Project update: Getting closer to closing
written by Alison Hilton, Marketing Officer When we put the date of our last Saturday’s Our Country Lives project Information Day in the diary way back in the summer, we never imagined that the timing would be so close to the wire. Since receiving the news that we had been successful in our bid to the […]
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 […]
Weekly what's on: 22nd Sept to 5th October
Full details of our events this term can be found on our website, and events in the Our Country Lives programme are listed here Samuel Beckett in London – the Murphy Notebooks Weds 1st to Saturday 4th October As part of the University of Reading’s Beckett Week, a celebration of the University’s internationally renowned collection […]
Chocolate box images & perceptions of the countryside
Alison Hilton, Marketing Officer, shows how, with a little bit of research, it is possible to link chocolate and English Rural Life, and invites you to come and talk about your perceptions of the countryside at our first Our Country Lives Information Day on Sat 4th October. Staff and volunteers spent last weekend on the […]
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 […]
Project update: What happens next?
Having heard the news of our project funding earlier this summer, you may be wondering what happens next? So in this post Alison Hilton, marketing officer, answers some ‘frequently asked questions’ Has work on the project started yet? We are still going through the processes required before work on the Our Country Lives project can start. […]
Weekly what's on: Sept 15th to 21st
You can find details of all our forthcoming events at on our What’s On pages, but here’s what’s happening at MERL this week… Guided tours Wednesdays, Saturdays & Sundays, 3-3.45pm Free, booking advisable but not essential Let our fully trained tour guides tell you the stories behind the objects on display and visit the object store to see […]
Weekly what's on: Sept 8th to 14th
You can find details of all our forthcoming events at on our What’s On pages, but here’s what’s happening at MERL this week… Events Heritage Open Day tours Thurs 11th, Fri 12th 11am & Sunday 14th, 3pm (house only) Free, booking required Join us for a free behind the scenes tour of our Victorian home and see some […]
Discovering the Landscape #6: Susan and Geoffrey Jellicoe catalogues now available online!
Written by Claire Wooldridge, Landscape Institute Library Officer Drawings donated to the Landscape Institute by Geoffrey Jellicoe and the photographic collection of Susan Jellicoe are now catalogued and are available to search via our online catalogue and by collection in PDF format (Geoffrey Jellicoe, Susan Jellicoe). These fantastic collections cover landscape architecture and landscape history […]
Conservation Diary 2: Repairing the damaged and dry
As promised, I am back with some more exciting and fresh updates. Good progress has been made! The first week flew by in the setting up of and preliminary preparations for the conservation project of the first 1951 wall hanging. In the second week I felt myself drifting off far away, swayed by the humming […]