Dates for Your Diary IN THE LOOP  26th September, In I S S U E 1 2 AUGUST 2014 the Museum Night Garden 5-8pm ( Museum) - Welcome to the August Edition part of Yornight Well the summer holidays are almost over! Thank you to all of our visitor programme for facing volunteers for their continued commitment to their project during our European busiest time of the year (see visitor figures). Researchers at Night  8th October, We have had lots going on across the sites over the last few months, Curators Talk: including new exhibitions, evening events, new research projects and the Recruitment and Great Yorkshire Show! We have also been taking lots of new pictures of you Going off to War, all in action to put on the website, so thank you to everyone who has been a 12.30-1pm ( willing subject, checking back to see if your snap has been used. Museum) See our website for details

York Castle Museum Yorkshire Museum York St Marys A Huge Thank Great Yorkshire Show I volunteered to help with the new games and a German doll. During my You! World War One handling activity at break, I visited our other stand in the last months Great Yorkshire Show and Learning Zone and learnt how to Thank you to everyone what an amazing experience it was. identify rodent skeletons and at which who helped out in May to Departing from York Railway Station, periods in history our ancestors ate July. The visitor numbers we alighted at Hornbeam Park and rodents. are as follows: strolled down to the Showground : under the cloudless sky. The event is I find it easy to talk about fascinating 73314 immense and we made our way objects and visitors were thrilled to Yorkshire Museum: through a field of displays and have the opportunity to handle them. I 25162 activities to the BBC zone where we am sure our enthusiasm for the Observatory: 1949 had our stand. Raindale Mill: 2117 subject has inspired many visitors to Yorkshire Museum We worked to a rota of two hours attend the new exhibition and will Library: 1721 interpreting and two hours down time continue to do so. It was also a great to explore and get refreshments. Our opportunity to talk to the curators and The total number of interesting activity looked at the staff from other sites and fantastic to contribution of children to the war hours contributed by all feel part of the bigger team. An of our volunteers, both effort. Visitors were fascinated to hear incredible day I will not forget. public facing and behind- the role the humble conker played— the-scenes in May to July children gathered these in huge Nigel Pendleton, Hands on Here! is an amazing 3898! numbers and special depots Volunteer extracted acetone from their shells, A huge thank you to everyone who A huge THANK YOU! which in turn was used to produce cordite to fire ammunition. Other helped make the event a great items included a child’s ration book, success! PA G E 2 Volunteer Spotlight live in Leeds I didn’t manage to An interesting fact about me… come to York every week, but was By coincidence, I had transcribed sent pages of the diary to my Dad’s WW1 diaries a few years transcribe at home and send back before this but although his were to Katie Brown who was in charge written in longhand it was a of the project. It was good fun as challenge because they were well as being quite taxing, as the mostly written in pencil and the soldier had his own style of pages had smudged badly in shorthand and as we worked places. He survived the War but in (there were always at least two of the years that followed he was Beryl Chadwick, 1914 us working on the diaries) we had widowed twice before marrying my Shorthand Diary Volunteer a laugh at some of the things he Mother. He was 48 when I was had written and also at some of born, and lived until he was nearly the crazy interpretations we had 82. I am very grateful to him that How long have you been made! The serious side of it was he steered me towards secretarial volunteering with us? not lost on us though, and it was a work, which I really enjoyed. I began volunteering in January very worthwhile undertaking. 2014 What have you learnt from your Why did you want to volunteer at volunteering? YMT? Wass Readers diaries are on I responded to an article in the I cannot say that I learned display in the new 1914: When the World Changed Forever exhibition at newspaper asking for people who anything from my volunteering, but I did enjoy collaborating with York Castle Museum. You can find more could read Pitman’s shorthand to information on the project on the YMT offer to transcribe a diary from the Linda, Pippa, Amanda, and all the Blog. Several local newspapers have First World War which had been other volunteers. also covered the story, links to which found in York Castle Museum. As I you can find on our twitter feed. 1914: When the World Changed Forever It will not be a static exhibition for the next five years but we will be speckling it with new objects, new information and new events throughout the years of commemoration. There are two rooms which we have held back from opening until later, one which looks at the War coming to York with the Zeppelin raids and convalescence, and a room with a timeline of the war with major battles and York related facts and figures.

There will be lots of opportunities for you to work with us on new parts of the exhibition so keep an 1914: When the World Changed Forever opened on eye out for information to come. the 28th of June 2014 exactly 100 years after Arch Philip Newton, Assistant Curator (History) Duke Franz Ferdinand was shot in Sarajevo, triggering the beginning of First World War. After Remember, you can use your volunteer card to get working for many months on it we are very proud in free to York Castle Museum and the Yorkshire with all the compliments from volunteers, public Museum! and staff.

IN THE LOOP PA G E 3 I S S U E 1 2 History comes to life History came alive for me a few months ago when volunteering at York Castle Museum. An elderly gentleman wearing medals hanging on his black blazer, with smart pressed trousers and well polished shoes expressed a polite interest in our Hands on Here! display.

It turns out that I was in conversation with a man who had fought on one of the beaches of Normandy (too awed to ask which one...how British War Medal 1914-18 awarded to Private Robert stupid). But that wasn't the substance of our Henderson. Part of our WW1 Medals Hands on Here! activity conversation. He only wanted to tell me that his local D-Day Veteran Association now consisted of The Castle Museum is an amazing treasure house himself and (I think) two other comrades and that of our past. But for me the fascination of an object this was a rare planned outing, but since it was in not about the technicalities of how it was made raining and something of a physical challenge his and developed but what it tells us about the comrades had decided it was not wise for them to people who once used it. It opens a small window attend. So he came anyway, supported by his wife, on the life of people at the time. But this day was and in his own mind fulfilling a visit as a member even better. On this day I actually met a man who of his Association (hence the wearing of the helped to write a page of our history! How lucky medals). Respect. am I?

Colin Richardson, Hands on Here! at the Castle volunteer Fossils Road Show A huge thank you to Andrew, Katie and Simon, some of our Hands on Here! at the Yorkshire Andrew with Museum who helped out with our Fossils Road our ‘Fabulous Show event in the Museum Gardens at the start Fossils’ of August.

Under two marquees, volunteers ran our Fabulous Fossil handling activity, and were joined by the Curator of Natural Science, Sarah King, and Assistant Curator of Natural Science, Stuart Ogilvy, who were on hand to answer questions about visitor fossil finds.

Will Watts, Geology expert, brought along lots of A huge thank you to everyone who helped to fantastic finds for people to have a look out as make this event a success. We have had some well as handing out some advice. fantastic feedback and hope to put something similar on next year! The event attracted over 300 visitors, despite some torrential downpours, one family brought an entire case full of specimens from Runswick Bay which included an Icthyosaur rib!

PA G E 4 Volunteer Role Opportunities Raindale Mill Hands on Here! at the Yorkshire Museum

Interested? If you would like to register your interest in any of these projects, please contact Summer is here and we are Amy Lang on 01904 650329 or looking for eager volunteers to at [email protected]. open the Mill and get the fantastic water wheel turning! Hands on Here! at the Yorkshire We already have a very small Museum involves handling the team of volunteers who come in science and archaeology to help out but we can do more. collections, we are recruiting We would love to get the Mill volunteers to deliver collections open as much as possible this based activities to visitors on year! gallery.

Move back to the Castle Now that the installation of the First World Our door is always open, and you are War exhibition is nearing completion, the welcome to pop by at any time for a chat staff will be moving back into the office and a cuppa! In fact, we encourage to accommodation at the Castle Museum by come by and say hello. the beginning of September. For those based on other sites, we will The temporary office and mess room has continue to try and spend at least one day now been removed from the site and the a week at the Yorkshire Museum but again, office staff based down at James Street are you are welcome to pop into the Castle and preparing to move back into the building. see us at any time.

This will mean the Volunteers Team will be based back at the Castle Museum in the next few weeks which should hopefully mean you will see us around a lot more!

Contributions If there is anything you would like to see included in this newsletter, or you would like to be the next profile in our ‘Volunteer Spotlight’ (or write an article) then please email Amy Lang on [email protected]. Any suggestions welcome!