Rural reads review #2 – The Worm Forgives the Plough by John Stewart Collis
Rob Davies reviews the book discussed at MERL’s Rural Reads book club this month… This month we read The Worm Forgives the Plough by John Stewart Collis. The book is comprised of two novels: While Following the Plough and Down to Earth, published as whole in 1973. It is an autobiographical account of Collis’s time […]
Volunteers' Voice #5 – Gardening at MERL
In this month’s Volunteers’ Voice, Volunteer Co-ordinator Rob Davies gives some background on some gardening at MERL and enlists the help of our two of our gardening volunteers to explain how they have helped create bee-friendly habitats in the MERL gardens… We have an outstanding volunteer gardening team who come, rain or shine, to tend […]
Rural Reads review #1 – Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household
MERL’s book club, Rural Reads, has been running for three years. We have read an incredible range of novels, poetry and non-fiction, all with either a rural setting or related to the countryside. In this new feature, Rural Reads regular, Rob Davies, will share his personal views and the group’s reactions to the book they […]
Volunteers' Voice #4: Summer Volunteers
written by Rob Davies, Volunteer Coordinator. It’s summer and for us at MERL it is a very busy time for us. Our varied host of family activities means that we are very busy with a large footfall of visitors who would otherwise be at school. This is an excellent opportunity for younger visitors to explore […]
Pinterest & MERL
written by Adam Koszary, Project Officer for Our Country Lives. Everybody – regardless of whether they use them or not – is aware of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. There are also the professional sites such as Yammer and LinkedIn. However, one site which you may not have heard of – and which […]
What's your favourite?
Jonathan Brown, guest curator of our current exhibition of photography by John Tarlton, asks why we are compelled to pick a favourite. (I (Alison) have chosen mine to illlustrate his post!) What’s your favourite? One of the striking things about the exhibition of John Tarlton photographs we have on this summer is how quickly everybody […]
Volunteers' Voice #3 – Visitor research
by Rob Davies, Volunteer Co-ordinator Last week we launched our first wave of visitor research at the Museum of English Rural Life as part of the Our Country Lives project. Each wave of visitor research will last for a week, during different parts of the national calendar and we are attempting to capture the museum […]
Our Country Lives: Supporting You Day
written by Adam Koszary, Project Officer for Our Country Lives. My mind has been focused on one particular question since arriving at MERL: how do you display rural life? Other equally pertinent questions for us are: Who is our audience? How can we appeal to wider groups? What is the core message of the Museum […]
5 minutes with… Rhi Smith
Rhi Smith is the Director of Museum Studies. She teaches our new undergraduate degree course, which students can combine with Classics or Archaeology, starting at Reading this Autumn. Find out about what she’s being doing this week in the run up to the University’s Open Days…. What have you been doing this week? I’ve just […]
Volunteers' Voice #2: National Volunteers Week
written by Rob Davies, Volunteer Coordinator. The year has swung round once again and it is already National Volunteers Week. Every year from 1st – 7th June organisations who work with, involve or are entirely volunteer-run, celebrate all the hard work, dedication, enthusiasm and laughter that volunteers bring. I believe it is important to recognise […]