Friday 12/8/11

Hi everyone…… Adieu, and Sayonara

Six months in the life of Bridport Museum. So much to say, see, and much more to do…..

When I first applied for the position of marketing and fundraising assistant here at the museum, I didn’t know really what to expect from working here. Working here has been a great experience, not only in improving my skill basis for a future job, but also in getting to know the history of the area a bit more, and also getting to know the various staff and volunteers who come in each week.

Working with the different people at the Coach House - and also the wider members of the public at the Museum itself -, I have enjoyed each and every moment. I would like to thank the people who have been around to share cups of tea and coffee, and innumerable numbers of biscuits. Tea-breaks will never be quite the same again…….

This job has expanded my skills in marketing, fundraising, promoting events, and also collections handling. I have truly appreciated the opportunity, as well as thoroughly enjoying being creative. Designing crafts for the children’s events at the museum is a really positive thing, and I love to share in the enjoyment of children and their parents as they get ‘stuck in’ (in many cases, far too literally!) to their creations J

Emily, Bruce, Margaret, and Shannon, have all made this job really enjoyable. Thank you!! I know that I will be back to irritate most of you at some point, so this is a reminder to be wary……

At the end of these six months, I look forward to starting at university. I know that it will be a really enjoyable, interesting and positive experience. I am already fascinated by my course texts J

So this is good bye, although not farewell……..

Ursula Mahoney

Friday 15/7/11

Hi everyone – and for those of you who are fellow Harry Potter fans out there, FAAAABBBB day JJ

Work today has been fun. I spent some time this morning cutting out some more Roman Helmets; there is so much craft stuff in the Coach House it seems to be breeding!!

Another important piece of information for your diaries; we are trying to collect old CD’s so that we can get money for recycling them from an organisation called music Magpie. They give people money in exchange for unwanted and old CD’s. Pretty good deal if you ask me!!

This afternoon I spent my time continuing to do sport research. I am truly impressed by how much is beginning to appear out of the various box files we have here. I am going to need months to get all the snippets of information out of the documents and ephemera…….

Goodbye until Monday 25/7/11

Sayonara JJ

Thursday 14/7/11

Hi everyone – today was simple but fun J

I have spent most of my time creating and organizing the activities for the summer events. I had a bit of a laugh when I saw how the helmets looked when I had pushed bottle caps through in an attempt to make the roman helmets look 3D. They look like something out of Doctor Who!! J

For the rest of my time, I have spent the day cutting out more leaves for the roman laurel wreaths; the ready-made wreath looks pretty authentic, although it was made only yesterday and not over two thousand years ago……..

Its twenty to four and I am now really hungry, so I’m signing off for today……….

Sayonara....

Wednesday 13/7/11

Hi everyone – today has been really great again…….

I spent a lot of my time creating more crafts for the Roamin’ Like a Roman day in August. I am particularly proud of the laurel crown I made. I have also finished the design for one of the torc bracelets. It looks really shiny

This afternoon was even more fun………. Both Emily and I got a bit carried away designing peg dolls. Some of them look good, but I made one that has dreadlocks…………

Not the best look for a peg doll, I must admit…………

So all in all, another fun day at the Coach House!!

Sayonara JJ

Tuesday 12/7/11

Hi everyone – and yes, I predicted that I would not be able to write again until today. This is because the festival lasted late until Sunday night, so I came home on Monday…..

Work is good. I have spent a lot of time today creating more press releases for the summer events; the list of events is looking really good, so do look out for posters at the Arts Centre and museum, as well as promotions in the local newspapers!!

Working at the Coach House has been really great over the last month or so. I love being creative as much as possible, so I really appreciate organizing and creating the activities….. Thank you Emily!! J

Here is the timetable of the summer events we will be hosting at the museum during the holidays. They are available for all ages, and each day lasts from 10am until 5pm, so there is plenty of time to get stuck in J

Wednesday 27th July	Peg doll crafts, plus peg doll trail
Wednesday 3rd August	Jurassic Coastin’- dig for fossils and make one of your own. Dinosaur activities – finger puppets, and a dinosaur trail around the museum
Wednesday 10th August	Archaeological Finds Day (archaeologists will be on hand to identify objects you have dug up!), plus a finds trail around the museum
Wednesday 17th August	Roamin’ Like a Roman - make your own Roman helmet and golden torc!!
Wednesday 24th August	‘Summer’ crafts – a sea side trail around the museum, plus a sand bucket game
Wednesday 31st August	Mad as a Hatter! Make a hat ready for the hat festival!

I’m also looking forward to continuing the sport research. It is looking really promising, as Emily and I have gone through a lot of old document files and there is so much local history in them, that it could take years to fully dissect all the stories about matches and trophies that have been won for Bridport and local villages. I was particularly impressed by research showing that Bridport Bowls club had members who had made it to national competitions!

Bye for now – I’m off to create golden torc bracelets!!

Sayonara J

Thursday 30/6/11

Hi everyone – today has been really funny and crazy JJ

This morning Emily went off to the local craft scrap yard, and she came back with two huge plastic bags full of craft goodies…….. She found a lot of really interesting bits and bobs, which will be really useful for the craft days!!

Myself, I did some more on the murder mystery story. I also spent some time cutting out more Roman Helmets for the Roman Day later in the summer holidays.

Sorry for the extreme briefness of this post – I have run out of time, and need to catch my bus…..

See you tomorrow JJ

Sayonara

Wednesday 29/6/11

Hi everyone – today has been fun again. I spent part of my morning creating a flapper hat for a craft day later in the summer. I also spent some more time writing part of the final scene of my murder mystery story………. I can’t think of a witty end yet, but if I sleep on that thought, something might come to me JJ

I am really looking forward to tomorrow, as I am going to be able to create even more crafts, which will be wacky and wonderful. I hope that we have as much success during the summer events as we did with the pirate week and pirate craft day……. It was so much fun to interact with the children and parents who came in, and it was nice that they also went around the museum and took notice of their local history.

This afternoon I spent sometime with one of our volunteers, helping her to research some information on floods in Bridport in the last fifty years. Some of the pictures in the files are incredible; they show just how powerful the local rivers are when rainfall increases by even a little bit…… I was particularly amazed by a photo of a flood in Burton Bradstock, however. It showed a car that had been completely submerged, so that you could only see the bike supports on the roof!

Bye for now – I’m off to fold some more paper hats JJ

Sayonara J