1708 museum matters s by Friends of the Canal Museum

MUSEUM MATTERS August 2017

Newsletter of The Friends of The Canal Museum, Stoke Bruerne

Chairman's Jottings Mick Butler

I’M WRITING THIS in the midst of a heatwave – far too hot for many. Stoke Bruerne and the Museum have been busy. In fact it might have been even busier had it not been so hot! What a fickle lot we are. But to move on to more serious Museum matters. Undoubtedly the Friends' group are at something of a crossroads. One of the problems (although it is not life threatening in any shape or form, as its outcome is likely to be highly beneficial) is that so much is currently 'on hold' pending CRT’s Heritage Lottery Fund bid. An enormous amount of work on this is going on in the background, from planning for the total refurbishment of the building itself and the exhibition galleries through to the installation of a much-needed lift. I would like to tell you more but I’m sure you will appreciate so much has to remain under close wraps at this still relatively early stage. What I can say though is that CRT are engaged in consultations with very many people and interested parties involved and affected including, of course,

In this Issue Chairman's Jottings Sculptor Update Curatorial Update Village at War Museum Update Stoke Bruerne images 2017 Events

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The Friends of The Canal Museum, and to my mind things are looking good. The situation regarding the Friends revolves essentially around the fact that we urgently need more volunteers to step forward, especially those prepared to join the Friends’ Council. At the end of the current year, at the AGM in November, two of our valued Council members are retiring. One is Brian Everest, our Treasurer for the last three years who joined via his involvement with the Village at War event. The other is Minutes Secretary Roger Hasdell who, when his connection with IWA Northampton Branch is taken into account, seems to have been around for ever! For the record, he was the Friends’ first secretary in the mid 2000’s when the group was formed, although he later stood down. But now he feels he really has done his fair share.

Cover picture: Ryan Dimmock and Tim Burr bringing Southern Cross and Cedar backwards down the cut to deliver coal and diesel to Stoke Bruerne (Photo: KD)

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Chairman's Jottings Mick Butler

So here are two posts which need to be filled pretty quickly. Other volunteers for Council membership generally will soon be found specific jobs in line with their wishes and strengths. Should we be so lucky to welcome so many new faces! It’s never too early to volunteer; you can always be co-opted for confirmation at the annual meeting. And I’ll try to say this tactfully: volunteers with age on their side are the ideal. Like so many voluntary organisations these days, it’s all about finding the “youngsters” to fill the spaces left by the “oldies”. A phone call to me on (01604) 473756 is all it takes to start the process of coming on board. In this issue of Museum Matters you will find a wide range of material to bring you up to date of what is going on both on land in the Museum and on the water with Sculptor. At the time of writing, attendance levels at the Museum are healthy. Let us hope the wind stays fair for us for the rest of the summer. Then it’s Village at War time, Saturday and Sunday, 9th-10th September. Again, weather permitting, this will result in a good profit for the Museum’s funds which are earmarked to boost CRT’s Heritage Lottery Fund bid as match-funding. Also, of course, it should be remembered that several other village organisations benefit financially from this major event. Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the newly-launched David Blagrove Charity Trust set up by an independent group of people with the aim of preserving and carrying forward the legacy of David © The Friends of The Canal Museum Registered Charity No 1121146

Blagrove, MBE, one of the principal founders of The Friends and its Chairman for many years, who died last August. One of the Trust’s founders contributes elsewhere in Museum Matters. I commend the Trust to you.

Financial Matters We are always extremely grateful for support from the community so we were delighted to receive £1,000 from Braunston Marina for the attendance of Sculptor at their Historic Narrowboat Rally and Canal Festival. At the moment we are making our final preparations for our Village at War event which takes place on the weekend of 9th / 10th September. We look forward to seeing many of you there and hope it will be as successful as last year. The current savings of the Friends amounts to £72,000 which, with your help, we will add to after Village at War. Thank you for your continued support. Brian Everest - Treasurer www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Page 3

Sculptor Update Kathryn Dodington SCULPTOR HAS BEEN out and about quite a bit and some long standing maintenance tasks completed.

entire Sculptor team. The hold looks so much better with no peeling paint in sight!

We are concerned about the state of the Sculptor has attended the Crick Boat Show, gunnels and the ability to keep the hold as Braunston historic weekend, where she dry as possible during the winter. We are in was well received, and also made a 'flying' ongoing discussions with Canal & River trip to the Cosgrove Festival and back in the Trust over the timing of fitting new gunnels. most atrocious weather. At Braunston we At the same time The Trust has brought were generously presented with a cheque Steve Bagley on board (literally) to help with the interpretation of Sculptor and to act as our Volunteer Coordinator as Emma, our p r e v i o u s coordinator, has been appointed to the position of Interim General Manager of the N a t i o n a l W a t e r w a y s Museum in Gloucester. John Bannister, Rob Westlake, Kathryn Dodington and Congratulations to Tim Coghlan on Sculptor at Braunston 2017 with Tim's generous Emma. cheque for £1,000 (Photo: RW)

for £1,000 by Marina owner Tim Coghlan. We are always extremely grateful to Tim for his generosity in supporting Sculptor, for over ten years now, and in turn we do our utmost to ensure that those funds are spent directly on Sculptor's infrastructure. The repainting of the hold which, was started by Rob and Kathryn in 2015, was completed with great assistance from the © The Friends of The Canal Museum Registered Charity No 1121146

We are planning to be in Stoke Bruerne, of course, for Village at War and the following week we are off to Foxton for their new Vintage Weekend. We have recently welcomed Steve Wright to the team but sadly said goodbye to Stephen Brown.

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Curatorial Update - the bigger picture Lynda Payton

IN THE LAST EDITION of Museum Matters, our Chairman mentioned the impending HLF funding application for major development of the Museum which means that curatorial activities involving interpretation would be scaled down. No point in spending money on new exhibits and development of interpretation which will be eclipsed by brand new interpretation, I hear you say. Well, yes, but we are only at the project planning stage and it's going to be some time yet before we see anything implemented, assuming that is, that our funding application to the Lottery Fund is successful. So the curatorial volunteers are far from sitting on their hands, particularly as a M u s e u m accreditation visit is due this month (August) which will be crucial to the success of our application for funding. So what is accreditation? The Accreditation Scheme is operated by the Arts Council and it's all about making sure all museums are sustainable, focused and trusted organisations, which offer their visitors a great experience. The scheme sets out nationally-agreed standards, which inspire the confidence of the public and funding and governing bodies. It enables museums ÂŠ The Friends of The Canal Museum Registered Charity No 1121146

to assess their current performance, as well as supporting them to plan and develop their services. In essence it's a baseline quality standard that helps guide museums to be the best they can be. Having said that, participation is entirely voluntary. Behind the scenes, Museum staff and volunteers have been beavering away auditing and reviewing museum management, forward planning and security, emergency planning, financial resilience and environmental sustainability, not to mention succession planning, professional support, collections care policies a n d conservation plans in readiness. The list is endless! Earlier in the year a light clean of the inside and outside of the cases was carried out and Lorna and Kathryn have spent hours auditing collection registers to make sure artefacts are correctly recorded and their status and location, whether on display or in storage, is known and can be accounted for. A condition audit of interpretation labelling has also been done and I'm pleased to say that all the torn, missing and dirty labelling will be replaced with fresh wipe clean labels in time for the www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Page 5

Curatorial Update - the bigger picture Lynda Payton

accreditation visit so the displays will look smart and cared for. As well as this work, Rodney and Brian M. have been busy restoring the Knot Board with new rope after little fingers managed to pull it apart. It will be re-installed with new labelling ready for accreditation. All the artwork for the new interpretation signage has been done by the volunteer team and the cost of manufacture paid for by Friends funding. We are also pleased to be able to welcome Steve Bagley, who is normally based at Gloucester, to Stoke Bruerne for one day per week giving support to the volunteer curatorial and Sculptor teams until October So what news of the bigger project? I can report that two meetings have been held with architects and interpretation consultants, with both members of the Friends and Canal Partnership feeding into the consultation process so far. It's all very exciting! If everything we are seeing comes to fruition, we'll have an amazingly resilient Museum with a lift, expanded cafe, extended galleries, exhibition and meeting space, visitor toilets and all the facilities you'd expect in a modern museum to take it well into the future. Exciting times indeed!!!

The Wonders of our Website THOSE OF YOU who take a peek at our website on a regular basis will have already noticed that it was revamped recently and it's now a lighter brighter and much simpler version of what it used to be. The main change however has been the addition of a © The Friends of The Canal Museum Registered Charity No 1121146

donations page so visitors can show their appreciation, if they wish, and make a little contribution to help support our activities. Unlike many fundraising websites, we have hooked up with BT who, as part of their own charitable activities, offer a no frills, no commission, no fees or charges application which means that, apart from a very small percentage deducted by the donors own card issuer, all of the donation comes to us. BT even collects Gift Aid on our behalf! If any of you are inclined to try it out, and we hope you will, you'll also find you'll get a thank you message in response. Isn't technology wonderful.

MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS Joint members

£20

Joint members (over 60) Family membership Concessionary rate *

£15 £20 £10

Paper copy of Newsletter

£9

* Students and those over 60 Remember - you can pay your subscription by way of BACS (the banks' internal payment process). The information you need is as follows: PAYEE A/C NO. 76021629 SORT CODE: 55 70 06 Please use reference SUBS:Your Name or send a cheque (payable to The Friends of The Canal Museum) to The Canal Museum, Bridge Road, Stoke Bruerne, Towcester, NN12 7SE. www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Page 6

Village at War 2017 Lynda Payton

OUR MAIN FUNDRAISER, Stoke Bruerne’s Village at War Weekend on 9th 10th September, is all set to deliver yet another opportunity to experience life in the 40s in a glorious setting on the idyllic Grand Union Canal, and this year, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of this award winning event, there will be even more of your favourite vintage entertainers to keep everyone jitterbugging and singing along! Glamorous singer Lola Lamour and George Formby (aka Paul Casper) will be joining forces with Perfect Vintage, Betty Bluebird, Ruzzit Buzzit and Pearly King Rosie Rose to keep both the troops and public entertained royally. The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will be back in the skies with a fly past on both days and Churchill, Field Marshal Montgomery and

On dry land you can expect to learn how to Lindy Hop and Jive at our afternoon tea dances, watch fashion parades, browse a collection of military and civilian vehicles, watch exciting firepower demonstrations and skirmishes, experience air raids and get a chance to obtain rationed goods in the atmospheric black market. Living history groups and individual re-enactors such as policemen, spivs, air raid wardens, the Home Guard, American GI’s, the Free French and Land Army girls, will be out in force to show visitors what life was like in wartime Britain. Be sure to dust off and bring along Great Grandad's gas mask you never know, you might need it! Admission is a £7.50 donation per adult (accompanied under 16s free) and parking in official event car parks is included. As you know, Village at War is organised by a small dedicated group of volunteers who have given their time freely over the last ten years and we are immensely grateful for their hard work and continuing support. This year, after many years of service, some of our volunteers have decided to retire and we are seeking new helpers to make sure Village at War continues to raise much need funds for both the Friends and other good causes, including many village organisations.

George VI will be kept busy delivering rousing speeches and inspecting the troops as usual. On the water, historic boats, some in wartime livery, many of which played important roles carrying vital supplies for the war effort, will complete the colourful scene and our very own HMS Charlie will be offering boat trips into the mouth of the two hundred year old Blisworth Canal Tunnel. © The Friends of The Canal Museum Registered Charity No 1121146

Informal planning meetings take place once a month (in the pub) and we welcome new team members. If you'd like to come along and find out what's involved - please e-mail our Chairman for an invitation to meet the friendly team. We also need helpers over the weekend, so if you can spare an hour or two, please contact Mick or Trevor and let them know.

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ÂŠ The Friends of The Canal Museum Registered Charity No 1121146

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David Blagrove Charity Trust Lynda Payton and Kathryn Dodington

FOLLOWING THE SAD PASSING of David Blagrove, MBE, a year ago this month, our Chairman and one of our mentors since the inception of The Friends in 2006, a Trust has been set up in Stoke Bruerne, his home for 50 years, with the dual purpose of enriching local communities and improving the lives of disadvantaged youth through experiences on the UK canal and river network, two causes close to David's heart.

more to follow. Plans are also in hand to raise funds for a school project and hopefully to help support the village’s need for a speed reduction camera.’

With David's long association with Braunston, it was fitting that members of the new group, known as the David Blagrove Charity Trust (the group has applied for registration as a charity), was able to have a presence at this year’s Historic Narrowboat Rally & Canal Festival at Braunston (as did members of The Friends of The Canal Museum with former working boat Sculptor), an event that was at the heart of David’s passion in keeping the heritage of working boats alive. At this year's event a plaque was unveiled in memory of David’s time in Braunston with Willow Wren by Jean Blagrove, Roy Sears and Christine Sears on the DBCT David's wife Jean, stand at the Braunston Historic Weekend (Photo: CS) accompanied by Timothy One of the group's Trustees, Christine West and Prunella Scales. Tim went on to Sears explains: ‘As an educationalist and read an extract from David’s book ‘Bread historian, David’s vision was to engage with upon the Waters’ and Prunella read a poem young people by providing canal-based by Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh - 'A canal experiences and activities and to bring on bank walk'. board a new younger generation of waterways enthusiasts and volunteers. A full report and photos about Sculptor's trip With the use of the privately-owned to Braunston can be found elsewhere in this boat Progress, plans are underway to work edition of Museum Matters. with youth charities to provide these If you would like more information about the experiences, particularly for group, please contact Christine Sears at disadvantaged youth. The group is also christinedbct@gmail.com or follow them on working in collaboration on various local Facebook @TDBCT. community projects including maintenance of village greens and street furniture, with © The Friends of The Canal Museum Registered Charity No 1121146

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Stoke Bruerne related images

Lock 16 - you can just make out where the entrance to the dual lock was (Photo: KD)

Bootes (now owned by Museum joint manager Steph Furniss and her husband Steve) passing Blisworth Rectory (Photo: Jim Payler Collection) ÂŠ The Friends of The Canal Museum Registered Charity No 1121146

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Stoke Bruerne

Ryan Dimmock and Tim Burr reversing Southern Cross and Cedar down the cut with canalside trader Roger busy on Zulu (Photo: KD)

Lock 18 (A508 bridge) during WW2 - what happened to the little hut? (Photo: Facebook - WW2 Radio) ÂŠ The Friends of The Canal Museum www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Registered Charity No 1121146 Page 11

Stoke Bruerne

Sculptor in Top Lock with Museum staff, volunteer lock-keepers and the Adoption Group to help celebrate Canal & River Trust's 5th birthday (Photo: KD)

Canal & River Trust construction staff helping maintain our heritage in Stoke Bruerne recently (Photo: KD) ÂŠ The Friends of The Canal Museum www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Registered Charity No 1121146 Page 12

Braunston Historic Weekend

Friends member Peter Oates on Stanton with Lorna York taking on the challenges of Braunston Historic weekend (Photo: KD)

Scorpio (Fleet no 81) which is Sculptor's (Fleet no 82) 'sister' boat, having been built alongside one another, at Braunston Historic weekend (Photo: KD) ÂŠ The Friends of The Canal Museum www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk Registered Charity No 1121146 Page 13

Braunston Historic Weekend

Privately-owned wooden tug Progress, representing the David Blagrove Charity Trust, at Braunston Historic weekend (Photo: CS)

Paul and Vivee Barber on Whitby at Braunston Historic weekend (Photo: KD) ÂŠ The Friends of The Canal Museum Registered Charity No 1121146

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2017 Events August Teriffic Thursdays