissa has been asked to repeat it elsewhere. The Arts Awards work at Ancient House has been written up as a case study of good practice as part of a series of NMAS in-house guides. Copies will be available at the meeting. 2.4 Teaching Museum Ancient House continues to benefit from the work of our Curatorial Assistant Museums Trainee, Sarah Cassell. Sarah is one of a group of museum trainees working with and learning from the Museums Service around the county as part of the Teaching Museum scheme. This is one of a number of projects made possible by the major partner funding from Arts Council England. The Teaching Museum scheme provides the trainees a way of gaining a variety of skills and knowledge of museum work to give a springboard to a career in the museums sector. A new trainee will be joining us in January and recruitment to the scheme takes place this autumn.
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2.5 The Duleep Singh Connection Because of the interest in the Maharajah Duleep Singh (who lived at nearby Elveden Hall), and the founding of the Museum by his son Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, the Ancient House welcomes a number of visitors each year wanting to find out more about this link and the Duleep Singh story. In April, the Khalsa Bikers came to the Museum as part of their charity motorcycle ride. Ranveer Singh, group leader said: I’d just like to thank you all for your kind welcome on Saturday. The riders really enjoyed the visit, it was most educational. In September the Museum played a part in the rededication of the equestrian statue of Maharajah Duleep Singh sited on Thetford’s Button island by the Maharajah Duleep Singh Centenary Trust. The Trust was marking its 20th anniversary.
3 Events and informal learning The Ancient House has an active programme of informal learning events and a summary of event highlights since February include: 3.1 Looking at timber framed buildings with a chance to make a wattle and daub wall in the garden with expert Anna Kettle. 3.2 Textiles activities including silk painting, knitting, dyeing, blackwork embroidery, spinning, weaving, molas work, needle felting and drop spindling.
3.3 Museums at Night. Ancient House contributed to the countywide annual celebration which saw over 3,000 visitors enjoy out of hours activities at the county’s museums. At Ancient House special tours were provided using powerful torches.
3.4 Archaeology Day As part of the Festival of British Archaeology, Ancient House ran a special event to focus on local archaeology. Visitors were given a bag of real archaeological finds donated by an excavation unit which they washed, identified, labelled and took home to create their own museum. Archaeological conservator, Debbie Forkes joined us to show how objects are prepared for display. Visitors also had the opportunity to handle objects from the past, explore the layer of our archae-bin, work out the age of a skeleton and strike their own Anglo-Saxon coin.
3.5 Outreach events On occasion Ancient House staff choose to take activities outside the museum and examples include:
1 Worldwide Knit in Public Day On 20 June, undeterred by the wet weather, the Museum’s Knit and
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Knatter group joined millions of other knitters across to world, to knit outside. The group were based on the middle of King Street in the centre of Thetford with a display of some of their creations. Passersby were welcome to join in too with card weaving or knitting nancies. Many thanks to Thetford Town Council for offering the space and providing much needed gazebos. 2 Local History Day Museum staff joined local historians and community librarians at Thetford Library on 27 June for a special adult local history event. Visitors enjoyed looking at objects from our collection and learning about our extensive talks programme. 3 Tudors in King Street Volunteers took a Tudor themed event to the main shopping street in Thetford Members of the public had the opportunity to handle real Tudor objects, try their hand at Tudor games and find out about the new exhibition, Thetford’s Lost Tudor Sculptures.
3.6 Family Museum Trails Over the summer holidays the Ancient House launched a Family Trail Loyalty Card scheme. Throughout the year we are running changing family trails around the museum. To encourage repeat visits, especially through the summer, the Museum has issued loyalty cards, stamped for each trail completed. Visitors who complete six trails over the year will receive a special badge and certificate. We are grateful to our Friends for supporting this project.
3.7 Ancient House Clubs The Ancient House currently offers three children’s clubs, a monthly Saturday club, and weekly term time History Club and Teenage History Clubs. All three clubs at Ancient House have been working towards Arts Awards.
Museum club members examining a fossil.
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3.8 Mini Museum Club For very young children under the age of five, the Ancient House offers a regular Thursday morning session for youngsters and their carers. Activities have included exploring colours and shapes in our collections and creating a college rainbow, blowing bubbles and potato printing. 3.9 Thetford Festival 2013 Members of the team at Ancient House were much involved in the planning and delivery of the Thetford Festival which ran during the last week of August and first week of September. The festival is a good opportunity for encouraging community engagement and promoting Thetford to new visitors. The Thetford Tourism and Heritage partnership received a grant of £9300 from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards Tudor events and resources.
This year’s highlights included free storytelling events for families and adults on 29 August at Ancient House, a young people’s art exhibition at the Charles Burrell Museum for the length of the festival and a grand finale day with a Tudor theme coordinated by Ancient House. The ‘Meet the Tudors’ finale event attracted 1300 visitors who enjoyed a variety of costumed interpretation and events at Kings House gardens. Guided tours to the Priory and exhibition
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at Ancient House by scholars from the project university team were also on offer. The full Festival programme can still be seen here http://thetfordfestival.org.uk/ 4 Friends and Volunteers New collections volunteers continue with work on scanning images from the museum collections to provide better access and to assist with enquirers. Learning volunteers continue to support the work with schools and public events. The Friends of Thetford Museum offer valuable support including promotion of the Museum at Thetford’s Night Market and also financial support towards equipment and other resources. The afternoon talks programme continu8es to provide a varied and interesting programme. 5 Visitor Numbers 5.1 Up to date visitor figures will be circulated at the meeting.
6 Resource implications (a) Finance None (b) Property None (c) Staff None (d) Information Technology None 7 Recommendations: That the Area Museums Committee notes the report Originator of report: Oliver Bone Curator, Thetford and King’s Lynn Museums Ancient House Museum of Thetford Life Tel: 01842 752599 e-mail: [email protected]
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BRECKLAND AREA MUSEUMS COMMITTEE
24 October 2013 Item No.
GRESSENHALL FARM & WORKHOUSE REPORT
Report by the Western Area Manager
1. Events and Activities 1.1 Gressenhall opened for the 2013 season on Sunday 10 March, closing
on Sunday 3 November. 1.2 Gressenhall opened on Sunday 17 February for Museums Pass
holders only. This Behind the Scenes event provided our regular visitors with the opportunity to explore the stores, meet the volunteer teams and visit parts of the site not normally accessible to the public. Workhouse tours proved to be particularly popular. There were 800 participants for this event.
1.3 Gressenhall has continued to deliver a broad programme of events,
based around three operational models:
• Main Event days – major events such as Apple Day with a full event staffing establishment including the use of parking fields. Free to Museums Pass holders.
• Days with a Difference – smaller themed event days such as Horse Power! requiring a smaller staffing complement and utilising core parking. Free to Museums Pass holders.
• Ticketed events – pre-booked and pre-paid events such as Night at the Museum. Reduced charge for Museums Pass holders.
1.4 The costs of delivering and marketing the Gressenhall event
programme continue to be subsidised with funding from the Arts Council England (ACE) Major Partner funding business plan being managed by NMAS in 2012-15.
1.5 The 2013 programme included a number of new events:
This report provides information on activities at Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse from January to September 2013
If you need this report in large print, audio, Braille, alternative format or in a different language please contact Robin Hanley on 01362 869254 and we will do our best to help
Agenda Item 9
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• History Alive! – a Georgian living history day.
• Hell Hath No Fury – a ticketed interactive drama event as part of the national Night at the Museum programme.
• Victorian Family Christmas – a ticketed daytime event.
• Back to your Past – an event targeted at local history and heritage societies
• The Workhouse Experience – a living history event
• Gressenhall Garden Show – an event focussed on Gressenhall’s heritage gardens
• Grandparents Day – an event targeted at families with a reduced charge for grandparents
1.6 The Main Event day Spring Fair took place on BH Monday 1 April. This
event featured a range of family Easter activities. Union Farm marked the start of spring with a number of farm-based activities including working horses. There were 2,247 participants for this event (1,180 in 2012).
1.7 The new Day with a Difference event Back to Your Past took place on
Sunday 21 April. This day saw a large number of local history enthusiasts and historical societies on site, sharing their knowledge wit visitors and participating in a range of training events. There were 726 participants for this event.
1.8 The new Day with a Difference The Workhouse Experience ran on BH
Monday 6 May. Drawing on school programmes developed by the Learning Team, this event explored all aspects of workhouse life and featured strong living history components. There were 647 participants for this event.
1.9 As part of the national programme Night at the Museum, Gressenhall
ran two pre-booked and charged Victorian ‘whodunit’ drama events Hell Hath No Fury on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 May between 7.30-10.30pm. Visitors were able to play detective, meeting a range of suspicious characters. This event was fully booked, with 180 participants.
1.10 The new Main Event day History Alive! took place on BH Monday 27
May. This event explored aspects of Georgian life and featured a number of costumed characters provided through Black Knight Historical, included a barber surgeon, fine ladies and gentlemen, musicians and storytellers. There were 987 participants for this event.
1.11 The Day with a Difference Father’s Day event ran on Sunday 16 June
and featured a range of farming ‘big boys toys’ alongside a very popular climbing wall. There were 601 participants for this event (786 in 2012).
1.12 The new Day with a Difference Gressenhall Garden Show took place
on Sunday 30 June, with visitors able to explore the Gressenhall
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gardens in the company of the gardening volunteers. There were also a range of horticultural retail stands. Participation numbers for this event were disappointing at 397, despite the event taking place in the same week as the recording of Radio 4’s Gardeners Question Time.
1.13 As part of the nationwide Festival of British Archaeology, Gressenhall
ran the Day with a Difference Archaeology Day on Sunday 14 July in partnership with colleagues from the Historic Environment Service. There were 506 participants for this event (516 in 2012).
1.14 The new Day with a Difference event Grandparents Day took place on
Sunday 28 July, with a reduced admission price for grandparents. This event was a development form the Older People’s Day programme offered in previous years. There were 517 participants for this event.
1.15 The farm-based Day with a Difference event A Harvest Celebration
took place on Sunday 4 August. In a addition to a range of farm-based activities, there was also a strong food retailing offer on the main site. There were 601 participants for this event (739 in 2012).
1.16 Following the success of the pilot event in 2012, Gressenhall once
again hosted the Breckland Festival event, organised and funded by Breckland District Council on Saturday 10 August. This family-friendly event featuring a range of arts, sports and environmental activities saw a significant increase in participation, with 2,016 on site (772 in 2012).
1.17 The Main Event Village at War took place over the BH weekend 25-26
August. A large number of WW2 enactors and vehicles were on site and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight did a flypast on the Monday. There were 3,510 participants for this event (3,623 in 2012).
1.18 Gressenhall opened free of charge as part of the national Heritage
Open Day programme, with Gressenhall featuring in the Norwich HEART HOD marketing package. There were an estimated 1,040 visits to the site during the day.
1.19 The Day with a Difference event Horse Power! took place on Sunday
29 September, in partnership with the Eastern Counties Heavy Horse Association. A large number of guest heavy horse teams were on site working in the fields, with breeds including Shires, Suffolks, Clydesdales and Percherons. There were 678 participants for this event (557 in 2012).
1.20 Forthcoming events include:
• Apple Day on Sunday 20 October – a Main Event day
• Ghostly Gressenhall on the evenings of 30-31 October – pre booked Halloween events
• Victorian Family Christmas on Sunday 15 December – a pre booked event
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1.21 Gressenhall continues to offer a broad range of themed family-friendly activities throughout the school half term and summer holidays. A comprehensive School’s Out! programme was marketed and delivered during the summer holidays, with marketing fliers distributed to children in individual classes in schools across the Litcham and Dereham clusters. Adverts were also placed in Primary Times. The summer programme spanning the period 25 July to 4 September saw additional family-friendly activities taking place on site each day, structured around three different themes:
• A Feast of Fun – a diverse range of food-based activities
• Alice at Gressenhall – Wonderland-themed activities including a Mad Hatter’s tea party
• The Victorian Apprentice – Victorian themed activities and a chance to earn an ‘Apprentice Indenture’
1.22 Gressenhall hosted a recording of Radio 4’s Gardeners Question Time
on 24 June. Two editions were recorded in front of a capacity audience of 200 guests. The Chairman of the County Council Cllr Hilary Cox posed the first question to the panel. The recording session generated significant media interest and coverage for the site.
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Chair Peter Gibbs and his panel of experts:
Matthew Wilson, Chris Beardshaw, Bob Flowerdew and James Wong.
1.23 An Events Review meeting is scheduled for October, to provide staff,
volunteers and freelancers with an opportunity to review and evaluate the 2013 event programme and begin the process of shaping the 2014 programme.
1.24 On Sunday 9 June, Gressenhall hosted Norwich’s Heritage Economic
and Regeneration Trust (HEART) Archive Alive mobile cinema tour bus as it made its way through the region. This exciting and unique tour featured a beautiful 1967 vintage mobile cinema offering screenings of local archive films aboard the 22-seater digital cinema.
1.25 Planning work is underway for a programme of activities to mark the
centenary of the outbreak of World War One. The 2014 Village at War event will feature a strong World War One element and other display options are being considered, including connections with Gressenhall’s Women’s Land Army gallery and collections.
1.26 The Rediscover Gressenhall marketing campaign targeted at recruiting
repeat local visitors within approximately 20 minutes drive time ran
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again during April 2013. This campaign featured a discounted entry charge of £2 and aimed to recruit new Museums Pass members and capture email contact details for use in follow-up electronic marketing. The campaign fliers were distributed via parish magazines, door-door delivery, local group and venue distribution and via school clusters.
The campaign proved to be very successful. During April 2013, Gressenhall welcomed a total of 11,272 visitors, not including school visits. 755 vouchers were received, admitting a total of 2985 visitors paying £2 each. Of these, 1498 were adults, 307 concessions and 1180 children. A further 79 visitors were recorded as being under 4. 41% of families using the vouchers had not visited in the past 12 months, while a further 32% had only visited the once Of the number who had not visited during the past year, 51 families noted on their voucher that this was their first visit to the museum! 65% of families signed up to our free mailing list, the majority providing us with an email address—a considerable benefit to us as a cost effective method of communicating with our potential audience. The campaign period also saw a bumper number of Norfolk Museums Pass sales. In April 2012, only 40 Passes were sold at Gressenhall, admitting up to 126 individuals. During the Rediscover Gressenhall campaign period in 2013, some 106 Passes were sold for 341 individuals. Secondary spend on site was also boosted, with the Mardlers’ Rest Café reporting an increase of 50% in transactions in April 2013, in comparison with the same period in 2012.
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2. Other Museum Developments 2.1 The Shine a Light project funded through the Esmee Fairbairn
Collections Fund (administered by the Museums Association) is proceeding on schedule. This collections access project is based in the Gressenhall Superstores and aims to improve physical and virtual access to the reserve NMAS collections The project team comprising a project-funded officer, two Teaching Museum trainees and a group of volunteers have worked very effectively with countywide colleagues drawn from specialist curatorial departments, conservation and collections management teams. Around 120 visitors joined pilot guided tours of the Superstores as part of the Gressenhall Heritage Open day programme. A fuller tour programme will be developed for 2014. The project has attracted considerable public and professional interest through its very active social media profile. The project blog can be found at: http://shinealightproject.wordpress.com/
2.2 A Round 1 Heritage Grant application has now been submitted to the
Heritage Lottery Fund for the Voices from the Workhouse project. This project will focus on providing new displays in the main museum building, work yards and laundry, with an emphasis on those galleries relating to the workhouse and Norfolk’s rural life collections. The outcome of this Round 1 bid should be known at the end of November. Estimated project delivery costs are £1.86m, with a projected HLF award of £1.47m (79%). If the Round 1 application is successful, development funding will be released by HLF to support the production of a full Round 2 application in spring/summer 2014. An additional funding bid of £150k has been submitted to the DCMS/Wolfson Foundation, with a decision expected in January 2014. Both the Norfolk Record Office and the National Archives will be supporting this project. The Friends of Gressenhall have already pledged £20k in match funding towards this project.
2.3 Gressenhall continues to maintain its strong social networking
presence, with active and developing profiles on both Twitter and Facebook. Daily content continues to be uploaded. The site has a number of active social media champions who are uploading regular contributions including images. See: http://www.facebook.com/GressenhallFW. Blogs are being generated by Gressenhall’s HLF-funded Skills for the Future project trainees at www.gressenhallfw.wordpress.com/. Gressenhall has also received a 2013 Certificate of Excellence from the influential Trip Advisor website.
2.4 The findings from the 2013 Gressenhall exit survey reinforces the
perception of the site as a family day out, with real potential to grow its audience of adult and tourist visitors. The strength of the family audience is clear, with 70% of visitors arrived in parties including children. This high proportion is striking (national average 34%) and reinforced by 41% total visits being children aged 0-14 (Norwich Castle =24%). 40% of visitors are Museums Pass holders, with the majority
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being Norfolk families. 39% are first-time visitors; 41% had not visited in the previous 12 months. 57% had visited 1 or more times in last 12 months. Fewer visitors (19%) are aged 60-80 (Norwich Castle = 24%) and 60% visitors on term time weekday visitors did not have children. Most new visitors visit outside the peak family period. The currently localised market is clear. 72% live within 50 miles and 54% within 20 miles. Only 27% visit from beyond 50 miles (Norwich Castle = 42%) and 1% from overseas. Site dwell time ranges from 4-6 hours, confirming that Gressenhall is used as a full day destination attraction by its visitors.
2.5 A new resin-bonded gravel path has been laid from the new Welcome
Area building to the ticketing/shop building. This replaces a the previous damaged and unsightly surface. The new path provides clarity for visitors on arrival and creates a smarter approach to the site. This work was funded through the NCC Building Maintenance Fund.
2.6 A new CCTV system has been installed providing day/night vision
cover for key areas of the museum site and farm. This system will be externally monitored out of hours. Funding for this significant security improvement has come from the NCC Corporate Minor Works programme.
2.7 Improved signage and additional lifebelts have now been installed
along the river frontage on the farm, with guidance from the NCC health & safety team.
2.8 The new 1930’s Seed Merchants Shop display has been opened in
Village Row, featuring a new entry route from the Cherry Tree Cottage garden. This display is based on the interior of the Taylor’s Seed Merchants shop in Kings Lynn. The Taylor brothers attended the opening event, where they were joined by the Chairman of the County Council. Gressenhall Collections Team volunteers have also worked with the Curator to develop the travelling temporary exhibition Celebrating Norfolk Nurserymen for the Collections Gallery. This exhibition highlights the work of four successful Norfolk nurserymen—the Taylors, Starks, Daniels and Cannells. The temporary exhibition will be open throughout the year until 4 November. After that, the plan is to create four mini touring exhibitions from the display, to offer to local sites associated with gardening.
2.9 Gressenhall continuex to develop a range of commercial activities as a
means of generating new income. Current commercial development priorities are:
• The development of a site-appropriate weddings offer
• The promotion of the room hire offer to external customers
• The marketing of the site as a venue for commercial filming
• The introduction of unique site-specific retail merchandise
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3. Friends and Volunteers 3.1 The Friends continue to support a range of activities across the site
including the purchase of new harness for the Suffolk Punch horses. The Friends are running a range of events for members during 2013 and continue to produce their regular Rural Life news.
3.2 The Friends have agreed to support the match fundraising campaign
for the proposed HLF bid and have already earmarked £20k funding for this purpose.
3.3 The Gressenhall Curator continues to co-ordinate, manage and
develop the volunteer teams at Gressenhall. Some 130 volunteers continue to be active on the site, organised into a number of specialist teams. Gressenhall Curator Megan Dennis has returned from maternity leave.
4. Learning & Outreach 4.1 The award-winning Gressenhall Learning Team continues to deliver a
broad and varied programme to children and young people at pre schools, KS1-3 and secondary level. It is anticipated that 10-11,000 school children will visit the site this year.
4.2 The Learning Team are currently reviewing the schools offer in the light
of proposed changes to the national Curriculum, particularly affecting the history curriculum. Staff are re-scoping existjng offers and developing new packages to align with the new curriculum. Key learning sessions will now include:
• KS2 Victorians: Local study at Gressenhall
• KS2 Evacuees: A turning point in British history
• KS2 English: develop your literacy skills
• KS1 History: Life within living memory
• KS2 History: Neolithic Britain
• KS2 History: World War One 4.3 The two Gressenhall-based trainees recruited as part of the NMAS
Teaching Museum programme started work in January 2013. Dayna Woolbright and Wayne Holland form part of an eight strong cohort of trainees who are employed full time for twelve months. The two trainees as working as part of the Shine a Light project team in the Gressenhall Superstores. The funding for these traineeships comes from ACE and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. Recruitment is currently underway for the next cohort of Teaching Museum trainees, who will commence work in January 2014. One of these trainee will be based at Gressenhall, working as part of the events team.
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4.4 The Heritage Lottery Fund-funded Skills for the Future training project is continuing to run at Gressenhall, in partnership with the Museum of East Anglian Life. Current active posts at Gressenhall include Apprenticeships in farming, heritage gardening and heritage landscape management. Traineeships (the majority accredited) are currently running in archives & library work, curatorial work, learning and event planning. Work placements are an important part of a number of these posts. Placement partnerships have been developed with the National Trust, Norfolk Wildlife Trust, the Hawk & Owl Trust, Forncett Industrial Museum, Holkham Hall, Sandringham and Houghton Hall. A partnership with the Prince’s Trust at the start of the year facilitated the delivery of additional short-term training opportunities for unemployed young people through the Trust’s Get Into… programme.
5. Visitor Numbers 5.1 Up to date visitor figures will be circulated at the meeting.
6. Resource implications (a) Finance None (b) Property None (c) Staff None (d) Information Technology None 7. Recommendations: That the Area Museums Committee notes the report Originator of report: Dr Robin Hanley Western Area Manager Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse Tel: 01362 869254 e-mail: [email protected]
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Report to Breckland Area Museums Committee Date: 24 October 2013
Item No
Review of the Collection at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse
Report by the Head of NMAS
Summary This report sets out the background to the review of collections at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse and recommends deaccessioning a group of social history items that are in poor condition or duplicated and outside the NMAS Acquisition and Disposal policy.
1. Background 1.1 Collecting within the NMAS is undertaken in accordance with the
Acquisition and Disposal Policy approved by Committee, This is reviewed every five years and sets out the strengths of the collections, areas for future collecting and constraints on collecting, such as resources, space and expertise.
As part of a responsible collections management strategy the NMAS undertakes regular reviews of its collections to ensure that material is properly classified and adequately housed. Objects that are deemed unsuitable for retention as past of the core collection are identified and alternative homes found. The process to be followed was agreed by Committee in 2002 following a Best Value Review of collection and collections management.
1.2 To summarise, the core collections basically fall into three categories
with different levels of access:
1. Display material represents the best or most significant items in the collections and is easily accessible by all people visiting the museums.
2. Study collections provide depth for people who want to learn
more about a specific subject. The emphasis is on presenting as many objects as possible for study. Objects are either freely accessible when the museum is open, in open storage (easily accessible with an appointment or on regular open days) or in study rooms (open on set days a week).
3. Long-term research material is needed as evidence for current
or future research and only needs to be available on an
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appointment basis. This can be contained in high-density storage, thereby making the most cost effective use of space.
1.3 Items not retained for the Core Collection are categorised as follows:
4. Working or demonstration material objects are put to working use or demonstration use at or on behalf of the museum eg agricultural equipment.
5. Education, handling and loan collection objects are included
for educational reference material only, including loans. There is an implied deterioration through usage over time.
6. Set dressing and cannibalisation items are used as set-
dressing for on-site activities of the museum.
7. Dispersal objects are found alternative homes where they will be put to good use. We follow Museums Association and Accreditation good practice guidelines. There will be a presumption that objects remain in the public domain and offered initially to similar institutions at whichever location provides the best balance of care, context and access.
8. Disposal following Museums Association guidelines if no other
home can be found, objects are sold at auction or scrapped. 2 Review of social history collections at Gressenhall Farm and
Workhouse 2.1 The stores and external storage space at Gressenhall Farm and
Workhouse contain a number of social history objects. These were brought into the collections during the 1970s at a time when museums where generally actively collecting items in a relatively uncontrolled manner, without reference to an official collecting policy or quality control. As a result many collections contain duplicate objects, objects that are duplicated in other museums and/or poor quality objects that now require large conservation resources to be of display standard. Some of the objects have little or no provenance and some have no known relevance to the local history of the area. As a result these fall outside the Acquisition Policy of the museums service today.
Some social history objects take up large areas of floor space and are in many cases heavy and cumbersome. As a result access to other stored and better provenanced collections has been made difficult and on occasion, impossible for health and safety reasons. In some cases appropriate storage for very large items is not available and consequently items have been stored in external areas.
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2.2 A review of these collections has been undertaken in order to:
• Improve access to the collection as a whole
• Release storage space and resources to allow improved collections management
• Remove threats posed by possible insect infestation
• Remove threats posed by inappropriate storage conditions 2.3 Following the agreed process the attached list of objects (Annex 1) has
been identified for deaccessioning and subsequent dispersal or disposal. These objects are in extremely poor condition or are duplicated within Gressenhall’s collections. As a result they fall outside the Collecting Policy of NMAS.
2.4 While finding a new home for the objects in another museum will be the
ideal first priority, it may be that because of the poor condition of some of the objects, destruction may be the only realistic outcome of the rationalisation process.
2.5 The objects listed in Annex 1 have been identified by the curator as
candidates for deaccessioning and dispersal if possible. The list has been scrutinied by the NMAS’ internal Rationalisation Group, which comprises the Collections and Information Manager, the Senior Conservation Officer and the Chief Curator. Where possible these objects will be found a home in another museum or cultural institution.
3 Resource Implications 3.1 Finance: a small budget may be required for chemical disposal. 4 Equality Impact Assessment 4.1 NMAS puts diversity, equality and community cohesion at the heart of
service development and service delivery. It aims to ensure that activities included in the service plan are accessible to diverse groups in Norfolk and that all policies, practices and procedures undergo equality impact assessment. These impact assessments help the service focus on meeting the needs of customers in relation to age, disability, gender, race, religion & belief and sexual orientation.
This report has no equality implications.
5 Section 17 – Crime and Disorder Act There are no Section 17 implications. 6 Risk Implications/Assessment
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There is a risk that signification collections will be inadvertently be deaccessioned, or that material acquired with external funds will be disposed of without permission. These risks have been managed in the following ways:
• The collections review has been undertaken following good practice guidelines set out by the Museums Association and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. This ensures that any legal considerations and the public interest, such as past donors or funders, have been taken into account.
• The Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse Curator has used their knowledge to identify objects of lesser interest to the museum, using the NMAS Acquisition and Disposal Policy for reference.
• The list has been scrutinised by the NMAS’s Internal Rationalisation Group, which comprises the Collections and Information Manager, the Senior Conservation officer and the Chief Curator.
• The status quo involves risk as retaining material of poor quality, potential infestation and in poor storage conditions increases risk to other valuable collections and to the public.
7 Conclusion This collections review is proposing to remove items that are of minimal interest in interpreting the history of rural Norfolk and will free up space and resources for the benefit of the remaining collections and the visiting public. 8 Recommendation Members are asked to agree that the objects listed in Annex 1 are deaccessioned. Background Papers MLA Museum Accreditation Standard MA Good Practice Guidelines on Acquisition and Disposal NMAS Acquisition and Disposal Policy (http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/default.asp?Document=900.020.010x1) NMAS Rationalisation Strategy Officer Contact If you have any questions about matters contained in this paper please get in touch with: Steve Miller 01603 493620 [email protected]