Your country lives and your museum
Assistant Curator, Dr Ollie Douglas traces the Museum’s history of building links with communities and invites readers to get involved in our current project In the 1950s, when the Museum of English Rural Life was first established, countryside people were experiencing a period of massive change. Of course, the lives of people who live and […]
Volunteers voice: Meet Rhiannon
Hello, I’m Rhiannon Watkinson the new Assistant Volunteer Coordinator here at MERL. Having been in the post a little over a month now, and no longer getting quite so lost in the maze that is the museum, it seems time to introduce myself. I’m a Reading local and have just returned to the area after […]
Vlog blog: How many curators..?
So how many curators does it take to run the University of Reading Museums and Collections? Well, surprisingly few actually, as our new vlog channel sets out to demonstrate! Tramping round rural Berkshire, delving into the MERL basket collection, and serenading the Special collections librarian: since the launch of our new video blogging channel last term, […]
'Rural reads plus' review: The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch
Written by Rob Davies, Volunteer Co-ordinator Last month we read The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch; this was the first book we’ve read since the group became ‘Rural Reads plus…’ and we expanded our remit to include books inspired by the University’s Special Collections. The Unicorn was a perfect read to bridge both rural reads and […]
How many curators…?
As part of our ‘Shut, but not shutting up!’ social media campaign to stay in touch during MERL’s closure period, this week we’re launching ‘How many curators…?’, a new behind the scenes vlog channel on Youtube. Rob Davies, Volunteer Coordinator and budding film director/producer/actor/anchor, will be meeting members of staff and volunteers, talking to them […]
Volunteers' Voice #16: Young people as volunteers
Written by Rob Davies, Volunteer Coordinator As part of the Our Country Lives project we are launching a series of projects to encourage young people (aged 11-25) to volunteer and engage with MERL. The age range is vast, with a wide variety of skills, abilities and interests within this target audience. You may ask: why are […]
Rural Reads review #8: 'Clay' by Melissa Harrison
Rob Davies reviews the latest rural read. For the September meeting, we read Clay by debut author Melissa Harrison. Clay is an unusual novel for Rural Reads because it is set firmly in a city; it is, however, about how people within an urban environment interact with the green spaces available to them. This is a theme […]
Volunteers' Voice #15: What is a community?
Rob Davies, Volunteer Coordinator, shares his thoughts on what ‘community’ means to a museum Last Monday I attended the Sharing Day for Reading Engaged, an Arts Council England project where Reading Museum and the Museum of English Rural Life are collaborating on numerous aspects of our work from retail to volunteering. It was an interesting day where […]
A Take on Teen Twitter Takeover Day
Teen Twitter Takeover Day – Wednesday 27th August, written by Chloe On Wednesday 27th August I took part, on behalf of MERL, in ‘Teen Twitter Takeover Day’. Organised by Kids in Museums, this was a day designed to promote their national Takeover Day in November, by having teenagers take over the Twitter accounts of museums and […]
Volunteers' Voice #14: Volunteers and Our Country Lives
Written by Rob Davies, Volunteer Coordinator. As you will know, we have recently been awarded a significant grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund for our redevelopment project Our Country Lives. I do not exaggerate when I say that volunteers made an enormous contribution to this success and they will play a very important role in […]