Newsletters, Events, Special Exhibits and Curator's Reports

For printable past copies of Museum Newsletters, please click on the pictures below:

	Spring 2007
	Fall 2007

Upcoming Events:

Special Events

Curator's Report:

Curator's report, March 2006

This year (2006) is the 21^st anniversary of the founding of Blandford Museum. To commemorate this,

we have decided to go back in time to an earlier Blandford Museum, the one set up in the 19^th century

by Henry Durden. Henry Durden was a Victorian grocer who made an important collection of antiquities,

particularly from Hod Hill near Blandford. This collection was 'richly stored and nicely arranged' in cases

above his shop at the corner of the Market Place and Salisbury Street. When Durden died in 1892, his

entire collection was sold by his sons to the British Museum for the then princely sum of £6000, where

it is still considered to be 'the most important collection of Roman and iron age artefacts known from

southern Britain'. We do not have any of Durden's collection, however, but the British Museum has lent

us two full size paintings of Roman soldiers wearing many of the objects from the Durden collection, and

they have provided us with photographs of some of the objects. With the objects provided by the British

Museum, and with drawings from the Durden catalogue published by the British Museum, we are setting up

a one year display of the Durden Museum.

On the first floor, we have changed the layout of the displays. The Brewery exhibit has been removed, the

space where it was situated rebuilt, and it will be occupied by a life-size display of an early 20^th century train

with passengers, luggage and models depicting the visit to Blandford in 1915 of Winston Churchill and King George V.

The two big cases occupying the centre of the room have been placed on end at the back of the room and their

exhibits renewed. The Victorian kitchen has been moved to the other side of the room, so that a large space has

now been opened up on the right hand side, and this will be the position of a working model of the Somerset and

Dorset railway at Blandford Station. This will not be ready for the opening in April, and it will probably be at least

two years before it is completed. When it is finished it will be a scale model of Blandford Station with historically

accurate models of the environs of the station and the trains that passed through Blandford. Meanwhile, there

will be a series of holding exhibits in the space available, including a new one showing the deeds of the Red Lion Inn

just bought at auction.

In addition, we are putting on display a small number of items from St Leonard's School, which closed down last year.

When the school closed, we were given a big collection of photographs, pictures, models, memorabilia such as school

cups for sporting achievements, boards recording winners of prizes, etc. A selection of these will be on permanent display

in the School Room on the 1^st floor. Another major donation is the large collection of photographs, maps and plans of

the Somerset and Dorset railway assembled by John Evans of Wimborne, and we are grateful for both of these.

Last year we received grants from the County of £490 for boxes and storage equipment in which to store the

St Leonard items, and £460 for the story telling event held last May. We also received from them £200, and

an additional £472.35 from the Town Council, for buying the digital projector now in place in the Alfred Stevens gallery.

This year we have a grant of £680 from the County for the reconstruction work on the upper floor, and I have put in

two further grant applications of £1106 for the model railway and £426 for the Durden exhibit. It is unfortunate that

the District Council is in financial difficulties at present, for they have funded us generously over the past five years.

I have written a report giving details of changes in the museum over the past five years, and this is combined with

the new five year plan setting out what we hope to achieve in the five years. Copies of this are available if anyone

wants to see one.

Peter Andrews

Curator

Curator's report, June 2007 

Numbers of visitors to the museum have fully justified the change to free admission to the museum.

So far this year, visitor numbers have totalled 2450 adults and children, more than double the number for the whole of 2006.

Breakdown of numbers is as follows:

April        622 adults         148 children      50 members      total for April        820

May         942 adults         174 children      42 members      total for May     1158

June        412 adults           60 children        0 members      total for June       472 (1-20 June)

The visitor survey has also progressed well, with 248 responses so far. The proportion of Blandford residents to out of town

visitors has remained much the same as last year, but the numbers who have come to the museum as a result of the A-frame

display on East Street increased greatly, as did passing on information by word of mouth. Reasons for deciding to visit the

museum were surprising, for it was mainly as a result of general interest and interest in history, and the impact of the new

railway exhibit was apparently less, but this does not take account of the many railway enthusiasts who have made repeated

visits to see or work on the railway but who did not fill in questionnaires. Positive comments were up and negative comments down.

The railway exhibit continues to progress, with the tracks laid and some of the points installed. Within the next

few weeks we hope to install the remaining points and to set up a new control box so that the trains can be

operated manually as well as the current automatic system. A Railway Club has been set up for those specifically

interested in the railway model, and this has got off to a good start under the guidance of David Cash. Michael

has set up two exhibits upstairs, one on the Annan father and son from the Gallipoli campaign, donated by Roy Adam

Peter Andrews

Curator

 Curator's Report:

Curator's report, March 2008

Several new and modified exhibits have been set up during the winter. On the upper floor, the Victorian kitchen has been moved to the

end room, where the school room used to be, and the area rebuilt to accommodate it.  A new floor has been laid there, new partition-walls

built by Garry Barker, some painted with replica brick work, and all the artefacts displayed according to their function. This exhibit is part of

the Heritage Young Roots Project being run by Sylvia, and it has been set up by Vanessa Conyers and three students from Blandford School,

Hannah Garrett, Amy Rimmer and Katie Gillingham, who have also made two figures for the exhibit with the help of Peter Rush.

The school room is now a small area at the top of the stairs, opposite the S&D Railway exhibit, and has been re-designed including some

new items. The painting of the Blue Train by Philip Le Bas is nearing completion, done in meticulous detail and making a striking addition to

the upper floor. Work has been progressing throughout the winter on the Railway display due to the dedicated work of David Cash, Kevin Trim

and their large band of Railway Club helpers. Much of the background painting is now complete and some of the cardboard temporary buildings

have been replaced by the final ones, now in place. There will be a mixture of buildings for some time to come.  We received a generous donation

of a Hornby Blandford Forum steam locomotive from Bob Downes, and this is the first item of rolling stock actually owned by the museum, all the

rest presently on show being on loan from David Cash.

On the ground floor, the Bastard yard pump having been moved up to the new Victorian kitchen, the shop has been enlarged, re-designed and

re-furbished by John Barnes, Thelma and Ted Green, which has resulted in minor modifications of the exhibits on the back of the shop wall. 

Another new exhibit, showing Wilts and Dorset bus drivers’ uniform and accoutrements, has been set up next to the big display of 400 years of

Blandford history and, at the far end of the ground floor, there is a new exhibit of Victorian leisure activities, of which the museum has a marvellous

collection and which make a striking display, put together by Michael with the help of Caroline Martin. On all these exhibits, we have been greatly

assisted by Geoff Barnett and Tony Owen.

On the curation front, Michael has been making steady progress, registering new artefacts with the help of Robert Warry and Caroline Martin.

Jackie has also been helping when she is able, and we are grateful for all their help. Caroline has been checking and re-boxing the entire costume

collection, and she has now been made an  Assistant Curator and has been co-opted to the Council of Management . We now have a Care of Collection

Policy, arising out of the excellent seminars that Michael and I attended during the winter, and also arising from this we have now received a grant of

£450 from the County Council for caring and maintaining the museum’s collections. We have also just been given another grant of £150 by

Stour Rotary Club of Blandford, and we are extremely grateful for both.

In compliance with the requirements for the next stage of museum accreditation, I have written up codes of practice and policy documents for

museum access policy, acquisitions and disposal policy, disabled access, disaster plan, equal opportunities policy, risk assessment, child

protection policy and volunteers policy. These have been passed by Council, signed by the Chairman, and combined with other documents

they are kept in a folder in the office for all museum workers to read and abide by. A copy is also available in a separate folder on the steward’s

desk, and relevant policies should be consulted as and when necessary.

 Peter Andrews

Curator