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Weeks 1-28 November are now archived.

Advance notice of our talk on Angels

The Friends of Blake Museum are pleased to welcome back Alan Foster who will be giving a talk entitled ‘Angels’ at the Blake Museum, Blake St, Bridgwater, TA6 3NB, on Tuesday 13th September at 7.30 pm.

Angels and Archangels, their origin, virtues and purpose. The documented help and guidance given to individuals of all cultures and religions throughout history. Stunning visual imagery as depicted in art and sculpture. The healing power of Angels.

Alan is a writer, researcher and international lecturer on UFOs, Crop Formations, Environmental and Spiritual Issues, including the Turin Shroud. His in-depth research has taken him to over eighty countries worldwide. Whatever you believe this illustrated Talk should be very interesting.

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.

Advance notice of our next talk on the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal

The Friends of Blake Museum are pleased to welcome back John Swayne who will be giving a illustrated talk entitled ‘The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal’ at the Blake Museum, Blake St, Bridgwater, TA6 3NB, on Tuesday 15th June at 7.30 pm.

John has been a canal warden for more than 20 years and has an extensive knowledge of it. His talk will cover the canal's concept, its use during the Second World War, restoration and use today.

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 this website.

News 10 weeks to Saturday 11 June 2011

The Romans in Somerset exhibition was a popular success, and was followed an exhibition about Bridgwater's Railways, which will run until early August. This has maps, plans, models and memorabilia about the four railways that have served the town since 1841. It was opened by the mayor and mayoress.

The Castle and Medieval Life exhibition will continue in the Gallery for a little longer, and we hope to be able to show examples of pupils project work from those schools which have taken part.

The new volunteers are settling in well as custodians and keyholders, and much work is continuing behind the scenes on the collection.

More volunteers are needed, so if you are interested, please get in touch.

Advance notice of our next talk on UFOs and Crop Formations

The Friends of Blake Museum are pleased to welcome back Alan Foster who will be giving a talk entitled ‘UFOs and Crop Formations’ at the Blake Museum, Blake St, Bridgwater, TA6 3NB, on Tuesday 12th April at 7.30 pm.

Alan is a writer, researcher and international lecturer on UFOs, Crop Formations, Environmental and Spiritual Issues, including the Turin Shroud. His in-depth research has taken him to over eighty countries worldwide. Whatever you believe this illustrated Talk should be very interesting.

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 this website.

News 10 weeks to Saturday 2 April 2011

The Blake, Bridgwater, Bygones and Maritime rooms have new displays and new glass lluminated cases. An programme has begun of re-labelling the exhibits in a consistent manner.

Painting and other building maintenance done.

Better storage has been created on the Bygones room and the gallery store. The latter now has all the photo negative collection in it, instead of being scattered over the Museum.

A programme of putting scans the Museum's photo collection on-line has been started. Copies may be purchased from the Web Site.

2 eighteenth century Bridgwater-made long-case clocks have been put on display.

The Maritime, Archeology and Battle rooms have been carpeted.

A team from the Bridgwater Carnival committee have catalogued the Museum's Carnival Collection. Some material is now on loan to the Carnival display in the Town Hall.

The usual cataloguing has continued, and a start made at moving objects to the new storage.

Advance notice of the next Museum talk - Tuesday February 8

The Friends of Blake Museum are pleased to be presenting a talk by Ken Edwards entitled The Trials and Tribulations of Keeping Bees at the Blake Museum, Blake St, Bridgwater, TA6 3NB, on Tuesday 8th February at 7.30 pm.

Ken is President of the Somerset Beekeepers Association which has over 700 members and Secretary of the Quantock division with over 70 members. This illustrated talk should be very informative with amusing, but hopefully not stinging, anecdotes. So if you are interested in bees, nature and the countryside or want to know more about beekeeping, please come along.

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.

News - 2 weeks ending Saturday 22 January 2011

On Tuesday 18 was the formal presentation by the Mayor, Councillor Monteith, of the MLA Accreditation renewal. The paper-work for this was done in the summer of 2009.

Samuel Rowlands, National Accreditation manager wrote:
Congratulations … I rarely read Accreditation returns which demonstrate such vibrancy within an organisation, particularly at a time following significant changes … also to see the openness and transparency you have shown, notably through the scheme of document publication on your
website...

Mr Alan Hurford, Bridgwater Town Clerk wrote in his press release:
This award reinforces the decision of the Town Council, to take over the Museum and keep it going for the community. It is a testament to the work of the Honorary Curators, the Friends of Blake Museum and all its volunteers whose commitment has ensured continuing success and increasing visitor numbers.

With the National Accreditation Scheme currently being revised and in the process of gathering examples of good practice, Blake Museum has been added to the list of potential case studies

At the same meeting Bryan Gillard, Vice-chairman FOBM was awarded the Bridgwater Cup for his services to the community. As well as his work for the Museum, Bryan has been a Councillor, school governor and has been active in the Arts Centre.

On Friday 21 January the Museum held a Symposium for teachers on the theme of Bridgwater Castle. The event was attended by seven teachers and administered by ten Museum volunteers and included presentations about the castle's history, heraldry and resources. After lunch the participants devised lesson plans.

Advance notice of our next talk - Tuesday 11 January 2011

The Friends of Blake Museum are pleased to be presenting a talk by Tim Peake entitled ‘Victorian Pottery’ at the Blake Museum, Blake St, Bridgwater, TA6 3NB, on Tuesday 11th January at 7.30 pm.

Tim, a retired History teacher, has been researching William Brownrfield for more than twenty years. Brownfield were one of the top six Staffordshire potteries, alongside more well known names as Minton, Davenport and Wedgewood. Tim enjoys sharing his enthusiasm and expertise on his chosen subject and will be bringing along numerous samples to illustrate the Talk.

Entrance is £3.00 for non members and all are very welcome.

News - 8 weeks to 1 January 2011

The past two months has been mostly occupied with shut-down work and the Christmas break. The usual routine of painting and other jobs like cataloguing is progressing well. There was a hitch in November and later in December caused by the bad snowfall which stopped some volunteers from getting to the Museum.

The Museum has received a very complimentary letter from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council to confirm that we remain fully accredited for another two years.

The modernisation of the Blake room is under way with the removal of the wooden cases and the arrival of all-glass ones. Two eighteenth-century cases have been bought for the Bridgwater-made clock mechanisms we have. One of these has never been on display. These will go in the Bygones room. A number of oil paintings have gone off for restoration. An estimate is being obtained for a model of Blake house as it was in Blake's day. This will be fitted out with models of period furniture.

The Gallery store was cleared of rubbish in advance of the installation of the heating radiators in the Gallery and the Battle room. Once this is completed metal racking will be purchased for the Gallery store to house, amongst other things, the education supplies. New doors will be manufactured for the cupboards under the cases in the Bygones and Maritime rooms. This will bring into use the space under the long case in the Bygones room which has not been available before, and so make much easier the storage of the reserve collection of artefacts.

On Saturday 11 December was held the Friends' Christmas Fayre, which raised over £400. Stalls sold bread and cakes, cards and calendars, sweets, jewelery, bric-a-brac and model trains and vehicles. There was a tombola and a refreshment stall.

Next Friends talk

News to week ending 7 November 2010

Our next talk about Chapel Allerton School

The Friends of Blake Museum are pleased to be presenting a talk by Pete Tinney entitled ‘Memories of a village school’ at the Blake Museum, Blake St, Bridgwater, TA6 3NB, on Tuesday 14th September at 7.30 pm.

In this monologue Pete will be will be recounting amusing but true stories from his days as a pupil at Chapel Allerton school near Wedmore, beginning in the war years. It was a one-teacher school as were many village schools at the time, and has since been converted into a private house.

Entrance is £3.00 for non members and all are very welcome.

News - Week ending 11 September 2010

The Autumn number of Blake News has just been published. It has news of the summer work as well as what is planned for the winter shut down.

The papers for the AGM are about to be sent out. WE NEED NEW MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE Please contact Bryan if you would like to help.

News - week ending 4 September 2010

Both exhibitions have been taken down will be succeed by temporary ones from the Museum's archives. Details of the winners of the Civic Society's Quiz will posted when available.The exhibition about cemeteries and graveyards will open on Tuesday October 4 and run to the weekend of Halloween. It will be succeeded immediately by one on Carnival which will run until the end of the Somerset carnival season in mid-November

A safety fence has been erected at the end of the mill leat in the lower garden. This is to allow safe access to the back door of the mill. Renovating brickwork and lime-washing of the outside of the mill has continued.

Two water butts have been delivered for the garden. They are a handsome terracotta colour and hold 300 litres each.

The Museum sent written evidence about the future of public funding for heritage and the arts to the Parliamentry Committee for Culture, Media and the Arts.

Planning has begun for the shut down. Much of the construction work will need to be done by contractors, if skilled volunteers cannot be found.

IMPORTANT ADVANCE NOTICE - FOBM AGM IS ON TUESDAY 12 OCTOBER at 7.00 pm - PLEASE NOTE THE TIME! Papers will be circulated shortly with the next Blake News

News - Month ending Saturday 28 August 2010

Many Friends have been on holiday this month, including the site Webmaster.

The Band Concert at the beginning of the monh was well- attended, evidently. The final one on the series is at the end of September - see the site Home page for details.

Progress on the Mill has been good. The limewash of the external east elevation was completed, including final coat which included casein to prevent flaking, and the scaffolding struck. The gutter and downpipe has been fixed on the north wall; the rotten timber lintel was taken out and the gap bricked up, with a first coat of limewash applied. More coats remain to be done.

Inside the Mill some painting is still to be carried out with glossing-up of the doors, frames and windows required. Two night storage heaters have been fitted but not yet connected.

Various small maintenanace and painting jobs remain to be done in the Museum. Now the holidays are over perhaps volunteers will be willing to get them done. Please see Tony if you can help.

Two new large-capacity ornamental waterbutts have been ordered for the Museum garden.They will save needing to use the Museum's metered water.

Now that the archaeological items have been moved from Colley Lane store to the Mill, work has begun on examining some of them. A fabulous collection of terra sigilata (Samian Ware, 1st/2nd century AD), excavated by H S L Dewar in 1939 at Bawdrip, has been found. A photographic record has been made. The text may be found museums's website, as can the images of the finds

Discussions are taking place with academics as to the importance of this collection.

Separate sections of the excavated Roman Mosaic from Spaxton have been gathered together. A set of slides of the excavation in the 1960s has been scanned Images of the recovered mosaic will be added in due course.

The two cheese-presses have been recovered from Colley Lane - nothing of the Museum remains there now. The smaller is on display in the Bridgwater room, while the larger is stored in the Mill. The two-wheeled builders' cart is being re-assembled. It evidently was once on display in the garden, and the suggestion has been made that once conservation is complete it goes back there as a plant stand, perhaps under cover.

The Civic Society's Prize puzzle exhibition finished today, and the winners will be notified shortly.

Preliminary work for next year's 'Take one picture ...' project on Bridgwater Castle continues, as does work on the forthcoming autumn exhibition about Bridgwater cemeteries and graveyards.

A new open-front book case has been installed in the Library, and a glazed front book case will be delivered shortly.

It has been agreed with the Town Council that in future all organised parties visiting the Museum to see the exhibits will be charged £2.00 per head to cover our expenses. This particularly applies to schools.

News- Fortnight ending Saturday 31 July 2010

Last Saturday we hosted a short talk about the Medieval building stones of Bridgwater, as part of British Archaeology Week, and on Sunday we provided tea and cakes for the latest Band concert. This was of drumming and was evidently well-attended.

More artefacts have been moved to the Museum from Colley Lane. Most has gone to the Mill for storage,but some have gone to the Bridgwater room for display. More remains to be moved. Now more storage has been provided in the Mill there has been the chance to tidy away there stores from different parts of the Museum, so creating space.

The end of this week has seen the plastering of the garden-facing wall of the mill, which now needs lime washing. Some small finishing off building works remains to be done in the mill. SOME VOLUNTEERS ARE WANTED TO DO THIS PLEASE!!

There has been the welcome arrival of some new custodian volunters, and the start of the colleges' vacation has brought some students who are helping catalogue the collection. These have come as the result of press advertisements placed by the County Council's Heritage Service which is looking for volunteers for all the County's Museums.

We received some admirable artwork from North Newton Primary School based on the Irene Project. This can now be seen in the Gallery.

Next week sees the start of month-long Prize competition to guess the locations of Bridgwater building details. There are some 50 photographs, and the first prize is £25. The event is sponsored by Bridgwater and District Civic Society.

ROBERT BLAKE REMEMBERED

An Anniversary Service of Commemoration and Celebration for the life of General-at-Sea and Man of Bridgwater, Robert Blake (1588-1657) will be held at 11.00 a.m. on Sunday 8 August at Bridgwater Unitarian Chapel, Dampiet Street. Robert Blake died at sea on his way back to his beloved Somerset on 7th August 1657. Tributes will be made in the form of hymns, prayers, readings and music and a collection will be made in aid of the Charity 'Help for Heroes'. All are welcome.

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.

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.

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 glaze