Weekly What's On: 9th to 15th December, '13
Christmas trail until Friday 20th December, normal museum opening times Free, drop-in Suitable for families with children of all ages Pick up a copy of our free Christmas trail at reception and learn about Victorian traditions on your way around the Museum Toddler time Friday 13th December, 10-11am, £2 per child, drop-in Suitable for families with […]
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 […]
Weekly What's On: 2nd to 8th December
MERL Annual Lecture: Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP ‘in conversation’ with Sir David Bell, University of Reading Vice-Chancellor Thursday 5th December 7pm, Great Hall, London Road Campus Free. Tickets in advance or on the door (Doors open 6pm. Bar and MERL ‘pop-up’ shop available) Click here for details Toddler time Friday 6th December, 10-11am, £2 […]
Archive inspiration in the MERL shop
Visitor Services Assistant, Judith Moon, also manages the MERL shop. In this post, Judith reveals the story behind some beautiful new products inspired by our archive collections… The shop at MERL occupies a small but important part of the reception and introductory area of the museum and the past 8 years has seen the range […]
Weekly What's On – 25th Nov to Dec 1st
What’s on at MERL this week? Rural reads book club Thursday 28th November, 5.30-7pm Free. (£1.50 for tea & cake) Drop in and join this informal group discussing books on a rural theme. This month the book we’ll be talking about is Trespass by Rose Tremain. As there is no meeting in December, we have […]
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 […]
Alfred Waterhouse and MERL
written by Adam Koszary, Project Officer for Our Country Lives. Buildings are, in most cases, more famous than their architects. Exceptions are rare, such as St Pauls’s Sir Christopher Wren, or Frank Lloyd Wright (and then my limited knowledge collapses..). One architect you may not have heard of, but whose buildings you certainly will know of, […]
Discovering the Landscape #1
written by Claire Wooldridge, Landscape Institute Library Officer. Since the arrival of the Landscape Institute Library and Archive a few weeks ago, I have been immersed in a new world of international architectural design, rural development, urban regeneration and land art. Initial sorting of the library materials is underway – we have received approximately 60 […]
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, […]