Table of Contents Introduction To Waterford County Museum........................................................................................2 Our Committee, Staff And Membership..............................................................................................3 Our Innovative Approach.....................................................................................................................4 Future Proofing Our Organisation........................................................................................................6 Future Benefit To The Community......................................................................................................7 Promoting Inclusiveness.......................................................................................................................8 Waterford County Museum Plans For 2010.........................................................................................9 Appendix A – Contributors To Our Redevelopment Fund................................................................10 Appendix B - Night Of The Museums...............................................................................................11 Appendix C - Museum Statistics For July 2009.................................................................................13 Appendix D - Photographs.................................................................................................................14 1 Introduction To Waterford County Museum Waterford County Museum is run by a voluntary group, The Waterford County Museum Society and is a registered charity. The aims of the society are: • To preserve the history of Dungarvan and County Waterford. • To acquire and preserve individual items and collections of interest. • To encourage public interest in local history. • To publish original research in book form or on the Museum website. The society was initially founded as Dungarvan Museum Society in 1984 and operated from the Old Market House on Lower Main Street. In 1999 the museum moved to a new premises at the Old Town Hall, St. Augustine Street, Dungarvan. The building was formerly the office of Dungarvan U.D.C. In late 2007 Dungarvan Town Council commenced the reconstruction of the Old Town Hall and incorporated a theatre on the first floor. Prior to the closure of the building for refurbishment the museum was accommodating 7000 visitors per annum and handling in excess of 100 substantial historical queries per month from locals, schools, genealogists, researchers, publishers and documentary makers. While the cost of the refurbishment work was borne by Dungarvan Town Council, the cost of the interior refurbishment of the museum was the responsibility of the Museum Society. Over the course of 12 months in excess of €100,000 was raised by the Museum from Waterford Leader Partnership, Waterford business, locals and expatriates. This money was used to fund the purchase of conservation standard display cases, display panels, flat panel TV screen, and a variety of handling objects. A feature of the project was the co-operation that the museum received from the staff of Dungarvan Town Council and the Waterford Probation Service. The new museum features exhibitions on all aspects of Waterford history including photography, the Famine, the 1798 Rebellion, country houses, religion, writers, artists, the Civil War, the War Of Independence, business and sport. In addition special temporary exhibitions will be mounted during the year on a particular theme. A series of public lectures are held during the winter season. Visits to places of historical interest are arranged for members of the Museum Society during the summer season. Achievements by the Museum Society to date include: • Heritage Council Publication Of The Year 2002. • Museums And The Web, Boston, 2002 – Shortlisted As Best Research Web Site. • Waterford Co Co Community Awards 2006 Heritage Section – Winner. • Museums And The Web, Albuquerque 2006 – Best Small Museum Website Award. • Mounting 45 Major Exhibitions. • Running 140 Lectures. • Publishing 4 Books. Museum Contact Information: E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.waterfordcountymuseum.org Phone: 058 45960 Museum Opening Hours Monday to Friday 9.30a.m. to 4.45p.m. Saturday (June to September) 10a.m. to 4.45 p.m. 2 Our Committee, Staff And Membership Our committee currently comprises of James Shine, Martin Whelan, Mary Giblin, Roberta Whelan, William Whelan, Eddie Cantwell, Nicholas Graves, Willie Fraher, Margaret O'Connor, David Hourigan, Martin Coffey and Helen Moynihan. No committee member receives any payment or expenses for any work that is done on behalf of the museum society. Over the past 16 years we have had over 20 staff work in the museum as part of the CMT Fas CE Scheme. Many staff members have later gone on to serve on the committee. Our staff have come from all walks of life and some had serious physical or mental disabilities. Partially as a result of the work placement and training received while with the museum, most former staff have now gone on to secure full time employment elsewhere. Our membership currently comprises of 112 adults (some of whom live abroad). The annual membership fee is €10. At this moment we do not have a facility specifically for child membership but they are more than welcome to come along to all of our events. Many of the events run during our 'Night Of The Museum' event (see Appendix B) were specifically designed for children. David Hourigan Willie Fraher Willie Whelan Eddie Cantwell Mountain Castle Dungarvan Colligan Ballinroad Mary Giblin Helen Moynihan Jim Shine Nioclás ó Griofáin Dungarvan Dungarvan Abbeyside Rinn Ó gCuanach Roberta Whelan Martin Coffey Margaret O'Connor Martin Whelan Ardmore Old Parish Dungarvan Abbeyside 3 Our Innovative Approach Museums are very different institutions from Heritage Centres. Heritage Centres are generally designed to provide a bite-sized piece of history for tourists and visitors to the locality. Museums have a much wider and broader remit. While museums also mount exhibitions, much of the work done in a museum is behind the scenes. Museums are designed to be visited repeatedly, deal with queries, do research, preserve and catalogue artifacts and generally help foster and preserve the history of a locality. Generally speaking we try and build a relationship with our visitors. Many of them will visit the museum time and again, to see new exhibitions, make new queries or perhaps to donate new material to our archive. Our relationship with the community is fundamental to our continued existence. Due to our scarcity of funds (our annual budget is €6000 to €8000) we have consistently been forced to create innovative partnerships. Most County Museums in Ireland operate with an annual budget well in excess of €300,000. Below I have listed some of the groups we have partnered with: Dungarvan Dramatic Club: In conjunction with the museum, the Dramatic Club has mounted some short plays to mark the occasion of our opening and for the Night Of The Museums event. The plays dealt with the lives of Sarah Purser, Valentine Greatrakes and John Palliser. Currently we are working with the Dramatic Club on filming a 3 minute introduction to the work of the Museum society. This short video will appear on the homepage of the new museum website when it launches. Waterford Probation Service: We were very fortunate to have secured the services of Paddy Daly and the Waterford Probation Service. Much of the carpentry work done in the museum (including our donation box, lectern, book shelf, mobile wall units and display tower) is created by Paddy and his team in their workshop in Waterford City. For the cost of the materials, we have managed to source custom made furniture to outfit the museum. Paddy's latest project involves mounting a set of tailors dummies on a display platform. These will be used to display replica clothing and armour. Dungarvan Town Council: The council allow us the use of the Old Town Hall at a nominal rent. They also pay our utility bills and lease a storage area for the use of the museum. FAS: One of the primary reasons that our museum has been successful is that we have had access to a pool of dedicated staff via the CMT Community Employment Scheme which we are part of. We currently have 4 part time staff in the museum. It is notable that several former CE staff have gone on to join the committee once they have left the scheme and continue their work with the museum in a voluntary capacity. Grant Funding Bodies: Waterford Leader Partnership and The Heritage Council have consistently supported us in our work over the years. The WLP supplied us with €44,000 towards our redevelopment fund. The Heritage Council have supported us with smaller amounts of money annually (typically €1500 – €2000). Past projects that the heritage council have supported included: • Installation of conservation shelving. • Purchase of a computer for administration. • Purchase of a mini photographic studio to allow us document our artifacts. • Purchase of a server to store all of our data and make it available on-line. • Purchase of conservation materials for our photographic outreach programme. • Purchase of a plasma screen TV to show old film and slide shows in the museum. Business Community: We rely on the Waterford business community for financial support and sponsorship. Local business across Waterford County supplied us with over €25,000 towards our redevelopment fund. We also