Falconer Friends

Ancestral Tourism

2009-05-19T19:01:00.002Z

On behalf of Moray Council Valerie Wardlaw, the new Visitor Development Officer, organised an ancestral tourism training course at Moray College on 9th May to provide guidance to representatives of Moray and Banff Museums and Library Service in this Year of Homecoming. Joan Taylor, Peggie Gordon and Mary Kean were there from the Friends of the Falconer Museum along with fifteen others to hear what Cameron Taylor had to tell us. We spent an interesting and informative day.
The main theme was to discuss what it is that ancestral tourists want to find out and how we can help them in their search, what can be done in our individual museums and where visitors can be directed to find more detailed information than we are able to supply. They have to accept that it is not in our remit to start searching the internet on their behalf to build up a family tree, but that we can provide general website information and addresses to enable them to do that for themselves, and tell them how to find churchyards and cemeteries, for example, which can be a fruitful source of information for people who have some knowledge of where their forebears came from. It was suggested that hotels and B&Bs could be encouraged to provide that kind of information too since they are more readily available than museums with their restricted opening hours.
It gave us plenty of food for thought and before the end of the training some of us were already trying some of the websites on the lecture-room computers to see what kind of things we could find. The information is all there: it just needs time to ferret it out and it is up to us to make as many people as possible aware of the fact.

Mary Kean

Early man and the fossil hunter

2009-03-03T19:58:00.004Z

Only Tuesday but already a busy week for the Friends.

Joan and Mike hosted a session on Early Man for 13 pupils from Alves Primary. They did the whole session on their own, learning about Early Man over the weekend, setting up the table for handling objects and answering the kids' questions.

On Tuesday myself, Mike and Valerie Wardlaw from the Museum staff travelled to Elgin to go to Bishopmill Primary School. I talked to 46 pupils from P6 on Hugh Falconer - The Fossil Hunter. I started off the afternoon by getting the kids to think how a 22 year old would have got to India in 1830 and how he would have gone from eating mince and tatties to exotic Indian cuisine. After discussing Falconer's life with the kids (they even got into the "punctuated equilibrium" bit) they all watched a copy of the Hugh Falconer DVD shown in the museum. Myself, Mike and Valerie then passed round fossils to the kids and there followed a loud 15 minutes when the kids "discussed" with themselves what the fossils were; a wee quiz and time go home. It was great fun and I was very impressed with the technology available in the classroom - overhead projector and a smart screen. This made showing the DVD easier.

I think after the success of the afternoon that I'll try and develop a "Hugh Falconer" loan box.
Chris

The Return (again) ......

2009-02-20T14:13:00.003Z

Well, back a week then off for two. What a way to get started. Hey Ho, that's life. Anyway back I went to the Friends' Friday meeting where we sat for two hours and discussed what we are going to do with the Friends' for the next wee while.
It was a quite hilarious meeting at times - most of the hilarity seemed to be over lift evacuation training. Well you gotta laugh! Seriously though, it was a worthwhile meeting with lots of points discussed such as volunteers coming in on more than one day, various projects needing attention, getting proper notification of tours and introducing a new tour booking form and also a volunteer information sheet for new volunteers.
We don't want new volunteers bogged down in paperwork and we most certainly want to be a friendly Friends group. We really don't want to get into the modern predilection for endless forms and bureaucracy we just want volunteers. The only stipulation we must make is they be Friends' members so they are covered by our insurance.
Poor Valerie the new Visitor Development Officer had the unenvieable job of taking minutes - it must have been horrendous to do with all the laughter and general fun that ensued.

The Return ...

2009-01-30T22:50:00.002Z

Well, after a ten week absence I returned to the fold today and found a very cheery and lively group of volunteers have continued to keep the Friday morning volunteering session going.

I arrived to find Senior Museums Officer, Alasdair, perched on top of the office in the workshop area, with Ross half way up a ladder and Mary and Reg folding up cardboard boxes. There were threats to leave Alasdair up there if he didnt behave himself, but he did and safely down he came!

In the office itself Henrietta and Mike were still researching labels for the museum objects. Upstairs in the Museum store Joan, Rose, Peggie and new Museums Officer Liz Trevethick were indexing the contents of the store. Nice to see everyone at work. I was very touched by the warm welcome back they gave me and must admit all I did was look at photos of the opening night of the Burns Exhibition, had a cup of tea and caught ip in all the gossip. A nice gentle start.

I'm looking forward to next week as I can be just one of the volunteers with Liz having the unenviable task of finding us all something to do. Mind you, as most of them said the thought of me not putting in my tuppenceworth is worth thinking about!

It's good to be back and my thanks to everyone for their hard work for the Burns Exhibition and keeping everything going.

Robert Burns - His Life and TImes

2009-01-30T22:31:00.003Z

As our contribution to "Homecoming" our latest exhibition 'Robert Burns - His Life and Time' was launched on 23rd January with a special preview evening for Friends' members. The exhibition will run until March 6th 2009. Opening hours are Monday - Friday 11:00 to 12:30 and 1:00pm - 3:30pm.

This stunning cake, yes cake, was made by local firm Varis Pipe Dreams and proved so realistic that many of the guests tried to turn the pages - even before they started on the wine!

The exhibition features some of his poems, his Epitaphs, watercolours based on his poetry, timelines, models and drawings of agricultural equipment, recipes and measures of the time period and recorded recitations of some of his best known poems.

Is it that time already?

2008-07-11T21:01:00.004Z

First volunteer session since the opening of High Street History Exhibition. Patted ourselves on the back then broke the news to the volunteers that we need to start work on our next exhibition. Its going to be based on Robbie (Rabbie), (Robert) Burns. Which is the correct nomenclature? Maybe the exhibition will clear that up. For those of you who are not in the UK, Burns is Scotland's favourite and best known poet. Burns Night is celebrated on 25th January so the exhibition will start around that time - possibly 23rd Jan. There is such a lot I want to cover though.

I thought it would be a good idea to brainstorm ideas but not everyone got the idea and some took all the suggestions too seriously. Oh, its hard work sometimes. Anyway, eventually I dragged out a lot of really very good ideas and these are now blu-tacked up on a wall for everyone to see.

There was the usual instance of women proving they can multi-task better than men - Henrietta wins the prize! I wish I had her energy. A truly valuable addition to the volunteers and I really do appreciate people who speak their minds - it saves so much time hithering and dithering. I was trying (but didnt fully succeed) to get the group to think off the wall a bit and come up with thier own ideas instead of following all of mine. We've all grown leaps and bounds though and confidence is growing all the time. Alasdair (Senior Museums Officer) is very supportive of our ideas for the exhibition and I hope its going to be an exhibition to remember.

Lots of other things in the pipeline - Local Heroes Project, Homecoming Project of Lord Strathcona, Museums Officer wants to do agriculture exhibition and will need a hand, printing applictin forms, mailshots etc etc and labelling......

I was conscious I wasnt fully on form for planning the last one and will try and take more care in watching timescales and allowing for illnesses, middle aged induced memory loss and other curves life throws at you.

Anyway, time for another couple of weeks off for me as my 8 year old nephew is staying with us for a fortnight for his summer holidays - oh I'm going to be so shattered! Its so difficult having to play with lego, build models, play wii games and watch dvds - how will I ever cope??
Chris

Kids make it worthwhile

2008-07-09T14:24:00.002Z

The first of our Tours for Visitors was a great success this afternoon. Going on the premise of never asking people to do things you wouldn't do yourself, I had put myself down for the first tour. As luck would have it, a group of sixteen primary school aged kids appeared with two helpers. Ideal. I find groups of children easier to deal with than adults. Unfortunately I had to split the group in two so one half went round themselves and asked me questions later whilst the other group went round with me. They were so engrossed in it all and asked lots of questions and, as is usual with kids gave out a few family stories! It really was great to see them having fun and showed how successful the rebuild was. I hope Mike has it as easy next week.
Chris

Stocking Draping - A lost Art?

2008-07-04T22:09:00.004Z

Well, what a fun night. We spent this evening putting the High Street History Exhibition together. It took a couple of hours but clearly everyone enjoyed themselves by the amount of laughter which could be heard. Despite the hilarity there was method to our madness.
The Domestic Case was emptied piece by piece under the watchful eye of Senior Museums Office Alasdair Joyce. The objects were taken one by one to a table where I oversaw them being wrapped up with their relevant stands and then they were carefully packed into labelled boxes. Photos of the case had been taken earlier so we know how to re-dress the case when the exhibition comes down. Once emptied, the High Street objects were put into the case and there was much debate about the best way to drape a stocking. Alasdair eventually braved up and with the encouraging suggestions from some of the ladies, carefully draped the stocking on top of the nearby stone jar!

Upstairs it was a 'men only' area where the guys filled the display boards with photographs of the HIgh Street from days gone by. These were then numbered and clipboads tied to the cases so that visitors can leave any details they remember about the photographs.

Back downstairs it was time to put up the 70-odd speech balloons. This was somewhat problematic as they were going to be put on magnetic boards but I really didnt like they way they looked with magnets holding them up. So, after Alasdair and I had a huddle in the cupboard under the stairs we decided to use sticky dots. These will easily(?) rub off the boards when we take the speech balloon down. There were different type of sticky dots though and we found the ones which you peeled off squares of paper were better than the ones which you "paste" on from a roller type device.

Finally the 5 foot plan of the High Street was put onto the central table, clipboards left for visitor comments, photos taken for posterity and we were off into the humid night, ready for the opening on Sunday.

Chris

The problem with girls ......

2008-06-27T22:48:00.004Z

Ok, ok, I know this is going to be sexist but I find it hard enough to control one woman far less half a dozen! We've had a great couple of weeks and much has been accomplished but oh me, the noise an enthused group of ladies can make! This week one of them (ok it was Joan) asked me to through to the main part of the lab and instill some control - a fruitless task. One of the guys seemed to be more than happy to be in another section of the lab on his own - I cant imagine why. To be serious for a moment we got an awful lot done today and thanks to everyone for that. I suppose it just shows what fun you can have folding invitation cards, stuffing them in envelopes and then trying to come up with a list of invitees. Strangely the people finishing off dry mounting of photographs were much quieter (there was only one woman in that team). All this is for our next exhibition - High Street History - an exhibition of memories.

The exhibition launches next Sunday (6th July) to celebrate the launch of Sunday opening at the Museum. The Friends membership will get invited, some vips and (most) of the local shopkeepers. Readers of this blog will be especially welcome.

The exhibition brings together reminiscences in the form of over 70 speech balloons which will be displayed throughout both floors of the museum and also photographs taken from the collections of well known late Forres photographers Alec Fraser and David Forrester. The five foot plan of the High Street as it was in the 1940s will also be on display and visitors will be encouraged to leave more reminiscences and also comments and recollections on the photographs. There will also be a case of artefacts relating to the High Street from the 1900s.

The exhibition will run from Sunday 6th July - Friday 15th August. Opening hours are Monday to Saturday 10:00am - 6:00pm, Sunday 1:00pm - 4:00pm.

Next up is planning a rota for guides to do a weekly tour for visitors over the summer months. Hopefully Friday mornings will be a bit more relaxed once the exhibition is up and running and we'll have time for more training sessions. There was talk of stopping for the summer but most of the volunteers wanted to continue so that's fine with me. Anyway, we'll have to start thinking about our exhibition for next winter now..........
Chris

Tempus Fugit

2008-06-14T11:29:00.004Z

Cant believe I haven't posted since April. Biggest reason for this is ill health. I took 5 weeks off from volunteering for the museum and didn't get back to it till last Friday. I was very touched by the welcome from the volunteers they were truly delighted to see me back.

I am so chuffed with the way the group have carried on and have been working hard on putting together the summer exhibition "High Street History" and working re-labelling the display cases. Well done.

Had a catch up meeting with the two remaining museum professionals. Useful meeting and its clear that I'm going to be forced to behave myself and not do to much. If I don't my wife, senior museums officer and the Friends Chairman will be displeased!

The Falconer Museum has been reviewed in the Museums Journal. I think its a very accurate and fair review. They brought up the problems with labelling and oral history but I'm pleased that we had already picked up on these ourselves and are working on resolving them.

We will be launching the High Street History Exhibition on July 6th - yes a Sunday. The museum is going to be open on Sundays in July and August. The exhibition will include the 5ft plan of the High Street in the 1940s, speech balloons of the collected reminiscences taken from the wee High Street exhibition held in the library in March, various retail artefacts and old photographs of the High Street covering the 20th century. I had hoped to be able to record the reminiscences and play them over the pa system to add another element to the exhibition but as we've only four Fridays to go before the launch everyone else thought we didn't have the time. So, regretfully in keeping with my new 'taking care of myself regime' I wont do it this time.

Seems that the Friends work has been recognised throughout Scotland and The Traditional Boat Festival group from Portsoy want our advice on a new museum they are setting up in an old Salmon Bothy and I hope they will be able to visit us soon. We also been asked to take part in a survey by Chao-Mei Wang, an international student from the University of Leicester on why museums blog.

I am still somewhat disappointed that the blog hasn't been as successful as I would have hoped mostly due to lack of comments and contributions by the other volunteers. To be honest they are not used to working with blogs or computers but I live in hope! I 'll keep posting though even just to act as a diary record of what we're up to. So, if someone's reading this, please, please, leave a comment!
Chris

When the holiday is over. . .

2008-04-10T18:05:00.003Z

Well, back to the fray this week after a two week break - though my wife, nephew and I did pop in for a cup of tea last week. The volunteers managed fine without me though they said they missed my pc skills and my knack for dealing with council machinery - a few swear-y words and a quick kick usually does the trick.

To celebrate Hugh Falconer's 200th birthday on 29th Feb we held a birthday card competition and so the volunteers sorted through the entries over the last fortnight and came up with the winners. In the 5 - 12 age group the winner was Jenny Mitchell of Dallas Primary School and in the 13 - 17 category the winner was a joint entry by Hannah Rossiter and Kirstin McGrath of Forres Academy.

Whilst I was away the volunteers not only judged the card competition but also spent their time making more bookmarks for giving away at workshops/visits etc, printing some more tee-shirts, choosing objects for the summer exhibition and, of course, creating yet another version of descriptor labels for the upstair cases. They had problems getting the printers to work though and that had to be left until this week. Mind you, I'm still stumped by the xerox printing centre - it keeps asking for A4 to be loaded! I think if we need b&w printing done its better to do things on our own laptop and dedicated printer. No doubt there will be a full investigation into things when the professionals return from sickness and maternity leave.

So, this week it was a case of dry mounting the descriptor labels and picking more objects for the summer exhibition - an expanded "Forres High Street" exhibition. It was such a miserable day that everyone was a bit put off by the weather so there wasn't the usual energy in the lab. The new gate which has been put up at the entrance proved even more difficult to open (and shut) in the torrential rain. Only on a council gate would you have the padlock on the inside!

Big news this week though is that we are going to change the volunteer sessions to Friday mornings between 10:30 and 12:30. Though I had initially wanted the change so that we wouldnt be trying to share the same space as the museums officer it turns out the new day better suits most of the volunteers anyway.

We're still coping without the two museum professionals. This maybe shows that the Friends are now capable of holding our own and can play a large part in giving the town and surrounding areas a pretty decent museums service. Its quite shocking though that so little money is spent on the service. What happened to education, education, education? We've long since thrown of the stuffy academic image and thanks especially to Mark Macleod, our last Project Development Officer, have shown groups and schools that we can be a fun place to learn. Better stop or this will turn into a rant.

Chris

Sorry, I forgot, then forgot what I forgot!

2008-03-13T21:54:00.001Z

Been very busy since last post – so much for wanting to post weekly. Have to say middle aged forgetfulness is also responsible! Anyway what have we been up to? Well, first off we had a ‘Teaching With Objects’ Training Session in the museum lab. Last year I attended a workshop on this in Dundee. The project was SMC funded and, I must admit, I felt a bit out of place among all the professionals there but it was a fun day. At the beginning of the afternoon the group of volunteers were given a teabag and asked to tell me as much as they could about it. Then, working on the premise that they were not adults (not difficult for some) or had any idea what the object was, the volunteers were given various lamps/lights and then split into groups to come up with interpretations. I also produced an insert for the Friends’ welcome manuals. I think copies of the original guides, which are excellent, can still be obtained from the SMC.

Next up, four of us gave a guided tour of the museum to the local Townwomen’s Guild. So, 33 ladies of a certain age, descended on the museum after a supper at the nearby Chimes café. It was the largest group we newbie’s had shown round the museum but all went well and the ladies seemed to have a enjoyable night. They gave us a generous donation with the promise of more later when they do their annual charity give-away. The only drawback was my mother was one of the ladies, so not only had I to be on best behaviour but had to put up with some embarrassing comments (notably about the head of hair I had when younger) though this worked both ways! The night ended with a quiz and the give-away of our first Falconer Museum Tee Shirt.

This Tuesday saw a departure from our usual sessions when we all gathered in the museum to have a critical look at the displays, accompanied by Libraries and Museum Manager Alistair Campbell. We spent some two and a half hours looking closely at the cases and labels suggesting tweaks here and there and also came up with the decision to completely redo the descriptor and object labels. We know this means a lot of hard work has to be rewritten but its fair to say that the labels were done during a stressful period just before the museum re-opened. One good thing is that the volunteers have had plenty of practice dry-mounting the original labels so the new ones should be a breeze!

As well as all this we were heavily involved in a joint collaboration with Forres Library. Community Librarian Rebecca Bolton came up with the idea to do an exhibition and workshop on old Forres High Street in the Library. From our end, volunteers Ross and Vallie Dalziel came up with a list of High Street businesses from the 1940s and then after laying them out in a plan of the High Street, Jean Mortimer painted the plan up to make it look more user-friendly. We then put together a mini exhibition featuring objects you would have bought at the time and the visitors were asked to leave a note of shops and businesses they remembered. Two open days were held with about 70 people attending both days to talk about the High Street businesses they remembered. On the first day Graeme Wilson, Local Heritage Officer, gave a talk on the High Street and brought along many photos. Rebecca tells me that visitor numbers were up by 500 compared to the same period last year. Its been a great surprise, and pleasure, that an exhibition which really didn’t take very long to put together captured the imagination of a large proportion of the town. Many people commented that those who went to the Library would never have come into the Museum. A true comment but a tendency we must change.

Today, myself, Valerie and Rebecca took the exhibition to Cameron Court, a local care home where the residents gave us a warm welcome. We promised to go back and the residents want to come to the museum on one of their weekly bus trips. More success – and I have to say this type of outreach event I what I enjoy most.

Though I’m not going to use this blog to give away personal details I must tell you that we’ve bought a wii. The ‘Brain Academy’ game is great for helping with middle aged memory loss. I heartily recommend it to those of you suffering from the same affliction. (Mind you I’m also enjoying playing Lego Star Wars my nephew’s favourite game).
Until next time…..

Unlucky for some

2008-02-19T20:24:00.004Z

Thirteen volunteers turned up for today's session in the Lab. A record attendance. Though I had promised the group we would do a session on "Teaching With Objects" I was unable to do the prep because of illness but hope to hold the session next week.
So it was back to the grind for the wee group of stalwarts.
Reg heroically guided Derek, Mike and Henrietta through finishing the new labels for the display cases; Mary, John and Valerie got down to writing out envelopes for children to "sort" at the Post Office Sorting bench, whilst Henrietta painstakingly cut out scans of mid 20th century stamps to be put on the envelopes. Jean, Vallie and Joan priced up Notelet cards whilst Ross folded application forms and turned A4 paper into A5 to print the notelets on. Who's missing? Oh yes - Marjorie managed to get the darkroom all to herself and edited the old Visitors Guide to the Museum on one of the network PCs. She soon found out how slow the network can be compared to home! It's great having someone who knows their way round Word and Publisher. Whilst all this hard work was going on I lurched around from place to place generally answering questions on where to find things. I had been there for a couple of hours before everyone else though, opening up, printing and setting up equipment.
Rebecca, the Community Librarian came over with three boxes of biscuits as a thank-you for our help with the Library Display, so teabreak was even more welcome than usual. Speaking of teabreaks - the sessions have become so popular that I've had to acquire another kettle. Thank goodness for mothers-in-law who keep spare kettles in their cupboards!
We had a lively discussion on the rights and wrongs of the Tourist Information Centre moving into the Museum building; what we should do for our Christmas Exhibition this year (we've decided to do something for Burns' Night instead); acting as Tour Guides and going out and about to Schools and groups. Then suddenly, its 4 o'clock and everyone drifts away and I tidy up, lock up and head for the Post Office, Bank and Tesco before I go home and wash all the cootn gloves I can find for next week's session.
It great to note that since the beginning of the year the volunteers have clocked up 161 hours.

Forres High Street at Library

2008-02-19T20:13:00.002Z

Yesterday, 78 people attended a display and talk on Forres High Street of old in the Library. Graeme Wilson, Local Heritage Officer, gave the talk in front of an appreciative audience. Unfortunately I was unable to attend through illness but Rebecca Bolton, Community Librarian did the introductions and was delighted, though somewhat surprised, at the large turnout.
The Friends have produced a 5 foot long plan of the High Street as it was in the 1940. The information was supplied by Ross and Vallie Dalziel and the painting by Jean Mortimer. Space has been left so that members of the public can add post-it notes with details of shops they remember. The Friends also put together a small exhibition of items which came from old High Street shops. Included in the items was a cash box from the local branch of The City of Glasgow Bank. This Bank was the last Bank to have collapsed before the Northern Rock fiasco of this year.
The exhibition and plan will be shown in the Library until 3rd March when the public will be invited back to discuss their reminiscences of Forres High Street.
Chris

Volunteer Afternoons Continued Success

2008-02-06T16:54:00.000Z

We had another successful volunteer afternoon yesterday with another good turnout and even a couple of new volunteers. The afternoon was taken up with continuing to dry-mount the labels for the display cases, searching for items for the High Street History Display at Forres Library beginning on 18th February, working on the large High Street plan and producing more packs of notelets. Thankfully new member Marjorie found an error in the cards before it was too late and then she also found out that the cellophane bags I'd bought for them were the wrong size. This was despite me being told by the shop keeper they would do the job! Looks like I'll be back to shopping from the internet.
Alasdair, Senior Museums Officer, came along to offer support if needed, and to do some work but he ended up perched in a corner of the old office as there were so many of us there was little free space!
Those who braved a rummage in the store with me enjoyed the experience and we managed to find some great objects for use in the High Street History Display. If you want to see them for yourself you'll have to come along to the library from 18th February to 3rd March. Teatime was a bit easier this week as we got more mugs (the drinking from kind) but unfortunately no home baking this week.
Next week should hopefully see us finish up work on the display and dry-mounting the labels so after that I'll need to find some new things to keep us occupied. Shouldn't be difficult as I've got quite a list!
Chris

New volunteer session

2008-01-30T20:11:00.000Z

We had the first volunteer session a week ago where I outlined projects I thought we could tackle this year. They are:- Dry-mounting Museum Labels; Forres High Street Reminiscence
Exhibition at Forres Library looking at old Forres High Street; Redressing Retail Case; Printing "Elephant" Tee Shirts; Printing and making up "Spice" Notelet Cards; Produing marketing material; Letters for children to use in Post Office Sorting Bench; Prepare and host workshops/presentations for school visits; Volunteers to act as guides for visitors/tourists; Produce interpretation for recently restored painting and organise talk from restorers; Ongoing oral history recordings; Digitise and collate slide collection; Produce podcasts for use on internet; Research names given to closes in Forres e.g. “Singer’s Close”; Research history of local Italian Families and a computer training day at Forres Library.
There were 13 volunteers there and they were all enthusiastic about the ideas.
The really good news was that we are now based in the museum laboratory and store so this gives us a lot more room and scope to do more than one project at a time.
Yesterday was the first session in the lab and we had people printing and drymounting labels, writing envelopes for the sorting bench and printing folding and packaging the spice notelets. Rebecca Bolton, Community Librarian, came and explained the Forres High Street Exhibition they will be exhbiting at the libray and how we could help. This went down very well and some of us are going in on Friday to start work on our bits and pieces. It was a very successful day made more so by a surprise visit from Alistair Campbell, Libraries and Museums Manager who was delighted to see how successful the volunteer sessions are becoming. Last year's hard work by the volunteers has paid off and we have gained our independence and a closer and mutually respectful working relationship with the museum staff.
Chris

Happy New Year

2008-01-09T09:38:00.000Z

Happy New Year to everyone.

I'm going to try to post more often to the blog and hopefully encourage others to do the same. I was supposed to be having a couple of weeks off from museum stuff but, me being me, I was still doing bits and pieces at home.

Its been an eventful few weeks. Mark Macleod, our Project Development Officer has gone to pastures new. He is now working at the Scottish Museums Council as their Membership Development Officer. They say no one is indispensable but Mark is the exception to the rule - we're going to miss him very much. However he has created a lot of local goodwill for the museum and has given us many great ideas to build upon. To cap it all, Kirsty Conti who was Maternity Cover for the Outreach and Interpretation post has also handed in her resignation and will be gone in a couple of weeks. How will all this affect the Friends?

Well, Reg the Chairman of the Project Management Committee and myself are going to meet with Alasdair Joyce, Senior Museums Officer and Alistair Campbell, Libraries and Museums Manager next week to see how the Friends can assist the Museums service this year and also to suggest how they can make things easier for us.

Some of the plans I came up with for this year (and possibly next) are:-
Tour Guides, Tee Shirt Printing, Card Making, Dry Mounting labels for display cases, digitising slides, researching the local "closes", interpretation for the newly restored Falconer Painting, taking on the museum e-newsletter, doing talks to local groups, more temporary exhibitions and of course recording more oral history conversations and podcasts.

Speaking of Podcasts, I've had great trouble trying to get iTunes to recognise an enhanced podcast. Turns out blogger doesnt have the correct mime type for m4a files. I've put these files onto Podbean but so far iTunes still havent updated the Podcast. I'm very keen to move to enhanced podcasts as it gives me the ability to include pictures with the podcast. This means we could be doing podcasts for specific objects and show pictures of them. Meanwhile if you want to subscribe to the new rss feed here is the url:-

www.falconerfriends.podbean.com/feed

Now I'm off to get to grips with the spreadsheet for the volunteer timesheets. In a moment of weakness I agreed to take this on. Mark designed a large spreadsheet for this so I'll have to learn how it works. Its important we have a note of volunteer hours as an hour of volunteer time is worth £15 to the redevelopment project.

Chris - Volunteer Coordinator

Christmas Spice

2007-12-12T08:25:00.000Z

Our 2007 Christmas Exhibition - Christmas Spice - was launched on 7th December at a very successful and well attended preview evening. There were 55 people at the launch where Mark Macleod, Project Development Officer, was given a presentation to thank him for all his work in the last 15 months and to wish him well in his new post with the Scottish Museums Council in Edinburgh. Mark is taking up the role of Membership Development Manager from 7th January, 2008. Mary Kean, Friends Chairman, commented on his hard work, enthusiasm and how he had helped the Friends Group progress. He will be sorely missed.

"Christmas Spice" tells the story of The Spice Routes, Explorers, Christmas Spices plus a look at "Old Spice" and "The Spice Girls". During the course of the exhibition, which closes on January 18th, schoolchildren will be given the chance to attend workshops on mincemeat making, pomander making and also to take part in a competition to find the hidden spice horde. On opening the exhibition, Chris Bridgeford, Friends Secretary and Volunteer Co-ordinator, thanked the group of volunteers who have been working on the exhibtion since May. This group of junior and senior middle-aged attended volunteer sessions every Tuesday and many did a considerable amount of work at home.

Jean Mortimer, one of the volunteers, painted eight watercolours of the spice plants. These watercolours play an integral part in the exhibition and were to be offered for sale at the end of the exhibition. However all eight paintings were bought up by eager Friends on the opening night. Due to the popularity of the paintings we will be looking at producing prints in the New Year.

The volunteers are going to take a well deserved break until the New Year so the volunteer afternoons should begin again in January.

Photos of redeveloped museum

2007-12-04T11:09:00.000Z

Click on the following badge to go to flickr.com and see photos of the redeveloped museum.

www.flickr.com

Work Experience

2007-11-28T16:26:00.000Z

Hi, my name is Mairi Maclean and I'm here working at the Falconer Museum for my sixth year work experience! I come from Castlebay Community School on the Isle of Barra in the Western Isles and decided that I wanted to try working in a museum for a taster of what it involves and what you actually have to do. I got the opportunity to have a look in the store where all the artefacts are kept (they've got some really weird stuff in there), visited Dallas Primary school and helped to sort out labels for the cases. I also had to help put instructions in the new ipod nano plastic cases, which have been put in place to stop the ipods from getting damaged if someone drops them. I think the worst thing this week was the fact that the lab was freezing, so it was inevitable that whenever you went there you where going to get cold.
Before this week I'd never been to the Falconer Museum, which didn't really help my nerves on Monday, but it was worth traveling all the way up here. I'm going to be a bit sad when I finish on Friday. Going back to school is going to be really weird! It's been great fun working here and working in a museum doesnt look quite so boring as it did before - I won't forget this week for a long time.

We're Open

2007-11-26T09:42:00.001Z

After 15 months in the hands of building crews, architects, designers and electricians, the Falconer has now re-opened. There will be an "official" opening ceremony on Friday but meanwhile the public have been getting a first hand look at the new layout. One good thing about opening in the quiet winter period is that it gives time to get any wee teething problems sorted out.

Next week our 2007 Christmas Exhibition - Christmas Spice - will be launched with a preview evening for Friends members and invited guests on 7th December.

Bafm Regional Meeting

2007-09-10T10:20:00.001Z

On Saturday 8th September six of us attended the Scottish Meeting of the British Association of Friends of Museums in the fantastic surroundings of Duff House in Banff. This was the first time our group had attended a Bafm meeting. The day started with the usual registration and cup of tea. The main speakers in the morning told the conference about the lives of Scottish Fisher Lassies. This was brought to life by the attendance of a 96 year old former "Fisher Lass". Some fisher songs were also sung. The four songs were very evocative. After lunch VisitScotland gave a presentation on tourism and this was followed by an "About Ourselves" section where I gave a presentation showing the work of the Friends and other groups told what they had been up to in the last year.
All in all it was a very good day though my nerves were a bit frayed as I got there to find that the promised sound system for my presentation didn't exist! This meant I couldn't let the audience hear a sound clip, podcast and film excerpt. However I think the presentation was well received.
It was a bit disappointing that so many central belt groups didnt attend as they thought the conference was to far away. Of course we always have this difficulty when conferences and meetings are held down the A9! Maybe there should be a Northern Scotland Regional Group. It would be a good thing if we had mutually beneficial links with our neighbouring Aberdeen-shire museums.
We did get a chance to look round Duff House itself and I would recommend you pay a visit if ou've never been there.

Cromarty Trip

2007-08-28T12:05:00.000Z

The Cromarty trip went ahead with 20 members braving the atrocious rain. Although the incessant rain meant that walking round the idyllic wee town was not possible everyone enjoyed the trip. The day started with the group being totally surprised by the bus driver. He was 21 but looked about 16 and it was his first day on the job! He handled the day very well though even when we decided to leave an hour earlier due to the weather.
First port of call at Cromarty was the Courthouse where the group split into two to look around and enjoy the exhibits. The picture shows one of the jail cells at the Courthouse. After lunch the group then visited Hugh Miller's Cottage.
Congratulations to Joan for organising the trip. It's clear members enjoy trips away and hopefully we'll do more.

Bus Trip to Cromarty

2007-07-26T21:35:00.000Z

Committee Member Joan Taylor has been hard at work arranging a bus trip to Cromarty on Saturday 18th August with the bus leaving Forres at 10:45am and returning at 4:00pm.

Hugh Miller was a world-renowned geologist, author, newspaper editor, human rights campaigner and a founder of the Free Church of Scotland. The visit will take in the elegant Georgian house that he moved to when he married and the cottage where he was born. The house holds a fascinating interactive exhibition and the cottage has an evocative audio tour taking you back to his early life in Cromarty in the 1800s.

After lunch (for which you should make your own arrangements at the many eateries in Cromarty) we will visit The Courthouse where you can meet the eccentric 17th century laird Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty and see a trial from the 1770s in the original courtroom, with life-like animated models with voices of local people. The time is then your own until we return at 4:00pm.

The cost of this trip has been restricted to £5.00 per head for Friends and £10.00 for non-Friends. This includes admission to both venues.

If you are interested in going drop an email to the Friends at friends@falconermuseum.co.uk before 1st August.

BIG WILD READ

2007-07-18T13:59:00.000Z

Today Mark, Chris and myself travelled to Lossiemouth Library to play the 'Eco-Bin Game' with twenty youngsters who have signed up for the annual Big Wild Read Challenge across Britain. The primary aim is to get children reading but this year there is the added benefit of enhancing their environment as a result. The Woodland Trust will plant a tree for each book read and the libraries are offering children weekly activies that promote recycling and environmental awareness - que the 'Eco-Bins'.

The majority of the children were obviously familiar with their library and happily took part in the treasure hunt organised by Stephen Leach, the Community Librarian, whilst we set up the game. Mark bravely facilitated two groups at the same time and both Chris and myself led one each. Just as found at Elgin Library last week, the age range ran from around 4 to around 12. At times, this was fairly challenging, so we aim to group the children by age at Forres Library tomorrow and hope that this will make our job a wee bit easier and help to keep the children engaged at the right level.

All in all, a very enjoyable time was had, both by us and the happy faces that left the library.

Kirsty Conti

Volunteer Afternoons

2007-06-21T09:06:00.000Z

We had our first "proper" volunteering session on Tuesday. We held a little one a fortnight ago but that was just a trial. This time we had seven people squeezed into Mark's wee office. I felt a bit disorganised as I was trying to talk everyone through their specific tasks and running about here and there. We actually got a good bit done. Two people started working on newspaper articles about for the local newspaper - The Forres Gazette - one started research on Alexander Falconer; one started indexing oral history; two people started an oral history recording in the court room and one person tried out an i-pod nano as we hope to let visitors use these when the museum is re-opened. Then we all sat down, had tea and brainstormed our proposed Christmas Exhibition to be called "Christmas Spice". Primarily it will be about Christmas Spices but will also take in the spice trade and explorers. And what of Mark, our hyperactive Project Development Officer, I hear you ask. Well, he's gone off on holiday for a fortnight to America meeting up with old friends. I think his absence added to my nervousness as it was the first time I 'd led a session on my own. He left us strict instructions not to go mess up his desk but I'm afraid the tea tray and some ladies handbags were put down on it - sorry Mark. He's graciously given us one tiny little shelf to use for our bits and pieces. Firecracker (Mark's little glove puppet friend) was on hand to watch over us so we felt we had to behave ourselves!

2007-06-08T09:56:00.000Z

We have just published our latest newsletter in a new 12 page format to fit into the welcome pack given to every new member. You can view the newsletter on-line from here or from the publications' page on our website. Thanks to Jean, Joan, Vallie, Wynne for helping me fold, punch and post out the newsletters on Tuesday afternoon. We are going to continue Tuesday afternoon meetings - in Mark's tidy office - to carry out lots of different volunteering jobs.

Some of the jobs we need to do are:-

Indexing Oral History, and the Generations Project
New Oral History Recording
Research and editingGazette Articles
Creating a Display Stand for the Friends
Recording introductions for Podcasts
Planning and designing the Christmas Exhibition
Planning and organising a talk on Alexander Falconer and the conservation of his portrait.
Training for Eco Bin game before going "on tour" in local libraries
Victorian Loan Box object research and photography

Any and all volunteers are welcome to join us

Podcasting

2007-05-15T11:34:00.000Z

We're now podcasting thanks to the internet skills of our forward thinking Secretary - Chris Bridgeford. While there are some Museum Podcasts on the Internet the Friends are the first voluntary group in the museum sector to have produced our own podcasts.

The first two short podcasts in an ongoing series, are conversations recorded with Hilda Cumiskie a former Vice Convener of The Moray Council and David Morgan, former editor of the Forres Gazette, on the subjects of politics in the past and a dog with its own political viewpoint.

Some extracts from the podcasts:

“…They knew far more than the politician and were quite happy to tell him and sort him out for exactly what he was saying wrong…”

“..the dog was always in other people’s minds so I had to go and ask Hamish what he thought about a particular candidate…”

“…What do you think of Margaret Thatcher?” And Hamish growled…”

We will be adding to the Podcasts each week from the many conversations we have recorded as part of theOral History Project to be featured in the redeveloped Museum due to open in late autumn.

The Friends Podcasts can be accessed through the itunes store by simply searching for “Museum” or “Falconer Museum” and also by accessing the podcast at www.falconerpodcasts.co.uk

Friends AGM

2007-04-26T15:37:00.000Z

We held the 2007 Friends AGM last week in the great surroundings of the Forres Lawn Tennis Club Pavilion as the builders have taken over our usual meeting place of the Museum.

All the committee members were re-elected and the audience were greatly enteretained by the Guest Speaker(s) for the evening - Mark Macleod, our Project Development Officer and his little friend "Firecracker" - the glove puppet - see photo.
Those who paid their subscriptions on the night went away with their new welcome packs. A lot of members were found reading them whilst enjoying their wine. I think they'll be a great success. (Chris)

Hugh Falconer - Fossil Hunter, a talk on his life and work in India

2007-04-26T08:29:00.000Z

The Falconer Museum is delighted to invite you to a talk at Applegrove Primary School Hall on Friday 4th May at 7.30pm. The illustrated talk, by Anne Marie Gibson and Michael Brooks of Circa Media, Edinburgh will explain the fascinating life and work of Dr Hugh Falconer, botanist, geologist, palaeontologist, one of the founders of the Falconer Museum and a Forresian too!
Annemaire and Michael have recently returned from the Sewalik Hills, North India with some stunning photographs to illustrate the fascinating life and work of our very own eminent Victorian scientist. Their work will form the basis of a brand new interpretation of Dr Falconer's work, to be displayed in the newly re-developed Falconer Museum (opening late summer 2007).
Come along for a sneak preview of our new museum, enjoy the illustrated talk and a glass of wine afterwards! The talk is free to Friends of the Falconer Museum and £1.00 to the public. Children are welcome and come free.

We've got the builders in!

2007-04-18T12:56:00.000Z

Delighted to say that the building work has now started on the old museum. Time to get the hard hats on....

New Training Schedule

2007-04-18T12:29:00.000Z

Mark Macleod, our Prohect Development Officer, has come up with the following training session:

11 April, 2pm - Forres Library - How to Blog
18 April, 2pm - Museum Store - Oral History
25 April, 2pm - Forres Library – Adlib = Computer Cataloguing
02 May, 7pm - Tolbooth – Adlib = Computer Cataloguing
09 May, 2pm - Tolbooth - Oral History
16 May, 7pm - Tolbooth – Adlib = Computer Cataloguing
23 May, 2pm - Tolbooth - Oral History
30 May, 2pm - Tolbooth – Adlib = Computer Cataloguing
06 June Friends Training has summer recess, starting again in the Winter.

Each training session generally lasts hour, with practical activity involving new skills immediately available. Volunteer activities continue every Wednesday afternoon for Friends Volunteers from 2pm

Easter at Forres House

2007-04-09T21:26:00.000Z

Last wednesday Mark Macleod, our Project Development Officer, Joan and myself rolled up at Forres House, the local community centre to take part in an easter event for children organised by the staff at Forres House.

We took some objects with us which were (loosely) related to Easter - A Tawny Owl, Pheasant, Pipistrelle Bat, Stoat, Dog Whelk Eggs and an object that goes everywhere Mark goes - a fossilised elephant's tooth found by Hugh Falconer.

We had a competition to guess the mystery object (the elephant's tooth) with the prize of an easter egg going to the winner.

We also gave out some Friends' bookmarks which the kids snapped up. The picture shows Joan with some of the visitors to our stall. (Chris)

Generations

2007-03-28T07:56:00.000Z

Had a tremendous evening in the Court Room, last night. A group of "oldies" and "youngsters" spent most of the evening playing rhythmical games involving clapping and stamping. I doubt if the Court Room has ever seen anything like it. All this was for the first Workshop in a new project called "Generations".
This has been arranged by Mark Macleod, our Project Development Officer, Lee-Ann Cardle, Arts Development Worker and Dave Martin and Graeme Rogers from the National Theatre of Scotland.
The idea of the project is to record conversations between the oldies and the youngsters who will pair up in the coming weeks. The conversations will then be used by Dave and Graeme as part of a contempory audio/visual display at Elgin Cathedral later in the year. I hope that snippets from the conversations will also be available on our website.
Before the "games" we listened to a breakdown of the project by Mark, then watched some stunning audio/visual displays that Dave and Graeme had previously produced. The ice was certainly broken by us all taking part in the games and the night was proclaimed a success with everything wanting to carry on with the project and the next workshop on the 17th April.
For further information on the work that was done last year by the people of Moray in partnership with National Theatre of Scotland + Arts Development view on the NTS website www.nationaltheatrescotland.com previous shows-The Crucible-companion pieces- Moray
(Chris)

Highland 2007 - Fonn’s Duthchas: Land and Legacy

2007-03-19T16:36:00.000Z

To keep the interest going during the closure of our museum for major refurbishment a group of a dozen Friends went to Inverness Museum on St. Patrick’s Day to catch the second last day of the major new exhibition being held there to mark the reopening following their refurbishment. This exhibition now moves on tour to Glasgow, Edinburgh and finally Stornoway where it will run from 21 September till 2 December.

The entrance to the Museum has been much improved and a lift has been installed, which creates a lighter and more friendly atmosphere on arrival: we hope our alterations will prove as successful. However the Falconer Friends did not linger there for long as the main reason for the outing was to see the exhibition. It was well worth the visit for there was much to see with numerous items on loan from the National Museums Scotland, the National Galleries of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland: a fitting celebration of the country in the year of Highland 2007.

There was one serious criticism: the information panels on the individual cases were printed in white on a blue background in a small type that rendered them almost illegible, particularly where there was no direct light shining on them. That was a pity as the description of the items on display was essential if one was to appreciate what one was looking at.

The exhibition opens in Glasgow on 6th April and is warmly recommended to anyone reading this blog who has any interest in the history, geology, art and music of the Highlands.

“New Audiences – How To Develop Public Interest

2007-03-06T12:21:00.000Z

I had the pleasure and privilege of attending this day long course under the programme of “Skills Building for the Future” held in the MacDonald Highland Resort in Aviemore on 27th January 2007. It was well led by Jackie Lee of Moniaive, Dumfriesshire who had an excellent background in museum related work and issues. This was one of a series of courses provided specially for the Highlands and Islands of Scotland in view of the difficulties in attending centrally mounted courses in London or Edinburgh.

I found the course most worth while in that it stimulated a critical appraisal of the way in which our local museum might encourage increased interest and participation by the local population as well as broadening its appeal to visitors to the area.

Local Participation: Once locals have been round the museum once they are not likely to return or become more involved without specially targeted programmes.
(a) These might be museum based activities such as short term special displays on items likely to be of particular local interest or displays connected with special anniversaries or events of historical or current interest that may be either local or national in origin. A list of such suggestions was made available.
(b) Special events might be arranged to attract participation by local people such as inviting people to bring along and tell the story of interesting items from their homes, request contributions of items for some special display, arranging to record oral histories from older people or those with a specialist knowledge and interest.
(c) Special groups in the community might be targeted with special displays or events aimed at them. These might be foreign nationals from Poland or Bangladesh, China or other ethnic groups or foreign incomers connected with the past such as Germans or Poles from Second World War camps or even older influxes such as French Huguenots or survivors of Culloden. Children in school, pensioners with time and interests, other local organisations and charities might all become more involved through special visits or activities.

Tourist and Visitor Participation: Tourists and visitors are more likely to be interested in the permanent display to find out more about local history and attractions. Interest might be encouraged by cross referencing with other sites likely to be visited locally and linking with other local attractions and events. Places accommodating or catering for visitors whether resident or passing through on coaches or cars might be targeted with attractive publicity or even limited displays. Attention might be paid to visitors interested in their genealogies especially with the Scottish Executive's stress on this leading up to “The Year of Homecoming” in 2009.

Attention was given also to fundraising, very important for self-funding museums with lists of possible sources and contacts being made available. Sources of other possible resources and notes on the whole event were also made available.

With excellent catering by the hotel and travel expenses being reimbursed the whole event was highly commendable and I am grateful for the opportunity.

Alasdair J. Morton
Friends of the Falconer Museum Committee Member

Training Sessions

2007-02-27T17:36:00.000Z

Anne and Mark are now holding weekly volunteering/training sessions on a Wednesday. Once a month the session will be held in the evening. There will be a specific training theme each week, with topics repeated twice each month. Volunteers who have already been trained should come along to the Store and can carry out their favoured task.

If you want to attend any of the sessions please let Anne or Mark know either by phoning them on 01309 696261 or email at mark.macleod@moray.gov.uk

Here is the schedule for the next six weeks.

07-Mar - 2:00 - How to Blog - Library
14-Mar - 7:00 - Cataloguing - Tolbooth
21-Mar - 2:00 - Using Technology - Library
28-Mar - 2:00 - How to Blog - Library
04-Apr - 2:00 - Using Technology - Library
11-Apr - 7:00 - How to Blog - Library

Bus Trip To Inverness Museum 17th March

2007-02-27T15:01:00.000Z

You may be aware that Inverness Museum has recently re-opened. The Friends of The Falconer Museum have organised a bus trip to visit the new museum on 17th March, leaving the Forres museum square at 2pm and returning home at 5pm.

After a £1.3 million refurbishment, the galleries have been completely redesigned to present the museum's magnificent collections in an innovative and fresh way. New graphics and display cases have increased both the range of subjects covered and the number of objects on display. There is a lift to the first floor and a new café, museum shop and toilets.

This is your chance to see a major new exhibition called Fonn ’s Duthchas : Land and Legacy before it moves to Glasgow, Edinburgh and finally Stornoway. The exhibition is designed to celebrate Highland 2007, using iconic objects, paintings and manuscripts to highlight the rich and diverse culture of the Highlands. It looks at the Highlands and Islands today as well as exploring clans, war, religion, land issues, music and language. By taking a new and innovative approach to well loved objects visitors will be able to find out who has some of the World’s oldest rocks, why Flora Macdonald emigrated to the Americas and the secret of Rob Roy’s sporran!
The bus trip is free to Friend’s members and will cost £5.00 for non-members. Anyone interested in going should let our secretary know by Friday 9th March and how many will be in your group. You can email the secretary at friends@falconermuseum.co.uk

There is a limited number of seats available so get your name in quick!

Store Tours

2007-02-22T22:45:00.000Z

I joined one of the fortnightly store tours last night (21st Feb) despite having spent weeks in the store with Claire, the former project development officer and Joan another volunteer, choosing items for the new displays. I suppose I was just curious to see what the Museum Professionals -Anne Owen and Mark Macleod - were doing to make the tours entertaining. It was a good fun evening with the eight "tourists" squeezing up and down the narrow aisles. The store tours are a great idea to keep people aware of the museum while it closed for redevelopment. The two "guides" had clearly done their homework and were able to answer most of the questions put to them. Joining us on the tour was Tanya the Forres Gazette reporter. I hope there will be an article about it in a future issue. Hopefully this blog will be mentioned too. Maybe there will be a slow news week!
Having been on courses with some other museumites its clear we are very lucky having such a first class store. The store holds upwards of 33,000 objects in a mixture of shelves, racks and pull-out baskets and, like the Tardis, looks bigger on the inside. I know from speaking to Mark that Anne and he enjoy getting feedback from the public and its great to see how the learning process works both ways on these nights.
Once Mark gets a chance to come up with a timetable of training afternoons and store tours it will be published here. I have been quietly nagging Mark about it but the poor lad can only do so much in one day! Anyway congratulations to the two professionals for an interesting evening. If you're interested in going on a tour leave a comment to this post and I'll let Mark and Anne know. (Chris)

University of Aberdeen Medical Collections

2007-02-13T10:36:00.000Z

On 9^th February, Joan, Mark and Chris battled their way to Aberdeen through snow storms and the usual slow going tractors and lorries to attend a Behind the Scenes Tour of the University of Aberdeen Medical Collections. Once there we joined the other 14 “museums-type” people and started the day with a welcoming cup of tea and introduction by Claire Smith the Curator of Scientific at the University of Aberdeen. Other tour members came from Elgin Museum, the University of Edinburgh, University of Dundee Museum Services, Surgeons’ Hall Museum, Scotland and Medicine Partnership, Hunterian Museum, Findhorn Village Heritage Company, NHS Grampian and the Royal Scottish Academy.

We started the tour with an extremely interesting talk and display on cist burials by Neil Wilkin, then a look at the Conservation Lab with the very entertaining conservator Margot Wright.

Next up was a look at the Scientific Instrument Store with Dr John Reid followed by the Anatomy Museum and Dissection room with Dr Ian Stewart. For me this was the highlight of the tour – I love all the gory stuff. All protocols were observed though and we could only look at the displays in the anatomy museum and nothing “fresh” in the dissection room.

After lunch (yes there were one of two grumbles about having lunch after being in the dissection room) we all piled into taxis to go to the Zoology Museum. There we were met by Dr Martyn Gorman who gave us an extremely interesting look at the Zoology collection.

There then followed a quick look at the Herbarium followed finally by a trip to the Special Libraries and Archives where Siobhan Convery had taken out many interesting and rare papers and give a tremendous talk on her work.

All in all a fantastic day out though there was a lot of walking up and down stairs, braving the Aberdeen weather in February and waiting for taxis. Back home at 7pm – a twelve hour day but well worth it. (Chris)

Friends Training Days

2007-02-08T12:58:00.000Z

Yesterday, Wednesday 7th Feb, we held our first Friends Training Day on ‘How to Catalogue Museum Objects’. Five volunteers came along to the Tolbooth, two of the ladies were new Friends members, so hopefully we didn’t put them off future volunteering, with our documentation lesson (which some undiscerning folk find a leeetle tedious!).

Personally, I am one of a rare breed that actually like cataloguing objects. I am looking forward to afternoons spent with some volunteers, going through the remains of the fascinating Aberlour Collection, starting the Police Collection and making a real dent on the backlog of fabulous objects we care for in our store. This process will be made all the easier, when we get our new Adlib computer documentation system – hopefully in March/April 2007.

We are holding volunteer training sessions on a variety of subjects, including object handling, cataloguing, IT training, conservation, packing, research, computer documentation inputting…. We hope these will inspire new volunteers to join us and get involved with the varied world of museums work. Volunteers make a real difference to the museums service. Volunteering can be very rewarding and I’m not just talking about the guaranteed cup of tea and biscuits at the end of the session! Did you know the Museums Service is sponsored by jaffa cakes?
(Anne, Museum Officer Interpretation and Outreach)

Leather and Metal Course

2007-01-30T12:20:00.000Z

The opportunity to attend a course on the care of leather and metal sponsored by “Skills Building for the Future” being held in the Findhorn Village Centre seemed like something I would like to do. So along with another member of the Falconer friends I set off with my leather and metal objects at the ready and pen and paper to hand. A bright day at Findhorn, a cup of coffee and congenial companions.
We settled down to listen to Will Murray of “The Scottish Conservation Studio” talk on leather. All types and finishes, their uses and how to look after them with conservation techniques. After a break we switched to metals and heard about all the different types, how to handle and display them and their care and conservation. From Ploughshares to horseshoe nails we wanted for nothing. Then a chance to have a hands-on session and have a go ourselves. A lot to learn but an enjoyable and worthwhile day. It’s good fun being a friend. (Joan)

FRESH FACE FOR FALCONER

2007-01-28T12:18:00.000Z

Recently, The Falconer museum in Forres was lucky enough to win a lottery grant
to refurbish and upgrade its Museum space.
The museum closed in August 2006 ---- Enter the Falconer friends and friends of the community ---- After some handling training, and familiarisation , many hours were passed completing the tasks involved packing up the exhibits for storage prior to the starting of the work. Much attention was paid to health and safety considerations but all enjoyed the experience nevertheless. ---- Now behind the scenes at the museum the work is progressing well. The Friends of the Falconer are looking forward to the opening of the fresh looking museum which will offer a new & exciting view of the face of Forres to all who come to visit. We look forward to seeing you. (Joan)

Oral History Additions

2007-01-26T15:31:00.000Z

I just uploaded four new oral history snippets to the friend's website. These are from David Morgan, ex editor of the Forres Gazette and Gordon Macdonald ex soldier. These feature a politically motivated dog, a runway over Findhorn Bay, old style global warming and the Temperence Society - enjoy. We have a huge soundfile from Gordon relating his days in the army and hopefully more snippets will follow soon. Still got to do that transcribing! (Chris)

Website relaunch

2007-01-24T11:48:00.000Z

After a couple of month's work, with seasonal festivities inbetween, I am finally at a stage to relaunch our website. With all the redevelopment work going on it seemed a good opportunity to update the site. Its amazing how quickly website styles become outdated. Hopefully this one will last for a couple of years. One of the biggest changes was to include flickr to show off some of the exhibits. This has meant a great saving on time and file size as flickr do all the work for you. I used to have to do a thumbnail for each image then a separate webpage to display the full sized image which had to be scaled to fit the page size anyway. Now all I need do is upload an image to flickr and they do all the rest. It's been good getting stuck into webdesign again and learning some of the new tricks that are out there. Blogging is new to me as well but I think it will be a great asset to the Museum and the work of the Friends. There is a dearth of Scottish/UK museum websites and blogs and hopefully our efforts will encourage others to follow suit.
Now I have to just get word out to the print media about the site relaunch and the start of the blog. This will mean a wee while spent on putting a press release together. Hopefully I can encourage the local press to make comments on the blog as well. I also want to encourage youngsters to take part in the blog and the museum outreach projects. After the press releases I really need to get stuck in to transcribing some of our oral history conversations - all in all a busy day. (Chris)

Welcome

2007-01-23T15:32:00.000Z

Chris, Joan and Mary with Anne and Mark learned about blogging today so look forward to lots of interesting posts. Watch this space......