Rural Reads Review #4 – Lorna Doone by R.D.Blackmore
Written by Rob Davies, Volunteer Co-Ordinator For the dark winter months of December and January the MERL Book Group ‘Rural Reads’ read Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor by R.D. Blackmore. Lorna Doone is the perfect ‘rural read’, as living and working in the countryside is intrinsic to the story and is integral to the […]
Volunteers Voice #8: Plot plans for 2014
Our two gardening volunteers, Tony and Roger, spent the last year transforming our plots into bee friendly areas, designed to encourage bees into our garden and to show visitors how easy it is to support them. Tony and Roger have kindly written a post for us about what they have in store for 2014… Following […]
Gerry Westall
It is with great sadness that we have learnt of the death of our longest serving volunteer, Gerry Westall, who passed away peacefully shortly before Christmas. A former employee of Sutton’s Seeds and a well-known local historian, Gerry brought an enormous depth of expertise and knowledge to the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) during […]
'Life on canals': a Takeover Day exhibition
On Friday 22nd November, the Museum of English Rural Life worked with the Institute of Education and took part in Kids in Museums’ Takeover Day. Throughout the day we welcomed Year 5 and 6 students from Geoffrey Field Junior School, Reading, and invited them to explore artefacts in the collections that relate to canal life […]
Our Country Lives project update: Activity planning
Isabel Hughes, MERL Curator, updates us on the work on the ‘Activity Plan’ for our Heritage Lottery Fund project Earlier in the year, the Cultural Consulting Network was appointed to help MERL produce an activity plan as part of the Round 2 submission to the Heritage Lottery Fund for Our Country Lives. The first section of […]
MERL at the MA conference #2: Our Volunteer Coordinator's view
Rob Davies, Volunteer Coordinator, writes up the session he led on ‘overcoming fears of working with volunteers’at the Museums Association conference… I was one of a small group of colleagues from MERL who attended the MA conference earlier this month. I was there to lead a session entitled ‘Overcoming your fears of working with volunteers.’ […]
MERL at the Museums Association conference #1: Our Curator's view
In the first of a series of posts from our colleagues who attended the MA conference recently, Isabel Hughes, Curator of Collections and Engagement, summarises her talk on ‘Collecting Cultures’ and reflects on the conference as a whole… The Museums Association Conference is the biggest gathering of museums people in the country. Despite the cutbacks […]
Volunteers' Voice #7 – Tour guides
Volunteer Coordinator, Rob Davies, talks about working with volunteer tour guides to make guided tours at MERL more interactive and engaging… I had a meeting with my volunteer tour guide team last week which prompted me to dedicate this post to volunteer tour guides. Tours are an excellent way in which museums engage with visitors, […]
Rural Reads Review #3 – Waterland by Graham Swift
Robert Davies, reviews our October ‘Rural Read’… The book for MERL’s Rural Reads monthly book club last month was Waterland by Graham Swift. The book is set in the Fens and covers a time period of 200 years, successfully bringing the fens to life for the reader with vivid descriptions and endearing characters. For the scale […]
Volunteers' Voice #6 – Student volunteers
At the beginning of a new University term, Rob Davies, Volunteer Coordinator, talks about student volunteers at the University Museums and Special Collections. It is the start of the academic year which for us at the University Museums means we have an influx of eager students willing to volunteer. With the current economic climate and […]