Day one of this week’s @Heritage_NGOs#SouthernProgress in Sussex and I had the chance to return to the wonderful @WealddownMuseum for the first time since the pandemic. Great to catch up with @heritage_notes & chat to volunteers. Here’s a little tour 👇
Firstly big ups to the education team @WealddownMuseum - some great & engaging activities around the site. This week there’s a model railway & chance to create mini medieval buildings, vintage hobby activities & games. Activities vary each week. More here wealddown.co.uk/whats-on/famil…
It’s a working site where visitors can try their hand at traditional techniques & the team farm, cook Tudor meals & use the environment to provide materials (such as for the stove). I love that @WealddownMuseum is a place where traditional skills are practiced & passed on.
Bayleaf farmstead was a favoured house when I visited as a child - we loved the fire & the early in-house toilet.
I also love the Medieval shop from Horsham @WealddownMuseum - reconstructed, how it was found & what replaced it.
Here’s the Bayleaf Privy by the way & the nearby Tudor kitchen where you can (when it’s open) sample Tudor cooking
Here’s my perennial 80s vibe pictures of me as a child visiting @WealddownMuseum - so it’s great to bring my girls & pass on the memories - definitely an inspirational place.
This visit I popped into a new archaeological reconstruction of a Anglo-Saxon house I hadn’t seen before. It’s fabulous - separate sleeping compartment areas, tiny holes in the wall for light & pre-Norman techniques of tree wrighting. Here’s the project wealddown.co.uk/buildings/angl…
Workshop, chapel, schoolhouse & mill in the Victorian village area
And I’ve always liked the Toll Cottage
The new cafe & shop area is transformational for the entrance with great views across the site
So interesting to hear about what’s going on, challenges & projects. Thanks for having me today @WealddownMuseum@heritage_notes
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Here to represent the @Heritage_NGOs at today’s #GreatExpectations conference at the @V_and_A with @Ecclesiastical @TheCCT @NatChurchTrust @KingsFdn - I’ll be tweeting along here.
We are welcomed by @OliverJWCox talking about the @V_and_A history with being part of conversations about conservation & preservation. Inspiration from discussion at @Historic_Houses AGM around the role of the V&A 1970s exhibition on the Destruction of the English Country House.
Richard Taylor talks about the 50th anniversary of ‘Change and Decay’ here at @V_and_A & the urgency of discussions about the future of churches. Hugh Dennis talks about his own church journey. Churches of all ages & types are an important part of regional identity and community.
A treat to join our @Heritage_NGOs member @PSSAtweets for @MarshAwards for public sculpture. David Aaronovitch talks to begin about past art, past politics. There are some important perhaps unobserved mosaics in public buildings. 1928-33 mosaics added to floor of NG. V&A too.
We need to remember to look down at floors! Boris Anrep included many muses in mosaic art. Some private art of past is now public art. Public art piques interest - allows us to pull threads & see where they go. Defiance for eg is shape of a swastika & wears a papal crown. Why?
Shortlist for @MarshAwards for excellence in public sculpture
A pleasure to join @kidsinmuseums for their (always uplifting) annual family friendly museum awards.
First up the best museum youth project for social justice - shortlisted are @WiltshireMuseum, @bcaheritage & @GlasgowMuseums with the winners this year the @bcaheritage 👏
The next category is the best accessible museum category with shortlisted museums - The Beaney House of Arts & Knowledge Canterbury @The_Beaney, @eurekamuseum & @BarnsleyMuseums Worsbrough Mill Museum & Country Park with the winners @eurekamuseum
Good morning from Saltaire & @WorldHeritageUK Day 2 - first up this morning is Ashleigh Taylor of Blaenavon WHS talking about the Benefits of World Heritage to local communities. WHUK there to support in a centralised way to help & empower sites on this.
What is local community in this context - v local… neighbourhoods, those living and working in and around the site. 6-7 weeks into a project on this. Started by looking at periodic review data. 79% reported positive impact through tourism but also 47% negative - a balance.
41% say illegal activity an issue… 41% negative financial factors. Huge economic contribution but community data shows some way to go. Support needed to build confidence in some areas.
Good morning from the @WorldHeritageUK conference at Victoria Hall in WHS Saltaire. I’ll be tweeting some highlights here. We are welcomed by Chair Paul Simons, Councillor Alex Ross & Lazare Assomo of UNESCO.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire outlines some of the history of why Saltaire is so special. Sir Titus Salt’s vision for workers when the child mortality in Bradford was one of the worst in the country & life expectancy of millworkers was 18. bradford.gov.uk/environment/sa…
Unlike most WHS Saltaire is in mixed ownership. Salts Mill preserves this important site & contributes to economy. Salts Foundation cares for public buildings. Shipley College looks after others. Also owners & tenants of homes & shops. Here - from a previous visit
Today I’ll be heading North to the fringes of the @Conservatives Party Conference. Also on party conference watch the @TheGreenParty adopted a heritage & tourism policy over the weekend: linkedin.com/pulse/greener-…
Back up north - this time for a media reception at @Conservatives party conference with @HuddlestonNigel & culture colleagues. Loving all the industrial heritage adding quality to place at the heart of Manchester.
Joined ITV & public broadcasters alongside other creative industries & arts colleagues at a reception this evening with @HuddlestonNigel Shadow Culture Secretary, Lord Parkinson & others at @BridgewaterHall. Good to hear commitment to the importance of the creative industries.