This is one of the highlights of our Archaeology collection and is on display at Segedunum in Wallsend:-

It’s a portable Roman shrine about the same size as an ipod, made of lead with doors on the front which open to reveal a handy pocket-sized god (possibly Mercury) – perfect for the busy Roman on the go.  I wonder if Roman pedestrians ever got so engrossed in their shrines that they would step out in front of oncoming chariots?

Speaking of chariots…

This little beauty is our 2009 Nissan Micra, resplendent in “Pacific blue”.  We like to keep our collections up-to-date by “contemporary collecting”, so we acquired this to represent the continued importance of Nissan to the North East economy.  After being photographed in the factory, the car was delivered straight to our large objects store and is preserved for future generations to marvel at.

In 300 years’ time, the Micra will seem just as amazing as these brilliant leather mules are to us today:- 

They date from about 1670 and are a highlight of the Costume collection at Discovery Museum.  They are lavishly decorated with beads of black and white glass and orange coral.  Red heels were all the rage at court from the 1660s and mark out the wearer as being particularly…er…well heeled.  And of course, these were men’s shoes, from an age when men could sparkle too!  Well, rich men anyway…

Finally, here’s a couple of interesting lumps, one of reinforced concrete, the other of wood:-

The concrete lump is from Gateshead’s “Get Carter” car park.  When this iconic structure was being demolished in 2010 we arranged to “get car park”, as it were.  It’s currently on temporary display in the Saving History case next to Discovery Museum’s gift shop.

The wooden lump is part of a foundation pile from Newcastle’s earliest known bridge, Hadrian’s Pons Aelius of about AD120.  The Roman foundations were re-used for a new bridge in the late 13^th century, a bridge which lasted until 1771 when parts of it were washed away in northern England’s Great Flood.  So, after carrying people across the Tyne for 1,650 years, this piece of wood was rescued and is now enjoying a well earned rest in store at Discovery Museum.

With over half a million objects in our collections there’s always something new (or old) to discover!

Click here to view our Christmas card.

The standard of nominations were exceptionally high this year and the judges had some very difficult decisions to make. We’re very lucky to have so many wonderful volunteers, paid staff who support volunteers and museums ran by volunteers across the North East!

A huge variety of exceptional volunteers and teams were nominated for awards ranging from volunteers who help to; bring collections to life; care for collections; interpret collections; provide demonstrations; welcome visitors into the museums; enhance the visitor’s experience; provide real life re-enactments; and redevelop massive areas within the museums and grounds.

There are so many people who really deserve to be recognised for everything they’ve done. People who go over and above what anyone would expect of them and kindly offer their time and support to museums in the North East. Thank you so much to all of our volunteers and staff who support volunteers!

We were treated to a brilliant presentation by the Beamish Youth Group, the winners of last year’s Volunteer Team Award, about their trip to Clarke Hall which was part of their prize. Iain Watson, Director of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums and Counsellor Ged Bell presented the awards to the winners. The winners were presented with a certificate and a John Lewis gift voucher. Special pieces of local glass art work were presented to the Outstanding Volunteer Ran Museum Award winner and the highly commended museum. 

Now to announce the winners. Drum roll please…………………

Award for Outstanding Contribution from a young volunteer under 25 

Jack Kilday in costume at Beamish

Winner -Jack Kilday from Beamish Museum 

Highly Commended -Alison Grange from Head of Steam, Darlington and  David Bukera from TWAM 

Contribution to the Visitor Experience Award 

Cllr Ged Bell and Emma Fairweather, Preston MuseumElizabeth Jackson from Museum of Hartlepool

Highly Commended – Ian Wilson, Beamish and Linda Durant, Shipley Art Gallery  

Contribution to Supporting Volunteers Award (Paid Staff) 

Peter Gibson, Sunderland Museum

Winners – Peter Gibson, Monkwearmouth Station Museum and Vanessa Sanderson, Heugh Battery  

Volunteer Team Award 

Edson Cadete and Mila Panguila from the CultuRISE forum with Cllr Ged Bell

Winner – Culturise Forum, TWAM 

Highly Commended – Railway Sidings Volunteers, Monkwearmouth Station Museum and U3A Group, Preston Hall. 

Outstanding Achievement by A Volunteer Run Museum 

Bellingham Heritage Centre Volunteer Team

Winner – Bellingham Heritage Centre  

Highly Commended Award – Weardale Museum

Congratulations to everyone who was nominated and thank you to all of our volunteers and staff who support volunteers across the museums in the North East.

I will be sharing with you very soon a video which uncovers why Bellingham Heritage Centre and Weardale Museum are such fantastic places to volunteer.

David after winning an award for his outstanding contribution to customer care at the 2010 North East Regional Museum Hub Volunteer Awards with Councillor Ged Bell

We’re fast approaching our annual volunteer awards in November of this year. David won an award for his Outstanding Contribution to Customer Care last year after volunteering with us for over 8 years across all of our venues. I asked David, a true star volunteer, to share with us a little bit about his experiences so far…

David: “I started volunteering about 8 years ago with carers from the Alzheimer’s Society. We went out once a month on trips with the carers and a disposable camera each, to take lots of photos.

At the end of the six months we put an Exhibition on at the Discovery Musum in the Peoples Gallery. This involved using the workshop in the Peoples Gallery, which was really full of things! So I started to help to tidy the workshop up too.

Then one day I was asked by Lucy Cooke, Volunteer Co-ordinator, if I would like to help do some other volunteering in the Discovery, and also at other museums  I said yes. It was the best thing I did!

I’ve volunteered at all the museums including,  Sunderland, South Shields and in Newcastle. I’ve helped with allsorts including the Tudors Exhibition and two Open Days at Sunderland in Mobray Park. I even helped  to pack all things away at the Hancock when it closed for refurbishment.

I was presented with a certificate for doing what I like best, meeting and welcoming people to the Discovery Museum which, I was very surprised and grateful for. I would like to thank all those who voted for me.

I am now on the front desk where I meet lots of people and new faces and try and make them feel welcome.

The Museum over the last year has a new venue called Mediatheque, which lets you watch British made films and programs so if you have time to spare call in, it will keep me busy on my Tuesday afternoons and  also keeps me out of trouble!”

Thank you very much David for all of your enthusiasm and support!

Culture Shock, not to be confused with Culture Track, was a digital storytelling project that brought diverse groups of people together to explore the museum collections and use the objects to reflect on and inspire their own digital stories.

Richard and Lauren with feather capes

John, Colin and Malcolm examining Chinese shoes

It’s funny how the museum objects spark so many memories. Our stories have now been accessioned into the museum collections and will remain as a permanent object in the collections.

We had a big celebration event at the end of the project where we screened all of our films at the GNM:Hancock Museum in the Culture Shock Exhibition

There are some really thought provoking stories that I’m sure you will enjoy. If you would like to see the stories that we made please follow the links to the Culture Shock Website….

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/learning-the-hard-way.html

David Paterson – Learning the Hard Way

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/activities-made-accessible.html

Paul Casson – Activities Made Accessible

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/clutter.html

John Nicholls – Clutter

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/mary-o-neil.html

Brian Thompson – Mary O’Neil

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/football-at-segendunum.html

Colin Armstrong – Football at Segedunum

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/changes.html

Malcolm Hunter – Changes

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/ted-the-pipes-and-the-matchstick-pyramid.html

Sam Richardson – Ted the Pipes and the Matchstick Pyramid

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/blow-up.html

Richard Hindmarch – Blow Up

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/train-journey.html

Stephen Watson – Train Journey

http://www.cultureshock.org.uk/stories/curls.html

Lauren Prince – Curls

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Thank you!

Bulk Finds: broken pottery sherds

Behind the scenes at Segedunum we have a number of stores where we house the objects which have been found during the excavations of the Roman Fort as well as the finds from other excavations within Tyne and Wear. Every object excavated must be cleaned and numbered, and every object of interest drawn or photographed. This information helps the archaeologists to piece together the life of people living and working in Tyne and Wear over the past 2000 years!

These pictures show the stores before, and after, Dawn, our Preventive Conservator and Alex, our Curator of Archaeology set to work on re-organising the store following the allocation of a small grant which paid for some new shelving to be bought. The result was a much more workable space where the research can continue.

The store before the team set to work...

Alex explained that, ” in these boxes are the bulk finds from various excavations in the region. ‘Bulk’ finds are things like pottery, animal bone and tile that are found in large quantities on sites – hence the name! This is the stuff that rarely ends up on display, but it usually provides a lot more information about life in the past than the pretty objects in the museum galleries. It just takes up a lot of space…..”

Dawn said, “This is just one example of ongoing work to improve storage across Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums and its diverse range of collections.” 

…job done!