an important aspect of rural England's history is cows receiving rosettes for being so exquisitely rectangular
Cows Receiving Prizes is a Netflix show we would certainly watch
Cows Receiving Prizes is literally the thinking behind county shows. These are places where farmers gather with their crops and livestock, and compete for prizes awarded by judges. They still happen across the UK today!
Friends! This week is #MuseumWeek, a celebration of museums and galleries across the world, with a different theme each day.
Today’s focus is on beginnings, so please join us for a journey back through time as we revisit the earliest, MERLiest days of our museum.
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Our story begins in the late-1940s, with two potential museums trying to find support.
That's right: this is A Tale of Two Museums. And we're not joking when we say that the first of these two museums was named The MELT.
That's right: The MELT. The Museum of English Life and Traditions.
This was a concept developed by the Royal Anthropological Institute (@RoyalAnthro), in a committee featuring among other members the prominent folk enthusiast (and former explorer) Thomas Bagshawe (1901–1974).
Next month, we're celebrating Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month (#GRTHM).
We will be exploring the contribution of travelling people to rural society, their community, and their heritage. Romany Gypsies, for instance, have been in Britain since at least 1515.
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This photo of a Gypsy family was taken by John Tarlton in Essex, likely in the 1950s.
We don’t know who the family were, and whether they lived in the wagon ('vardo' in the Romani language) or used it occasionally.
We would love to know more about the stories within this image.
As an organisation, we are just at the start of our work with Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller (GRT) communities. And it is long overdue.
We would particularly like to thank the Romany and Traveller Family History Society for helping us to keep this on our agenda.
For our youngest visitors, we now have brand-new Friday Fledglings activity packs available from The MERL gift shop! 🐣
Discover a new pack each week, created by the Fledglings team and introducing children to the natural world through activities, stories, and crafts.
extremeley 🐣 wholesome 🐤 content 🐥
Please note: although we're overjoyed to be welcoming visitors back to the galleries, and it's terrific seeing families enjoying the garden once again, we're not quite ready at the moment to relaunch Friday Fledglings in its pre COVID-19 format.