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Weeks 1-28 November are now archived.

NEWS OF THE IRENE

The Irene will be at the Bristol Harbour Festival on Sat 31 Jul and Sun 1 Aug. The details and programme of the festival can be found on the Festival website Details of the Irene can be found on the Irene's website

She will be there with other sailing ships, The Matthew, HMS Pickle, Kathleen and May, various Bristol Channel Pilot cutters and of course the SS Great Britain, all of which have their own web sites.

It is a great festival for all the family, music, culture, stalls, food, theatre, the boats are really only a backdrop.

BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGY WEEK

As a part of this the Bridgwater and District Archaeology Society, on Saturday 24 July at the Museum at 2.00pm, is holding an event: Discovering Medieval Bridgwater: Finding the clues in the Streets. Beginning with an introductory display at the Museum, participants will be given a guided walk around the Town to see evidence of its prosperous origins.

News - fortnight ending 17 July

The South West Federation of Museums and Picture Galleries has just published a Newsletter describing the Take one Picture project. There is a link to a crib sheet on how to do it that is based on the work we and Axbridge Museum did. The Federation covers all Museums from North Gloucestershire to Cornwall and across to Dorset and Wiltshire, so these documents are a marvelous showcase for us to other Museums in the area.

On Sunday afternoon we provided tea and cakes for a band concert given by the highly-talented pupils of Chilton Trinity School, which were well attended.

The archaeological material from Colley Lane was moved at the end of the week, with the rest of the artefacts to be moved next week or the week after. There is quite a bit of work now to be done in the Museum rationalising the storage.

On Friday we entertained a party of 27 French students plus adult helpers.

HELP WANTED URGENTLY - THE FOBM IS LOOKING FOR A TREASURER AND SOMEONE TO CLEAN THE MUSEUM. If you can help, please reply using the contact page of the website.

News - fortnight ending 3 July 2010

Progress has been very good on the Mill, and it is expected that the move of the Museum material stored at Colley Lane will be done over the next couple of weeks. A laundry mangle stored in the mill for many years has been moved to the Museum garden where it is undergoing cleaning and painting before being displayed. Though made by Ewbank, famous now for hand-held carpet sweepers, it bears the name of Thompsons, the famous dynasty of Bridgwater ironmongers.

We plan to restore the weather vane and place it in the garden as a feature. Does anyone know which building it came from? If we can find a picture it will help in the design of the missing ornamental top.

On Thursday 1 July Dr Andrew Butcher gave an interesting lecture to the Friends of Somerset Archives, who had hired the Meeting room for the evening. It concerned John Kidwelly, who was evidently the Clerk to the Burgesses between about 1370-1420,and later was one of the Town's MPs. He was a wealthy man and ship-owner, two of whose ships, crews and cargoes were raided by the French and held ransom. The lecture was illustrated by documents Kidwelly had drawn up. These are in the extensive Bridgwater Borough Archives, now in the Record Office. The next day a volunteer was listing the contents boxes of books stored in one of the upstairs cupboards in the Museum and found 2 MS books of Bridgwater charters, dating from the eighteenth century. One of the books had the texts of the oaths sworn by the mayor and the borough officers.

The Irene exhibition has now been taken down, though the artwork from the schools will go in the Gallery for a few weeks more. The next exhibition in the Meeting Room during August will one devised by the Civic Society, and will be a Quiz about the buildings of Bridgwater and district. Prizes will be given. A temporary exhibition is to go in the Blake Room for a few weeks about Robert Blake the sailor.

We are now planning next year's Teachers' Symposium in the Take One Picture series, taking the theme of Bridgwater Castle. The picture will be the bird's -eye view of Bridgwater in 1600 in the Bridgwater Room. Research has now begun for material to go on the displays.

Advance notice of a talk about Bridgwater Records, 1 July

On Thursday 1 July at 7.30, the Friends of Somerset Archives is having a talk at the Museum by Dr Andrew Butcher on manuscripts, palaeography and biography i Bridgwater 1376-1422. The charge for non-members is £3.00, including tea or coffee.

News - Fortnight ending Saturday 19 June 2010

There has been much activity in the Museum in recent days. A morning-long seminar was held in the Museum on Monday 8 June attended by Museum friends, volunteers, members of the Museum-sub-Committee and the Town Clerk to learn about the practicalities of forming a Museum Trust to take over the future management of the concern. This is an important development for the Museum. The same evening we hosted a party of about 25 members of the Bridgwater Rotary Club who came to look round.

On Tuesday 9 two volunteers visited Somerset Bridge Primary school to select art work they had done for the Irene display, which was mounted a few days later and can be seen in the museum.

On Thursday 10. June a ‘Volunteer of the Year’ award ceremony, organised by the Volunteer Centre Sedgemoor, took place at the Museum as part of Volunteers’ Week, an initiative of Volunteering England. We are delighted to report that Nick Wallace, one of our loyal volunteers and who is the Friends' programme secretary, who has never missed a day in the Museum, received a Certificate in recognition of his contribution and commitment. Nick began by assisting in the Museum as a Custodian, but spends a great deal of time now on computer cataloguing duties. Well done Nick.

On Sunday 13 June we provided teas for the first of the regular band concert series. Details are on the home page. On Monday 14 we hosted a party of about 25 members of the Warminster U3A who were in the neighbourhood looking at Battle of Sedgemoor sites. On Tuesday a volunteer took a party from North Newton School round the docks, and demonstrated to them the tying of knots.

At the end of the week we took delivery of the newly-restored portrait of Malachi Blake, which is now hung in the Blake room. He was one of a succession of three Malachi Blakes, all Presbyterian ministers in the Crewkerne, Taunton and Wellington areas. There is a distant relationship to the family of Robert Blake.

On Friday evening we hosted the AGM of the Friends of Wembdon Road Cemetery.

News - Week ending 5 June 2010

Following the newspaper accounts last week of the Irene exhibition, the daily visitor numbers have shown a marked increase, to almost double the usual daily average. We have been visited by the grand-daughter of her first captain, and a gentleman who used to sail on her when she was registered at the port. The Museum has been presented with a brass maker's name-plate Carvers used to fix to all the vessels they made. This is on display in the exhibition.

Very good progress has been made on the Mill this week, with the roof of the new wing felted, battened and ninety percent tiled. It will not be long before it is ready for the artefacts in the Colley Lane store to be moved there.

Work on the garden has continued, and it is heartening to see some of the plants in bloom there.

Advance notice Band concert next Sunday 13th June at 2.00 pm. Help is wanted for refreshments. Please assist if you can.

Next Talk - 8 June 2010

The Friends of Blake Museum are pleased to be presenting a talk by Graham Purches entitled ‘In front of the camera’ at the Blake Museum, Blake St, Bridgwater, TA6 3NB, on Tuesday 8th June at 7.30 pm.

Graham is best known for his role as a presenter/reporter for the BBC's nightly news magazine "Points West," during the seventies and eighties. He also made regular contributions to "Nationwide," and the National News.

What is less well known is that he took up the job in Bristol after a thirty five thousand mile journey from Australia via Hong Kong.

He was one of the last of the "ten pound trippers," as they were known...young English men who'd migrated to Australia in the sixties to start a new life.

"Stepping into the unknown," as he describes it, was one of the finest things that ever happened to him, because it was in Australian journalism that he learnt the skills which would later stand him in good stead at the BBC.

In his talk at the Blake Museum on June 8th, Graham will be telling the story of his journey and of some of the extraordinary people and situations he encountered, including:

The Aussie television announcer who created the world's cheapest wig...it was the cost of a pencil...

Why Sophia Loren wanted the BBC to provide her with a double bed before her interview with him...

Why he had to drop everything, literally on camera, in order to interview the nude scuba divers of Gloucester...

News - fortnight ending Saturday 29 May, 2010

The main event has been the opening of the Irene exhibition on Tuesday May 25 by the Mayor, Councillor Bill Montieth. There are accounts of it in both the Bridgwater Mercury and the Bridgwater Times.

Two school parties came to the museum this week accompanied by teachers and adult helpers, and with regular visitors we had over sixty people round on each of those two days. A local history group also visited.

The Spring edition of Blake News has just been published, with news of the shut-down jobs, the Irene symposium and future events. This will be going out any day as a mail-shot with other FOBM papers.

The work of the Museum continues, with the gardening team doing more planting and watering. A working party has done more painting and has inspected the drains. Extensive work has been done in the Mill, with more rubble being cleared, and a new wooden floor being fitted, all in advance of the construction of more roofed storage.

News - Week ending 15 May 2010

Working parties have been active this week in the garden, preparing new flower beds and planting them up, as well as undertaking painting jobs held over from the winter shut down.

The Museum's object catalogue database has now been reinstated on the Library computer and can be accessed by computers networked to it from elsewhere in the building. When the Town Council took over the catalogue from the District Council in the spring of 2009 it was held on a server in Bridgwater House, but found to be corrupted and inaccurate. SeeDocumention Statement for details of the catalogue's condition. An enormous amount of work was done last year by one volunteer to tidy the mess, for which we are most grateful. Work now begins, undoubtedly lasting several years, to update the catalogue, ensuring the entries are accurate, the locations correct, and the backlog of unaccessioned material dealt with. Then we will be able to find objects without difficulty.

The How we used to vote closed at the end of this week, and will be replaced from Tuesday 25 May with the Irene exhibition. This week saw the mounting in the Gallery of the art exhibition by the Dockside Daubers.

On Friday two volunteers visited Spaxton Primary School to see what they had done based on the Irene project, and to select material for in the Exhibition. They saw work of very high quality, which will be added to the material selected from Saint Mary's School.

News - Week ending Saturday 8 May 2010

The dates for this year's season of Sunday band concerts have been posted on the Home Page. Help will be needed for getting the chairs set out, organising refreshments in the Museum garden and looking after the shop. Please contact Bryan Gillard. if you can assist.

Next week an exhibition of art by the Dockside Daubers will be mounted in the Gallery in place of the display of Chubb paintings.

At the end of the month we shall be having an exhibition about the Irene the last Bridgwater-built sailing ship, which was launched in 1907. Some of the material was prepared for the teachers' Symposium held in January,and we plan to add to it some displays of work by local schools, who have taken up enthusiastically the opportunity to use Museum material for cross-curricular work. This involves children using their skills in English, Maths, History Geography, etc, etc in project work.

Two volunteers from the Museum visited Saint Mary's School, Bridgwater this week to see what they had done, and to select material for display. They learned that the children had been taught sea-shanties, how to dance a sailor's hornpipe, make ships' biscuits, learn about the Plimsoll line, and make model ships. Some grandparents who had sailed on Bridgwater ships before the Docks closed came into the school to talk to the children. The Museum volunteers were very impressed with what they saw. Another volunteer has been visiting schools to demonstrate knots and how they are tied.

It is planned to make visits soon to other schools which have taken part so select material for the exhibition.

Several school visits have been booked for dates when the exhibition is open, so to fit them in the closing date has been moved three weeks further on, to the end of June. This is posted on the Home page.

News - For three weeks ending 1 May 2010

The site web-master apologises for being on holiday for part of this time. The Museum has reverted to the usual routine of opening for visitors, and there has not been a lot to report.

The main event was the visit of a group of children and teachers from Wells Cathedral School, who were treated to a morning of events about the Battle of Sedgemoor. The children were dressed in their own costumes as were members of the Bridgwater Garrison, who spoke to the children about the battle, the weapons and the aftermath of the Bloody Assize and Judge Jeffreys.

Visitor numbers are good and have included a party of Czech students. We have also attracted a number of new custodians but more volunteers are needed, please. Most days see a query about family or local history coming in. We also had a Bridgwater College student for a week as part of her course about tourism.

The exhibition about voting corruption has attracted much interest. Planning has begun for the exhibition at the end of the month about the Irene, the last Bridgwater-built sailing vessel. This will incorporate material prepared for the January teachers' symposium, based on the painting the Museum has of her. New material will be added about the fate of the Irene after she ceased use as a trading vessel. A number of schools have enthusiastically adopted the material the Museum provides on its web site, and we hope to feature some of the pupils' work in the Museum.

Noise Limit Youth Theatre present their latest show IN SEPIA at Bridgwater Arts Centre on Friday 8 June at 8.00pm. Take a journey through people’s lives, read their letters and explore their hidden secrets. The performance is inspired by the picture of The Irene. Please contact Kay Robins if you want to go.

News - Week ending Saturday 10 April 2010

Now the Museum is open to the public again we are back to the usual routine, though some work of refurbishment is continuing. Visitor numbers are good, and shop sales are excellent, clearly reflecting the quality of the goods sold there. Visitors' comments have been very complimentary.

Just before the reopening the Museum was presented with a mounted copy of the large-scale Ordnance Survey map of the Borough, showing it around 1880. It is planned to have this framed and then display it in the Bridgwater room.

The opportunity has been taken to update the Museums page on Wikipedeia.. A similar update of the Google entry for the Museum is in hand. The present one has the wrong phone number and the locator point for the map is in the wrong place. Which may explain why we sometimes get parcels delivered to the flats over the road!

Advance notice of the next Friends Talk

The Friends of Blake Museum are pleased to be presenting a talk by John Barkle entitled ‘Memories of a village grocer’ at the Blake Museum, Blake St, Bridgwater, TA6 3NB, on Tuesday 13th April at 7.30 pm.

For fifty years John has worked in the family run business, taking over when his father died. Beginning with a village Post Office and general store, with home cooked hams, goods weighed by hand and home deliveries, during the sixties the end of this type of shop could be foreseen and a new shop was bought in Wells followed by another on the other side of the city. Entrance is £3.00 for non members and all are very welcome.

Wanted for the Museum collection

The newly-made Discovery Box (sometimes known as the Archaeology Box), is in the Archaeology Room. It contains drawers divided into periods from the earliest times to the present day. The idea is that children can pull out a drawer and handle objects. At the moment, the box is 'a work in progress', as there are more artefacts required in some drawers. If you can help by donating anything, please contact Kay Robins by ringing the Museum and leaving a message,or by using the contact page of this web site.

News - Week ending Saturday 3 April 2010

The Museum opened on Wednesday in a very low-key way with no formal celebration. By all accounts numbers have been usual, but in view of the bad weather and the fact that we closed for Good Friday, this is to be expected.

The week began with the discovery of an simply enormous skip outside the front door, ready for the removal of the rubble from the Mill. Monday also saw the erection of a very handsome metal fence in the Museum garden, along the line of the Durleigh Brook. Painted an elegant green it improves the place greatly. The gardening team have been in delivering potted plants, and they will begin work soon creating a proper garden bed along the new fence to match the one they have already made along the garden wall by Blake Gardens. On Tuesday a number of bags of rubble were taken through the museum from the garden to the skip as were several buckets-full of broken glass.

On Monday and Tuesday the clean-up continued, and electrical work was done. Very handsome oak plinths were screwed to the walls by the Chubb paintings in the Museum hall, on which were mounted type-set captions.

The exhibition How we used to Vote was mounted in the meeting room, and a temporary display of more Chubb paintings was mounted in the Gallery. The display of waterline models of Bristol Channel sailing ships was mounted in the Maritime room and captioned.

In the Bridgwater room, the fossil display was captioned, and an interesting leaflet produced about the life and times of the Icthyosaur. There is a very fine modern birds' eye view of Bridgwater around 1600. More work remains to be done making displays and captions relevant to the bells and the archaeological remains in the room.

Not every job planned for the shut down was able to be done. Some big ones such as re-flooring the office have been held over until the next Winter shut down, and the work on the Mill will continue into May. Other small jobs will be done during the regular Monday working party sessions, as will the usual curatorial work on sorting and listing objects and captioning photographs.

News - week ending 27 March 2010

The main event this week was the ceremony in the Meeting room today to launch the new Town Trail booklet, and the Friends of Wembdon Road Cemetery. About forty people attended.

Before that, the Museum saw much activity. The installation of the hearing aid loop system in the Meeting room preceded the laying of the fitted carpet. The new shutters there were painted. The PAT test was completed - no failures or items for attention. Much effort was spent on cleaning up and removing rubbish.

The Robert Blake painting was returned to the Blake room, having been repaired and cleaned. The painting of Malachi Blake was sent for conservation. Queen Victoria's bust was moved to the ledge at top of the of the stairs.

Various Museum objects were moved - The Victorian medals display and a large carved column from the Friary to were moved to the Bridgwater room. Work was started preparing the new display of water-line models of Bristol Channel sailing ships.

Other work has include the fitting of an outside tap for the garden.Two grab rails for the toilet were fitted, as were picture rails in the shop. Painting work has been done as well.

The shop was commissioned in time for the Saturday event, with the Sales dressers painted and stocked. Goods included a range of Carnival souvenirs, as well as some lines exclusive to the Museum such as notelets of Chubb paintings, Burnham-produced scented soaps, and a series of cross-stitch kits including the Museum building, the Blake Gardens bandstand, the Blake statue and Cornhill, and the Town Bridge and river.

Next week should see the installation of the new metal garden fence and the arrival of a skip for the removal of the mound of rubble from the mill compound.

Next week will also see the mounting of the new exhibition in the meeting room - How we used to vote. Political corruption in Bridgwater in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, based on the Museum's collection of election ephemera. This will run until 15 May. A small display of Chubb painting has been mounted in the Gallery as well.

The rota for custodians has been drawn up ready for opening on Wednesday morning.

News - week ending Saturday 20 March 2010

The main event this week was a lecture on Thursday by Dr Andrew Butcher about Medieval writers of Bridgwater, given at a joint meeeting of the Bridgwater and District Archaeological Society and the history group of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society. About forty people attended, and by all accounts it went very well indeed and favourable comments were made about the work we have done in the Museum.

A new web page has been launched, as part of the Museum's web site, about scientists in the Bridgwater area. Beginning with John Somer, the astronomer of the fourteenth century, this is very much work in progress, and the page will be updated as new information comes to light. The research was done as background to the new geology display, for there were two Fellows of the Geological Society resident in Bridgwater in the first half of the nineteenth century.

It is hoped that similar pages can be produced in due course on such themes as the history of medicine and education, on the heroes of more recent land and naval battles, on the evolution of local housing and the transport history - coach travel and railways.There are some very strange gaps in the pages of published histories of Bridgwater, both old and new, which these pages will be able to fill.

Refurbishment has continued, with the new shutters in the Meeting room being fitted. More painting was done as well. Work was done to free up the stanchions of the old metal fence in the garden, in advance of the new fence being installed shortly.

The objects have now been replaced in the archeaology room cases, so the room is pretty well ready for use. Progress has been made readying the shop.

On Friday cleaning started in earnest to prepare the Bygones and Maritime rooms and the upper landing and picture store for the reopening. More cleaning will continue next week.

Though not an official re-opening, next Saturday sees the Museum hosting the launch of the new town trail guide, and the new Friends of Wembdon Road Cemetery. Casual visitors will be coming to the building, so there must be a big push, please, to get as much as possible ready.

News - Week ending 13 March 2010

Work of refurbishment continues apace. Outside, the concrete slabs in the lower garden have been reinstated, and the concrete ramp to the fire door of Bridgwater Room has been made. Work on the Mill has also continued, with the electricity switch-box being installed there and connected to the mains. The Mill now has power for the first time in about twenty years. The old condenser pit and pipe for the steam engine was found - more than twenty feet and containing water. More work needs to be to trace the drains in the mill. The contract has been let for new metal fence in the lower garden. It is hoped that work will begin before the end of the month. The daffodils are well up in the garden and there should be a good display of them by the time we re-open.

The Blake room was cleared of all portable furniture and other fittings, and the floor washed several times before being re-varnished on Friday. The Muniment chest there, which once held the Borough records has moved permanently to form part of the Bridgwater room's exhibits.

A start was made to install the new shutters in the Meeting room. Painting continues around the building, with more to be done over the next two weeks. Work has begun to fit out the sales area. The shutters of the Blake room were restored to the Museum after being away having the metal plates taken off. They will be re-fitted and painted.

Work has continued on the Curatorial side, with more archive boxes being listed, as were further boxes under the display cases in the Maritime and Bygones rooms. A link has been made with Bridgwater Library for the Museum library to have copies of a series of files containing documents relating to the villages of the collecting area. These include passages from the Domesday Book of 1086, transcripts of some medieval documents, and a series of nineteenth and twentieth century trade directories. These files will complement the existing files of village data in the Museum library. Bridgwater was originally excluded from this series since the material is too bulky, but consideration will be given to having it specially copied during the course of the year.

In preparation for the re-opening a revised trifold general guide has been produced, showing the gallery changes, and a Press-release for it is being written.

Advance Notice On Thursday 18 March the Bridgwater and District Archaeological Society March Lecture at the Museum is being given by Dr Andrew Butcher on Writers and Writing in Medieval Bridgwater. Non-members £2.00 admission fee.

Advance notice - Launch of new Town Trails Guide

The Civic Society jointly with Bridgwater Town Council are proud to announce a completely new edition of the Town Trails Guide. The Guide will be launched by The Worshipful the Mayor of Bridgwater on Saturday March 27 at 11 30 am, at the Blake Museum. Copies will be available for collection, price £2.50, from the Blake Museum shop on the day, or at other times from the Town Clerk's Office, Town Hall.

Advance notice -Launch of the Friends of Wembdon Road Cemetery

Also on Saturday 27 March, the museum is holding an Open Day to inaugurate the formation ofThe Friends of Wembdon Road Cemetery. The objects are to tidy up the grounds and refurbish the graves, also to undertake research into the people interred there. Later in the year we shall be holding an exhibition at the Museum, provisionally titled the Bridgwater Way of Death.

News - week ending Saturday 6 March. 2010

On Tuesday a meeting was held between the Town Council Museum sub Committee and committee members of the Friends of Blake Museum, where the 2010-2011 budget was considered and agreed. Also reports from the Friends covering the last two quarters' progress were presented. The sub-Committee expressed much satisfaction on how the Museum was being managed. It was agreed to hold joint management meetings between both parties monthly from now on.

Refurbishment has continued apace. Painting has been done in the shop, the stud partition in Room 5 and the icthyosaur case now in Room 4.The geology case in room 4 has some nice labels. New display cases for the shop have arrived and await painting. A new work-top was fitted up in the Kitchen.

Outside, the rainwater drains and the power cable to the Mill have been installed. Next week the slabs will be reinstated and the ramp to Room 4 fire door will be installed. Work in the Mill continues. A fencing contractor called in to give a price for the metal fence along the brook.

Metal shelving was brought from the Colley Lane Store, and bays installed in the store adjoining the archaeology gallery, the store adjoining the shop and the garden shed. A number of boxes of archaeological specimens were brought as well.

On the curatorial side, more listing of the contents of archive boxes was done, and lists were made of the object boxes housed under the displays in the Maritime room. Next week the boxes in the Bygones room will be examined.

For the next three weeks there needs to be a big push to complete the outstanding work and to clean the place up ready for the opening. Assistance for this is needed, please.

Stop Press -- The death of Mrs Mary Thyne

It was with much sadness that we learned of the death of Mary on 19 February. She was in the seventy-sixth year of her age.

Over many years she shared her enthusiasm for and gave support to so many organisations in and around Bridgwater, in more recent years the Bridgwater Arts Centre and, of course, the Church Rooms in Stogursey.

We have particular reason to recall Mary with fondness. Over twenty years ago when the Museum was supported by the then Bridgwater Museum Society and in her voluntary role as Collections Manager, she worked hard to create a professional method of caring for the Museum's artefacts, many aspects of which have endured to the present day.

All who were associated with the Friends of Blake Museum extend sympathy to Mary's family and close friends at this sad time.

Our next Museum talk

The Friends of Blake Museum are pleased to be presenting a talk by Eric Lovell entitled ‘Life as a farm labourer’ at the Blake Museum, Blake St, Bridgwater, TA6 3NB, on Tuesday 9th March at 7.30 pm.

Eric has worked on a farm since leaving school, starting off milking cows by hand leading on to looking after a large herd of mixed and pedigree Aberdeen Angus Beef Cattle. He has also written poetry and sees himself as a male Pam Ayres! Entrance is £3.00 for non members and all are very welcome.

News - Week ending Saturday 28 February 2010

The work of refurbishment has continued apace, with the carpet tiles being laid in room 4, and a start being made at positioning there the geological specimens, the architectural remains and the goal bells. Background research into the history of local geology and geologists has continued.

The fitting of the insulation boards in the mill roof is finished, and progress has been good in laying the rainwater drains from the Museum roof. The next task in the Mill is to fit the doors, lay the paving slabs and install the electrics. Then the reserve collection stored at Colley Lane can be moved there.

Elsewhere in the Museum, painting, electrical work and other building jobs have continued, and we are reasonably up to schedule. The garden shed has had a clear-out and a mass of rubbish there has been scrapped.

Quite a bit of time has been spent preparing the papers for the forthcoming meeting of the Museum sub Committee

On the curatorial side, cataloguing the contents of archive boxes has continued. A work station with a phone and internet link will be created in a corner of Room 4 where this can be done on a regular basis once we have re-opened.

A search was made for photographs that can be sent for scanning next week, and during this a box with an uncatalogued collection of Bridgwater Highway Surveyors' Rate Books, c 1830-c1850, and a similar box with three thick embossed books for the blind was discovered. Many more similar treasures await discovery.

News - Week ending Saturday 20 February 2010

The main event this week has been the two-day presentation held in Angel Place on Friday and Saturday, with the aim of attracting volunteers to give some time to the local museums. Preparation was done over several weeks and a rota of volunteers, some in costume, were on hand to talk to interested passers-by. Evidently much interest was shown, and we hope to publish a fuller account next week, when the results have been assessed.

The refurbishment has continued. The painting of the meeting room is largely finished, and work has begun of painting the shop. More work has been done laying flagstones there. The delivery of new shop fittings is due next week. The painting of the gallery continues.

In advance of the laying of carpet tiles next week, Room 4 (the old Blake room), was cleared of everything (apart from the new geology case) and swept. The garden shed was cleared out and re-organised, and a display case was taken from there for use later on elsewhere in the Museum. Timber was delivered for making the edgings of the new rose beds in the garden.

Curatorial work continued, with more archive boxes being listed. A volunteer has been researching and writing about scientific activity in nineteenth century Bridgwater as background for the new geology display. A visit was made to the Somerset Studies Library, in Taunton, where research material was copied.

Planning discussions were held about the forthcoming Election and Irene exhibitions.

News - Week ending 13 February 2010

Refurbishment has continued with the installation of new fire-door to the garden from room 4. The old one was was taken to the mill for re-use there.

The walls of the meeting room have been given their second coat of paint, and apart from some minor work is now awaiting the installation next month of the new window shutters followed by the hearing aid loop, and the carpet

Work has continued laying the floor slabs in the shop, on electrical work there, and in painting the Gallery.

One estimate has been received for the metal fencing in the garden, and work was done there to clear the gravel away from where the new rose beds are to go. A load of scrap timber was removed for recycling.

Several boxes of geological specimens were collected from the Colley Lane store, and a start has been made laying out the display in the case in room 4. A volunteer has been working at home researching the biographies of local geologists in the nineteenth century. This is a preliminary to writing the texts of descriptive material for the display. An interesting discovery was that for about fifty years there was a Brigwater Literary and Scientfic Institution based in George Street, which at one stage had a museum there.

On the curatorial side, work has continued cataloguing archive boxes and a number of queries about Bridgwater history have been answered.

Preparations are well under way for the two-day event in Angel Place on Feb 19 and 20- 'Take One Hour ...' The aim is to encourage volunteers to take part in heritage organisations. As well as the Museum, Westonzoyland Pumping Station and the Bridgwater Garrison are all taking part. Maybe we shall soon be seeing some new faces about the place! If you are about then, do go and say hullo!

News update Wednesday 10 February 2010 The BBC needs our help

The Museum Friends have been approached by the BBC to take part in a live BBC Somerset's Morning Show at the Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury, on Friday 19 February. It runs from 9.30 - 12 noon and is hosted by Emma Britton. The contact is Steve Haigh on 07836 246678.

The idea is for participant to take along an historical object, preferably with a local link, and talk about it.

Unfortunately most of 'The Usual Suspects' are already committed to the 'Take one hour ...' event in Angel Place on that day and can't do it. Please let us know how you get on.

News - Week ending Saturday 6 February 2010

The undoubted high-spot of the week was the was presentation, on Thursday evening, by the Mayor, Councillor Ken Richards, of the Bridgwater Cup to Dr Peter Cattermole, the Museum Coordinator. In his remarks the Mayor praised Peter for his selfless volunteer work, not only in helping to the Museum, but for his work for the Bridgwater Civic Society and in encouraging the involvement of college students and thanked him on behalf of the town. In his reply, Peter said that he was honoured by the trust that others had placed in him and was glad to be of service to the community.

After the official photo-call, with two press photographers, all the Friends and members of the Civic Society present were photographed with Peter and the Mayor. Photographs of the event will in due course be displayed in the museum as a permanent record.

Then Peter presented some thoughts about the crest on the cup and on the ceremony of the Loving Cup, for this is what the Bridgwater Cup is, aided by 'willing' helpers Eleanor Dixon and Derek Gibson, MBE. "Propino tibi domine, et omnibus de Brugie : I drink to thee , master, and to all of Bridgwater".

In winding up the evening Derek Gibson spoke about the recent evolution of the town and the role of the civic amenity societies, such as ours, in Bridgwater's betterment.

Soon after opening the Museum on Friday morning, Brian Withers arrived with a splendid coloured photograph of Peter and the cup. This is on a board in the Hall.

Work around the Museum has continued: the need to locate the surface water drains has resulted in a number of trial pits being dug during the week. A well-drawn survey of the former steam engine pit carried out in 1992/3 was available to us. A 6 inch salt-glazed drain was found exactly at the spot shewn on the survey, but when uncovered, was found to have been broken off and filled with concrete (which was a tad annoying). However, the survey is evidently accurate, so further investigations will take place next week. It's interesting that much rubbish has been buried beneath our garden. Finds have included Victorian & Edwardian ceramics, a few broken clay pipes, bones and some oyster shells. None is of particular significance, but our expects from the Archaeological Society have been keeping a watchful eye on it all.

In the Mill Store, a window has been replaced and glazed, and a suitable door found for the south opening. Fixing of plasterboard and insulation continues. The aim is to have a wind and watertight warm store available by the end of this month.

Electrical work is rapidly nearly completion for this refurbishment, with switches having been re-positioned in Room 4 and a new emergency lamp installed. Sockets have been repositioned in Room 6 (the Friends' Sales Area). The second radiator has been sited next to the Sales Counter. It operates as a by-pass, so will keep running when all the other radiator thermostats are shut - just for the benefit of the Sales Volunteers!

Painting continues on the Gallery (now much brighter in Marble White), and in Room 3 (Meeting and Exhibition Room), where the second coat of emulsion is being applied. A volunteer is needed now to start work on the redecorating of the Sales Area in a light Linen White, if we are to meet the deadline for delivery of our new sales dressers over the half-term week.

Work is to begin shortly replacing all the lockable doors under the display cases upstairs with new, better-fitting doors and single pattern locks so one or at most two keys are needed to open them, so the multitude of different ones we now have can be scrapped.

We shall be receiving estimates next week for a new metal fence along the line of the brook in the garden, to replace the very tatty chain-link one there. Our garden volunteers made a presentation to the Committee this week with a plan for the gravelled part of the garden. This will involve rose beds round the boundary and plants in tubs elsewhere.

One of our students is busy constructing a geological section through Bridgwater for display in Room 4, and collections of Geological Specimens, including typical fossils from the area, have been identified as being in the Colley Lane Store. These probably have not been exhibited previously.

This week, we saw the last of our regular Wednesday afternoon students helping the community as part of their studies for their International Baccalaureate. Examinations are looming, Cambridge places await, and so revision is urgent! We hope the young ladies will visit us again, and we thank them for their work on the Baird Collection

Curatorial work continues, with the cataloguing of the archive boxes, listing of First World War newspaper cuttings and preparations for the exhibition about electoral corruption in nineteenth century Bridgwater.

Next Friends talk- Tuesday 9 February

The Friends of Blake Museum are pleased to be presenting a talk by David Canham entitled ‘The Mill Workers Tale’ at the Blake Museum, Blake St, Bridgwater, TA6 3NB, on Tuesday 9th February at 7.30 pm.

Discover how woollen and worsted cloth was manufactured, from spinning the yarn to weaving the finished cloth. The talk includes fascinating audio clips of mill workers recalling what it was like to work in the textile industry in Somerset and Devon. Entrance is £3.00 for non members and all are very welcome.

News - Week ending Saturday January 30 2010

Refurbishment work has continued this week. In the Vestibule some defects were made good following installation of new fire alarm and then re-painted. In the office the walls were touched up and sundry trunking was tidied up - painting to follow next week. In the shop the lights were re-switched, and a self-testing Briteway emergency lamp installed,and reconnected. More flagstones re-laid.

The Room 4 painting was completed, except for various touchings up and the steel-framed board taken off the old exit to the garden for assessment, and glazed doors found behind (very 1970s!). A contract let for replacement doors to be made. The paint-work of the Meeting Room was touched up and made good prior to second coat of paint throughout. The timber-work and partition walls of the chair store was painted with the first coat. A special pole was made with which to lower the projection screen.

More work was done in the Gallery. The hole in lath & plaster ceiling was repaired using a clever method, and preparation was done to the walls and priming/first coat applied to emulsioned surfaces. Work on the archaeology store has progressed well with the partition panelling prepared for painting. The Archaeology Society now has its own website., so the archaeology pages on this site have been taken down, leaving a link to the new one.

A Discovery Box has been made for the Museum by a volunteer. This will have an inert filling in which will be buried archaeological artefacts for the children to find at the 'Take One Hour ....' presentation in Angel Place towards the end of February. This was an idea put forward last year by Kerry Wheeler, one of our student volunteers. It will be available for Museum use afterwards. A set of three handsome portable banners advertising the Museum Friends has been commissioned by the County Council for the event. These become our property afterwards.

Exploratory trial pits have been dug in the mill and the Museum garden to ascertain the nature of the ground and drains, so that rainwater discharging on the ground outside Room 4 may be led away so as to reduce rising damp in the walls.

An elm window from a reclamation yard is being refurbished for insertion into the opening in Mill Store. Work is now needed to level the floor and lay paving slabs, line the insides of the walls, line the underside of the roof, and make and fit new doors so it can be used to store mostly archaeological remains from the District Council's store in Colley Lane.

On the curatorial side there has been further good progress on scanning the coin collection. A volunteer has now checked and put in proper reference number order all the museum's Object History Files - several thousand of them!. These contain all the paper-work relating to the accession of each object and are a valuable adjunct to the the bare details in the Museum's catalogue. Work can now begin on accessioning the back-log!

More administrative files about the Museum and its history have been returned by the District Council's Museums officer. More work was done at home by volunteers preparing material for the forthcoming 'The Way we Used to Vote' exhibition, and on editing material to be posted soon on the teachers' web site about Irene.

Several intersting research enquiries have been dealt with. One was about about Hamp Green House Bridgwater which has turned up new information from Suffolk about Francis J. Thompson, his family, and the former Manor House.

The visit by two students studying the history, use and maintenance of Blake Gardens has enabled a number of resources to be drawn together, and has led to a tentative connection with the Waldegrave family, who once owned the land upon which Binford House was built and where the Library now stands. The Waldegraves owned the Manors of Stawell, Stogursey and Edington in late mediaeval times. Did they build a mansion for their use nearby in the 16th C?

The Museum has been commissioned to look into the material it has about a nineteenth century Bridgwater sea captain and the vessels she sailed in. This is for a forthcoming programme in the BBC's 'Who Do You Think You Are?' series.

On Friday afternoon the Museum hosted a visit from eleven students studying a construction diploma at Bridgwater College. The students, who were between 14 - 18 years old, were looking at building conservation techniques and stone restoration. A slide-presentation was made about the work in the Museum and a floorboard was taken up in the Meeting room to show state of the the joists before the repairs. Before this they had spent part of the morning learning about the restoration of Bridgwater Town Hall.

The Friends provided coffee and biscuits to the party, and two knowledgeable Friends then accompanied them to Saint Mary's Church where they looked at the building and saw an exhibition about the Victorian re-building work. Also in the party were Sedgemoor District Council's Conservation Officer and a representative of the Society of Protection of Ancient Buildings SPAB.These have good links with Saint Mary's Church, Bridgwater in regard to the forthcoming re-ordering work

News - week ending Saturday 23 January 2010

Two events took place this week of great importance to the Museum. On Thursday we hosted a symposium for teachers, taking as the theme our painting of the Ketch Irene. This was a trial, (one of two in Somerset) funded by the Museums Libraries and Archives Council to encourage regional museums to adopt the approach of the long -running Take one Picture ... project. In this, a picture from the National Gallery is taken as the theme and applied by schools across the country. The trial is to see if more local art can be used by small museums like ours.

Nine teachers attended from local schools, and education providers from the County Council. Eight museum volunteers were involved - five in talking to them and three in helping behind the scenes with aspects of the catering and other jobs. A Bridgwater catering firm provided a splendid lunch - soup, filled jacket potatoes and salad and a choice of sweets.

The meeting room was set up with four computers as well as the big projection screen, and panels were displayed about aspects of the Irene and her life. These have been prepared in advance of the exhibition we shall be holding about her in May. Teachers were encouraged to think about aspects of the Irene - Where was she built and by whom? What did she carry and where? Where is she now? - with view of developing lesson plans in history, geography, art, English, design and technology, etc, etc.

Special 'Notes for Teachers' were prepared drawing together most of the historical notes in a compact form. In addition numerous web links were assembled on all aspects of maritime life. All the material can be accessed by the above link, and the teachers at the symposium made good use of it. It is now available on-line so teachers who did not attend can access it as well. Though it's a teaching aid for primary and junior schools it has been designed to be of use by students of all ages from eight to eighty.

Displays were in both the Meeting and the Blake Rooms and the visitors were encouraged to see the maritime room, where a display of 20 small-scale waterline models of Bristol Channel sailing ships was brought out of store specially for the occasion.This was made thirty years ago by a previous curator.

It is planned to host later in the summer displays of pupils' art work created as part of the project.

As this was the first time such an ambitious project had been undertaken by the Museum, there were a number of busy days beforehand, but all went well, and we were heartened by the interest and response of the people who were there.

Today (Saturday) a number of Museum volunteers attended the launch of the exhibition of Hidden gems of Somerset at Glastonbury. This is linked to the publication last year of the Heritage Touring Map. The museum object lent was the recently-donated eighteenth-century engraving of Robert Blake and formed part of a real 'Cabinet of Curiosities' from museums around the county - well worth visiting. It is on for the next eight weeks.

The usual work of the Museum continued this week. The painting is finished in the old Blake room, and work must now begin to install the planned displays there. New picture rails have been fitted and painted in the Blake and Meeting rooms, and in the latter a fire-proof curtain has been hung to provide privacy. An added bonus was that it deadened sound as well.

A sunken door mat has been fitted outside the office, and the laying of flagstones in the kitchen continues. The access to the kitchen from the shop has now been ramped for wheelchair access.

Carpentry work has been done in the archaeology room. Painting has started in the Gallery, and the bust of Robert Blake has been moved to the Blake room pending the move of the bust of Queen Victoria to its place at the top of the stairs. The move of Queen Victoria will allow more light in the Gallery.

On the curatorial side, work has continued cataloguing the contents of the picture store, and drawing up a list of pictures recommended for disposal. A significant number have no relation whatever with Bridgwater or the collecting area, and storage space it too small to permit the storage of items of this kind. The cataloguing of the contents of the archive boxes continues.

News - Week ending 16 January 2010

The wireless fire detection system was completed and handed over by the contractor and the redundant cables removed by volunteers.

New electric cables drawn into underfloor ducts to kitchen & connected, allowing remaining cables to be removed from ugly surface trunking in Rooms 2, 3 & 6. Trunking detached and walls made good ready for decoration. Picture rail reinstated in Room 3 to match existing pattern, and made ready to receive display of framed oil paintings. Significant improvement in visual appearance to room, accentuating the historic features.

Curtain poles and flame-proof draught-limiting curtains for doorways to Room 3 ordered for fitting next week.

Repairs were made to flag-stoned floor in Room 6. Some additional lias slabs obtained from a local reclamation yard in order to make appropriate repairs. Alterations to services made to accommodate new shop layout. A new doormat was purchased for installation by rear fire exit.

The topographic panel (the relief map) mounted on wall in Room 4 and most of the painting completed. We now need to get preparations under way for new displays of geology and archaeology there.

The new heating system and insulation was working efficiently in the cold weather, making the Museum a comfortable place in which to work, and improving the conditions under which the collections are being kept.

On the curatorial side the maps stored in the picture gallery have been catalogued, and work has continued listing and numbering the contents of archive boxes in the archaeology room store.

Work has continued making preparations for the teachers' symposium next week about Irene. A Power-point display has been devised, and a number of exhibition panels about her have been designed, typeset and laminated ready for mounting on the day.

News - week ending Saturday 9 January 2010

IMPORTANT - NEXT TUESDAY'S TALK BY JOHN BEASANT HAS HAD TO BE CANCELLED DUE TO THE WEATHER. IF YOU KNOW ANY FRIEND WHO DOES NOT SEE THIS WEB-SITE, PLEASE PASS THE WORD BY PHONE.

Despite numbers of volunteers not being able to get in this week due to the weather, those that did managed to get a lot done.

The hot-water radiators in room 2 and the office are now plumbed in and working, and the heating in room 3 is now working fully.

Flagstones were taken up in the shop and the corridor by the fire exit to allow the placing of cable ducts. Cables were drawn-in to the office from the meter cupboard and a new lighting circuit fitted.

More painting was done in Room 4, a rotten skirting board was replaced, and the new dado to support the relief map was prepared ready for fixing.

In the meeting room a number of screw holes used for fixing now stripped-out trunking were filled ready for painting, and trunking was taken down in room 2.

The plaster-board lining the back of the chair-store was prepared ready for painting. Services were put in place there to enable connexion of the inductive hearing-aid loop and panelling fixed in place.

On the curatorial side, more archive boxes were catalogued, and the catalogue of the contents of the picture store is now complete. A researcher was working on the Port Books and a volunteer has continued her work on the World War 1 newspaper cuttings. A volunteer has done sterling work tidying up the office stores.

A volunteer has been working at home preparing materials for the forthcoming Irene teachers' symposium, and another has begun working at home preparing our first public exhibition when we re-open about how we have voted in Bridgwater in the past - all about eighteenth and nineteenth century bribery and corruption.

The Friends of Purton are sending copies of quantity of images of Bridgwater vessels from their archive. We are very grateful for this gift, as it will add materially to our collection of maritime photographs. A number of vessels were hulked along the Sharpness Canal near Gloucester, including some from here, and this group is dedicated to preserving and recording them.

Planning continues for the Take One Hour ... presentation in February - scroll down to the very bottom to discover more. More volunteers are needed for this, please. Contact Bryan if you can help

We are delighted at the news that Derek Gibson has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours

ADVANCE NOTICE OF OUR NEXT TALK

The Friends of Blake Museum are pleased to be presenting a talk by John Beasant entitled ‘To there and Back Again’ at the Blake Museum, Blake St, Bridgwater, TA6 3NB, on Tuesday 12th January at 7.30 pm.

John is an internationally published author who for many years worked as a secretary to two Prime Ministers, an Islamic Head of State and a Prince. The talk is a highly personal account of a journey from an English downland farm to the far flung islands of the fabled South Seas via Africas’ Savanna and the deserts of Arabia. Entrance is £3.00 for non members and all are very welcome.

To become a Friend to the Museum for a modest annual membership fee, you can enjoy free admission to all Talks throughout the year. A full programme of forthcoming talks is now available. For further details please telephone the Museum on 01278 456127, or for more information about the Museum and The Friends please visit www.blakemuseum.org.uk.

From Monday 4 January we are back on re-furbishment work - Many volunteers for practical work are needed, please, particularly painting, carpentry and general jobs.

News - Week ending 2 January 2010

Before we closed on the Wednesday before Christmas the hot-water heating system was commissioned. Arrangements were made for a key-holder to drop in each day for a few moments to check that everything was in order.

A number of volunteers put time in during the break on painting jobs and also working on the archaeology room partition, fixing radiators, stripping out redundant cabling following the installation of the wireless fire detection system on the ground floor, trying out the new CCTV cameras (with pan-tilt-zoom so as to enable those visitors with impeded mobility to see the exhibits in the upstairs galleries) and wiring up the central heating zone controls and programmer. Many thanks for this.

Much work was done during the break by volunteers working at home for the teachers' symposium on the Irene, to be held towards the end of the month. This has including purchasing books and photographs for the project, making scans of text and pictures for use in the displays, and finding useful web links. A start has been made on putting together the Irene web pages, which will carry Museum images and links to other sites that teachers might find of use.

The Museum has been gifted a collection of over 100 35mm colour slides of Bridgwater scenes taken in the 1970s and 80s showing building developments such as the construction of the Sainsbury's Bridge over the river, and the demolition of the properties before Angel Place was built. Evidently more are to come.

We were also gifted a fine seventeenth century engraving of a portrait of Robert Blake. This will be the Museum's exhibit at a display about the Museum at the eight-week exhibition at the Somerset Rural Life Museum (SRLM) from January-March 2010. This is part of the County Council's Somerset Routes project.

News update - Week ending Saturday 19 December.

The main event of the week was the removal of the scaffolding from the mill, but before that volunteers braved the weather to finish painting the newly-glazed window, and also the fascia board. The scaffolding by the fire door was also taken away.

On Wednesday the Museum hosted a day-long seminar for the Environment Agency. Before this a wholesale tidy up was done, and the meeting room set out. One outcome was the realisation that the room was draughty at this time of the year, so steps have been taken to get some curtains for the doors. Its hoped these will be fitted in the New Year.

Work of refurbishment continued on the heating system, painting Room 4 and a start was made to take down the now-redundant electrical trunking from the meeting room and room 4. Insulation was fitted to the rafters of the Mill in advance of the boarding of the roof. More work was done to the store area of the archaeology room.

The rope making machinery was collected from the Mill and transported to its new home.

On the curatorial side work continued scanning Roman coins and cataloguing the contents of the picture store. We took delivery of another Mac computer, and work has now begun to list the contents of each of the archive boxes in the archaeology store. This is a preliminary to getting the computer catalogue up to date.

More work was also done, not only in the Museum but by volunteers at home, planning for the Irene day in January.

Next week the Museum closes from 4.00pm on Wednesday,and does not re-open until Monday 4 January 2010.

Very many thanks to all volunteers who have been involved in shut-down and Merry Christmas everyone!!

News update:- Week-ending Saturday 12 December 2009

We are pleased to announce that the Christmas Fayre last Saturday was a great success. We raised £320 - an increase of £100 on last year. Table rents brought in £46, Kay's tombola £29, Nick Wallace collected £6 in donations plus four memberships (which are not included in these figures). Paul Besley's plant stall made £36 and Maggie Sampson made the same with refreshments, Brian sold £5 worth of books, while Joyce Hurford sold an amazing £45 worth of cards and confectionery. Sue Berryman made £33 on the bric-a-brac. Jane Woolrich made £46 from her cake and bread sales plus her guess-the-weight-of-a Christmas-cake competition. It was won by Ute Smeed. More was raised by Charlotte Edmonds with the sale of shop-stock, but that sum is not detailed here as it reverts to the main shop account.

We would like to thank everyone who helped out from the stall-holders, cake-makers, those who donated the sales items and tables etc, those who helped with the printing and leafleting and Graham Granter for coming to open the event for us.

And on Tuesday afternoon there was a Friends' social get-together. By all accounts this was successful, for it not only allowed Friends to gather wi