Chair: Susan Eddisford

Chair: Susan Eddisford Community Museums Officer, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Bradninch Offices, Bradninch Place, Exeter EX4 3LS T: 01392 265967, E: [email protected] Administrator: Abigail Gray [email protected]

MINUTES Meeting held 30.01.2013 at RAMM, Exeter.

Present: Felicity Cole, Newton Abbot Town & GWR Museum; David Nation, Crediton Museum Katie Beume, Newton Abbot Town & GWR Museum; Alison Mills, Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon; Susan Eddisford, DMG Chair & CMO, RAMM; Roger Ferrar, Lyn and Exmoor Museum Peter Fisher, Coldharbour Mill; Mike Rickard, Bill Douglas Centre; John Claxton, Topsham Museum; Sonia Stone, DMG Treasurer & Exmouth Museum; Catriona Batty, Topsham Museum; Diana Dicker, Bishopteignton Museum Charitable Trust Sheila Phillips, Pengelly Cave Studies Trust; Andy Chapman, 1010 Media Helena Jaeschke, CDO, South West; Hannah Overton, One Voice Media. Amelia Marriette, Torre Abbey; Tim Trent, Dartmouth Museum; Alan Langmaid, Totnes Elizabethan House Museum; Barry Chandler, Torquay Museum John Brodribb, South Devon Railway Museum; David Lingard, Dartmouth Museum;

Apologies: Alan Arthur, Exmouth Museum; Peter Robinson, Museum of British Surfing; Ed Donohue, Crownhill Fort; Brian Dingle, Dartmoor Prison; Mary Godwin, ACE; Pippa Griffith, Tiverton Museum of Mid-Devon Life; Jane Harrold, Britannia Museum; David Davies, Robey Trust; Richard Porter, Britannia Museum; Abi Gray, DMG Administrator; Alan Smith, Whimple Heritage Centre; Jo Cairns, National Trust

Minutes Of The Last Meeting The minutes of the last meeting were agreed, proposed by Helena Jaeschke and seconded by Sonia Stone

Matters Arising  There was a request for minutes to only have colour on first page to save as printing costs.  North Devon Museums are putting together a WWI HLF bid. Jan Horrell is writing this up. Following discussions with HLF it has been kept as a Your Heritage size campaign. Only a few museums have expressed interest in taking part but there is still time to join in. The bid is based on Devon Yeomanry (2015 main anniversary)

1  Only 4 museums wanted to join the scheme to get a discounted Perspex donations box for about £150 (not including plinth). Last call to join this! The more who join, the bigger the discount. Please contact Susan Eddisford. Devon Museums Group Issues Treasurer’s Report (Report Circulated and on the website.) Sonia can make it slightly smaller print size to take fewer pages if wished. Updated from December accounts. Money from RAMM/Plymouth MPM Consortium has been very helpful, paying for hosting website, admin time etc.

Report from the Chair (Will be posted on website – IT problems)  Happy New Year and best wishes for a successful season.  Research commissioned by the Museum Development Partnership has endorsed the current practice, so Susan and Helena’s posts should be extended to end of March 2015.  Small Grants: There will be two rounds of funding for this – watch out for the announcements about April  Accreditation: please contact Susan with any queries  Visitor Surveys – Templates for these available on the website (downloads section). Susan is hoping to get a student to help analyse your returns if you wish.  Museums Brochure – £100 for entry. Q. Could there be a range of prices depending on size, budget? (Strongly supported by those present) Q. How do you measure return on investment? In previous years there was a competition with a page to fill in, which received a good rate of return. It is the most cost effective way of printing and distributing museum information. reaching a wide range of good venues, TICs etc, and it is asked for by accommodation providers. Best way is to ask the visitors. Crediton Museum noticed that people mentioned seeing them in the brochure, and were asked why the museum wasn’t in the brochure last year. One advert in a local paper can cost £150.  Gift Aid – changes in 2011 Budget come into effect April 2013. You won’t need paperwork for small donations up to the first £5,000 provided the museum was registered and submitting returns for the last 3 years. This will be administered online, so watch for updates as April approaches. HMRC Charities News a good source of information.  CRB disclosure has changed (1 Dec 2012) Disclosure and Barring Service. Checks will remain free for volunteers and an update service from spring 2013, with transferrable CRB checks. Checks will be issued to the individual. Checks are needed for volunteers working more than once with young people and it is vital to have and use a good policy and procedures. Devon has a one-stop website point for this but it seemed very complicated. SWFed organised a training day on this in December. Specimen policies will be on their website.  Charity Commission website has useful info for Trustees e.g. Big Board Talk.  The Object Project – bid to Clore Foundation was unsuccessful so looking for other funders.  AIM conservation grant scheme, now available for preventive conservation as well as remedial action – next deadline 31st March 2013. Museum must be a member of AIM (about £35), but it is a quick and simple application process. AIM also has very useful information papers  6th Feb Heritage Volunteering Forum meeting in Plymouth, with RIO (bridge Arts organisation)

2  DMG Web site training 25th Feb Exe Centre, Exeter, 28th Feb Barnstaple Library. No-one applied for the Kingsbridge session.  4th March Taunton – South West Digital Development project conference  13th March Security seminar Exeter (RAMM)  16-18th May Museums at Night events (ask county and district councillors for help with funding)  20th March AIM Sustainability meeting Nat Maritime Museum Cornwall, Falmouth  20th May DMG Forum, Plymouth Museum  13-28th July National Archaeology Week – publicity available through CBA Please refer any queries or comments about the report to Susan Eddisford, Community Museums Officer [email protected] or 01392 665967..

DMG Forum 2013: Working with Young People This will be held on Monday May 20th at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery who are kindly providing the venue for free. We need suggestions for good speakers and case studies, please let us have ideas. Young Roots funding is undersubscribed, and they are gong to attend and explain what makes a successful project and how to apply. William Montagne Education Officer from the National Park was suggested as a possible speaker.

Devonmuseums.net Andy Chapman, 1010 Media and Hannah Overton, One Voice Media, marketing company. Devonmuseums.net is part of the SW digital development project which has been funded by Arts Council England strategic funding. The project has had to be delivered at very short notice, started October and has to be completed by end of March. The aim is to make the site more sustainable and easier to run and attract more visitors to the site – and hopefully to museums. Q. Educational use? Developing the learning section will be pat of the next funding bid.

Andy  Statistics for the website are very good. Visits are 40% up on last year and unique visits up 53%.  Events are also bringing in a lot of visitors. Put keywords in as this will bring traffic in. Whimple Heritage put a Jubilee beacon lighting event on their page and there were 1000 visitors to the website that day. Amount of time on the site is lower – that might be because people find what they want quickly, or because there isn’t enough content to keep people interested. More than 1 million sights of the website so far. Events are now tied in to Culture 24 so there are a few more fields to enter (start and finish time etc) but this means they will get sent to BBC Things To Do etc. Culture 24 is uploaded manually so events will be sent in batches from DMN, probably monthly. Events are automatically tweeted on the DMN Twitter page.  E-commerce section for each museum to add their own products and services. Once this is better established 5% of sales can go to support the maintenance of the website, subject to member’s agreement. Setting up the online shop is covered in the training and there are instructions on e- commerce in the members’ area. There will be a shop landing page as well.

3 Q. Could artists be allowed to use it, in order to generate income? Totnes Fashion Museum sells craft work in their window, so they could choose to put items on the site, but not the makers themselves. The site includes stock control.  I-phone app: If you have an I-phone, please download the app and rate it. This will have to be updated with 2013 prices, opening times, exhibitions etc. so information needs to be updated on the website, by the end of February please.  The Matrix of Mediums. This will show what each museum is doing on the web, and how active they are on Twitter, You-Tube and Facebook for example  Video Can add up to 5 You-Tube videos on museum web page. Devonmuseums.net now has their own You-Tube channel.  Audio: Don’t forget audio tapes in out of date formats such as tape or minidisc can be digitised free for as long as the re is funding but very little take up so far  Flickr: Devonmuseums.net has a professional account and there will be a public gallery. Museums can post their pictures here. Museums can have their own Flickr accounts and upload images in batches too.  There will be a caption competition for photographs – do send something suitable if you have it but please make sure you have copyright and permissions.  Will add more quirky, interesting material to website to encourage people who may not have thought of visiting the museum before. There will be trails through museums in Devon: e.g. celebrities (Muse guitar in Teignmouth, Vivien Leigh nightdress in Topsham), Haunted Devon, weird and wonderful objects such as the two headed cat in Ilfracombe. This is all intended to encourage more engagement by the public.

Hannah One Voice Media is a PR and Marketing Agency that has been commissioned to generate print coverage to encourage people to find out more about museums. Lookking for museum stories but need to think about what do news editors like? Does the story have any of the following:  Is it new? Or not been seen for a long time?  Is there a special anniversary?  Anything that generates human interest, heart-warming feel good stories.  A local discovery.  Workshops/activities, events  Links with charity, community events.  Celebrity link or involvement (christening gowns for birth of royal baby)  A great picture.  Something on a popular trend, or seasonal (knitting, Valentines, Easter, VW camper van conversions in Sidmouth)  Statistics e.g. number of sewing machines

4  Extremes (largest, smallest, most) Complete a ‘Tell Us Your News’ Form which has contact details and will be on the DMN website).

Regional Reports Devon County Council No report ACE Update Will be posted on the website SWFed News Keep watching the website www.swfed.org which has lots of news and resources. Please send any training requests to Susan or Helena.

Date and venue of next meeting The next meeting will be on Thursday 18th April 2013 at 10.30am at the Museum of British Surfing in Braunton..

Heritage Lottery Fund The afternoon session was a presentation from Philippa Davies and Matt Blewett from HLF. They gave an update on the new HLF programmes and some projects, as well as details of the changes coming into effect and an opportunity to talk about ideas and put faces to names. Both Philippa and Matt are available to give advice and ideas before you submit applications.

Heritage is defined by local communities, rather than a rigid description. It could be memories, parkland, wildlife diversity, industrial, maritime. There have been 103 projects in Devon with £13.5m funding since 2011, e.g. Dunkeswell Airfield, St Anne’s Chapel Community Centre, Barnstaple 56 projects in the southwest for museums, libraries and archives costing £11m

The third strategic plan ran from 2008 -2012. The new Strategic Framework will run from 2013-18 There will be more flexibility. No major changes in way of operating, but different programmes and ways of applying. These will be more outcomes-based. HLF Will award £375 million pa, twice as much as expected in 2008..

Funding applications must be project specific, ideally 2-3 years, no longer than 5. They must have a clear heritage focus with heritage-based activities, not just conservation or new facilities and with a clear Project Plan. They must be related to HLF priorities. There are 14 Outcomes – the difference the project makes to heritage, people and communities. Doesn’t have to contribute to all of them – can be a mix, quality is better than quantity. Outcomes required depends on the size of the project as well. Need to show evidence of the current position to be able to demonstrate the difference in future.

5 People Heritage Communities Must gather evidence Better managed Developed skills Reduced environmental impacts More people and wider range Better condition Learnt about heritage engaged with heritage Better interpreted or Changed Better place to work, live or visit explained attitudes/behaviour Had enjoyable Identified/recorded Boosted local economy experience Volunteered time More resilient organisation

HLF will consider:  What is the heritage focus?  What need or opportunity is it responding to?  Why does the project need to go ahead now?  Why does it need Lottery funding?  What outcomes will it achieve?  Does it offer value for money?  Is it well planned and financially realistic?  Will the outcomes be sustained after the project has ended?

Scheme Grant size Minimum requirements Sharing Heritage £3,000 -10,000 One outcome for people One for heritage and one for Our Heritage £10,000 - £100,000 people One for heritage, one for Heritage Grants £100,000 – £2m people, one for communities Heritage Grants Over £2m More than one for each

New scheme Shared Heritage, from 19th Feb 2013 has grants of £3,000 to £10,000. It is a simple application process, open all year round, decided competitively in batch meetings. This scheme developed from the pilot last year ‘All Our Stories’ linked with Michael Wood TV programme. Example of the type of project – ‘Omens and Inspirations’ project from Herschel Museum, Bath in 2011

Our Heritage from 4th Feb 2013 (developed from Your Heritage). This has an 8 week decision process, no minimum partnership funding, but some contribution in cash or in kind. Cash-matched funding demonstrates local support and viability, so it increases the likelihood of success. Example – Brixham Museum and Barton and St Marychurch Childminders, teaching young children about Torbay heritage, Lyn and Exmoor Museum conservation, training volunteers, learning for school children.

Young Roots – This is a targeted programme aimed at projects led by young people aged 11-25 yrs old. The application forms are changing. £10,000 - £50,000. Decision in 8 weeks. Needs to be a partnership between a heritage organisation and a youth organisation, can be more partners. Need evidence that young people were involved

6 from the outset, given opportunity to lead, such as being on the steering group or managing part of the budget. They need to learn new skills, learn about heritage and receive recognition (could be a formal recognition). Example – John Babbacombe Lee – Exeter {Phoenix, Devon Record Office, Newton Abbot Museum) young people looked at Victorian life and story of J B Lee, produced dance/drama based on this. Were going to do an exhibition at the museum (didn’t happen). Tiverton Museum are working with Young Farmers on a Young Roots funded intergenerational oral history project.

Heritage has to be at the heart of the project. Can’t just have heritage tacked on to arts projects.