The museum at Sudbury Hall has been voted museum of the year at the Derbyshire Renaissance Heritage Awards and also received the caring for collections award for its conservation work during a £2.2 million re-development project.
Re-opening in March 2008, the museum now has eight new galleries and collections which are displayed under improved conservation conditions.
01.08.2008 - Senior Carpenter Ray Smith retires from St Fagans National History Museum.
After more than 28 years at St. Fagans National History Museum, today, Friday August 1, sees the retirement of senior carpenter Ray Smith.
Instantly recognisable with his tall build, beaming smile and broad Radnorshire accent, Ray has become a great favourite with the hundreds of thousands of visitors that pass through the Museum gates every year. His regular TV and radio appearances have also made him something of a local celebrity.
A proud Radnorshire lad, Ray comes from a family of country craftsmen, his father was a stonemason and there were carpenters on his mother’s side.
Ray’s true labour of love is St. Teilo’s Church, a medieval church that was moved from Pontarddulais in West Wales and opened at the Cardiff museum by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams in October 2007.
Ray personally selected standing oaks from his beloved Radnorshire to be felled and used for the church’s rafters and screens. A combination of his own craft skills, his personal research into church carpentry in Wales and England, and a lot of practise, has resulted in the intricately carved screens and woodwork that can be seen at the church today.
31.07.2008 - City slickers help National Trust renovate Anglesey Abbey
Almost 500 interns from Goldman Sachs International will be descending on The National Trust’s Anglesey Abbey next week to complete work on the Hoe Fen Wildlife site.
More used to life as City slickers, these investment bank interns will be getting their hands dirty as they build bridges, construct a pond dipping platform, create paths and a log habitat wall. Also on the to-do list is path levelling, glade clearance, woodchip spreading and the construction of natural log seats.
The project is part of the Goldman Sachs’ Community TeamWorks programme which works with not-for-profit and voluntary organisations.
30.07.2008 - Education programme award for SS Great Britain
Staff at SS Great Britain are celebrating success once more after receiving the nationally recognised Sandford Award for their education programme.
The multi award-winning historic ship and heritage attraction was presented with the award by the Heritage Education Trust as a benchmark for high quality heritage education, recognising quality and excellence in educational services.
Judges of the award produced a report praising the way in which members of the education staff engage students with the heritage that underpins the ship, its artefacts and history.
Teachers bringing school groups to Brunel’s SS Great Britain are able to choose from a range of education workshops tailored to the needs of Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. Workshops include Victorians at Sea, Sketch and Sea!, Brunel our Engineering Hero and Passenger Investigation.
Groups taking part in booked workshops are greeted at the stern of the ship and teachers are given a free Education Pack - a comprehensive learning resource packed with ideas and activities designed to inspire pupils and bring their studies to life.
To book a school visit or education workshop at SS Great Britain call 0117 926 0680.
30.07.2008 - Two-metre high pot purchased by York Art Gallery
A two-metre high pot made by one of the country’s leading contemporary ceramicists has been acquired by York Art Gallery.
The striking porcelain work Hua De Tu An, Flower Pictures II by Felicity Aylieff was unveiled in the newly refurbished South Gallery on Friday July 25.
The pot, which draws on Chinese traditions as well as modern Western styles, was purchased with the help of grants from the Museums Libraries and Archives/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and the Art Fund.
"The gallery has a very large collection of ceramics but none by Aylieff and very few in a contemporary Chinese style," said Helen Walsh, assistant curator of decorative arts. "We are delighted to now have such an impressive work by such a prominent artist."
Weighing in at around 250kg, the pot was made in 2007 after Aylieff returned from studying with 'bigware' potters in Jingdezhen, China, who are well known for producing ceramics on a monumental scale.
29.07.2008 - Japanese potters visit Devon
A group of leading Japanese potters are visiting Devon in July as part of a major cultural exchange programme, thanks to a Grants for the Arts award from Arts Council England, South West.
Four potters and one textile designer from Tokoname and Kyushu in Japan, took part in a masterclass and demonstrations at South Devon College in Paignton on July 25.
The group are also exhibiting their work at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen until July 30in an exhibition entitled Yakimono (meaning ‘baked things’), showcasing the work of the visiting potters.
Bruce Chivers, a leading Devon potter and Lecturer in Art and Design at South Devon College, is hosting the event. He said:
"We’re really excited to be welcoming such internationally recognised artists to Devon. Pottery is a very important art form in Japan and the potters visiting us are leaders in their field."
28.07.2008 - Blockbusting 'Narnia badger' goes in display at Booth Museum
A badger is going on special display at Brighton’s quirky Booth Museum of Natural History, to celebrate being the inspiration for a character in a major film.
The designs for Trufflehunter, currently to be seen in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, were based on high-tech images of the stuffed badger – although a Lancashire rival stepped in as body double for Trufflehunter’s ‘texture’.
Film makers visited the Booth Museum to take many digital images of the badger, from which they created the computer animation seen on screen. Trufflehunter is voiced by actor Ken Stott.
"The Booth badger has been resident at the Booth Museum for about 20 years," said David Smith, Brighton & Hove City Council’s cabinet member for culture.
"It met its end in a road traffic accident, but the skills of the Booth Museum’s taxidermist, Jeremy Adams, preserved its immortality and the animal is still in good condition. Occasionally he has days out, as part of the Booth Museum’s school loans collection."
28.07.2008 - Blacksmith's art celebrated at Rural Life museum
The Weald and Downland Museum in West Sussex will be celebrating the ‘Art of the Blacksmith’ during a special focus weekend from Friday August 1 to Sunday August 3 2008.
The weekend will centre around the British Artist Blacksmith Association (BABA) Annual General Meeting which is being hosted for the first time by the museum and will feature an exciting display of forge work and artistic creation by scores of the finest craftsmen and women in action today.
Visitors will be able to watch BABA members working on a series of specially commissioned pieces for the Museum: these will be trail markers intended to signpost a woodland trail around the Museum site.
The ‘Art of the Blacksmith’ runs alongside an exhibition of contemporary blacksmiths’ work supported by BABA, which is on show at the museum from July 24 until August 3.
