South Gloucestershire Museums Group visits Aerospace Bristol
28 members of the museum group accepted an invitation to visit Aerospace Bristol on 8th November and were provided with refreshments and a talk by Linda Coode, Collections Manager. Linda gave the group a talk which outlined how the museum team brought this complex project to fruition overcoming many obstacles.
The museum certainly succeeds in showcasing the remarkable role played by the Bristol site in Britain’s aviation history and has many fascinating exhibits; Concorde being the star. The museum will as Linda says, “inspire the next generation” about science and engineering. Numerous exhibits – such as flight simulators and interactive options – show the museum is most definitely not just aimed at “plane spotters”.
South Gloucestershire Museums Group visiting Aerospace Bristol with Linda Coode, Collections Manager.
For more information about Aerospace Bristol visit www.aerospacebristol.org
Those that lived to tell the tale
The War Memorials Launch of the Digital War Memorials Project and the New Project Exhibition: Those that lived to tell the tale took place on Thursday 9th November at Marshfield Community Centre. The project commemorates the contribution of the local people during the First World War and the challenges they faced.
Cllr. Ian Blair, Chair of South Gloucestershire Council and Cllr Tony Crouch, Chair, Marshfield Parish Council and City of Bath World Heritage Site Manager launched the event and 33 children of Marshfield Primary school sang two WW1 songs to commemorate the fallen..
Marshfield War Memorial - Launch of the Digital War Memorial Website and Exhibition 3
Capturing that moment of curiosity
The family and military history of each name on the South Gloucestershire war memorials is being researched. Each completed memorial is given a QR code which is placed close by so that the information can be instantly viewed. Some have details that enable the identification of the local houses where they lived. This can be viewed at: sites.southglos.gov.uk/war-memorials/
QR codes are now installed on 12 South Gloucestershire memorials with more in the pipeline.
Fantastic work by current volunteers, but more researchers and collators are urgently needed for this part of the project. Please contact us for further information. (Cherry Hubbard, Project Engagement Officer. cherry.hubbard@southglos.gov.uk)
Those that lived to tell the tale'
At the launch Councillor Ian Blair, Chair, South Gloucestershire Council spoke of the success of the first and second project travelling exhibitions. The first has had a footfall audience of 819,600 at 28 venues since it was first shown in 2014. The second exhibition has had a footfall of 72,000 travelling around 16 venues across South Gloucestershire 2016. Comments have included: ‘Great Display. Thought provoking’; ‘Dramatically improved my understanding of South Gloucestershire in WW1, did not realise we had such a connection.’; ‘Really brought home to me the impact of WW1 on local communities’
These comments show that the public have greatly appreciated the exhibitions and what they have set out to do.
Councillor Tony Crouch, Chair, Marshfield Parish Council and City of Bath World Heritage Site Manager spoke about the third WW1 travelling exhibition, it is about 'Those that lived to tell the tale', local people, whose experiences changed their lives forever. Some went on to brilliant careers; some held fast to their local communities, others were unable to pick up the pieces. One lady from Little Sodbury, the “Thankful Village”, even retrieved her wounded husband from the front by herself, so determined was she that they would live out their days in their village together, which they did.
Bill and Mary Leech from Little Sodbury, in later years, with the pretty silk handkerchief case Mary brought back from France.
Exhibition 3 can be viewed at:
02/01/2018 - 19.01.2018 Staple Hill Library
29/01/2018 - 16.02.2018 Emersons Green Library
26/02/2018 - 16.03.2018 Hanham Library
26/03/2018 - 12.04.2018 Winterbourne Library
23/04/2018 - 11.05/2018 Bradley Stoke Library
21/05/2018 - 08/06/2018 Filton Library
18/06/2018 - 06/07/2018 Kingswood library
16/07/2018 - 31/07/2018 Cadbury Heath Library
11/09/2018 - 21/09/2018 Patchway Library
Visit sites.southglos.gov.uk/war-memorials/ for more information.
South Gloucestershire Heritage Partnership Meeting
The theme for the last meeting on the 13th October at Emersons Green Village hall was local heritage and public engagement. The talks featured ways in which local town, parish and area councils and heritage organisations can engage the public with their local heritage and was an opportunity to hear about examples of good practice and network. The talks ranged from a national perspective to the local and covered: Industrial Heritage Support Networks; Know You Place; Bath and Bristol Cultural Destination Project campaigns and events; Page Park: How to develop and deliver a project with community involvement; Whitfield Tabernacle: how public consultation can inform the development of a heritage project; Kingswood Heritage Museum: recent public engagement projects; Thornbury Heritage Trails, a community project.
The 38 people that attended gave a very good feedback and comments are as follows: ‘Enjoyed the day and learnt a lot, speakers were excellent.’; ‘Networking is always valuable. Meeting, understanding and sharing experiences is most beneficial.’; ‘I’ve enjoyed this session and the social media one. I love the opportunity to talk to others in the voluntary sector, I would like to be stimulated by similar sessions in the future.’
Know Your Place
Know Your Place is a digital mapping project to share heritage online through old maps, historic images and heritage data. An interactive legacy exhibition featuring Know Your Place: South Gloucestershire is on display at Downend Library from 29th November 2017 to 6th February 2018 and at Patchway Library from 13th February to 16th May 2018.
To find out more about Know Your Place visit www.kypwest.org.uk
