December 2014 SEASONS GREETINGS President’s Report With another very successful season completed it is pleasant to reflect on many good things that have happened at the Museum. First and foremost the success of our free entry continues. This is thanks to great help and support from Johnston’s of Elgin, Walkers of Aberlour and The Gordon & Ena Baxter Charitable Trust; but it is also due to our stalwart team of Di and Heather promoting the museum among the young and in particular among families. We made the last six of The Daily Telegraph Family friendly museum awards. We did not win but, I believe, there were over 800 entries and we were the only Scottish Museum in the final. A commendable achievement. I have read the “feedback” and it is helpful and interesting. Sadly some of the things they would like us to do are not practical. Such as installing a lift! Impossible due to our listed building status. Our preparations for the eventual delivery of The Dandaleith Stone are taking shape and we should have it installed next year. The pictures of it show it to be a remarkable find. I continue to represent the Museum on the Castle to Cashmere proposals which are part of the overall scheme to rejuvenate the town centre. I hope we see some progress in 2015. I also attend The Elgin Fund as an ex-officio member and they are taking an interest in The Cooper Park and how it could be enhanced. And to add to all that I represent us on The Grant Lodge Short Working Life Group which has met very regularly in 2014 and aims to establish a formal charitable trust company before we reach 2015. I have been heartened by the enthusiasm and determination of the group. A reinvigorated Grant Lodge can only be good for Elgin Museum. We have a series of most interesting lectures over the winter and I commend the programme to you. I much enjoyed Janet Trythall’s talk on the Covesea Lighthouse and the Stevenson family. I am a David West admirer and was delighted to support the Lossiemouth Open Doors day which featured many of his paintings. We held the volunteers’ lunch recently and Bill Dalgarno rightly paid tribute to everyone’s enthusiasm, hard work and patience. We would not be able to operate the Museum without our volunteers and I add my personal thanks to Bill’s. There have been changes at Moray Council. Alistair Campbell, who has been a stalwart adviser, has retired. However we have already had good exchanges with Reni Milburn who now looks after museums in a large portfolio. We welcome her to the delights of Elgin Museum! It has been a good season and I detect a happy one for all concerned. Planning for 2015 has started already. Maybe you could think how you can help us? I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Grenville S Johnston Hon President ‘Auctions, Antiques and Hidden Treasures’ & ‘Not the Antiques Roadshow’ Firstly I would like to start by saying thank you to all involved from the Museum and Moray Society sides of these events. As I told you all from the conception of this idea, the success of these events rests solely on the organisation not with what my team and I bring with us on the day. That said again the success was easy for all to see with queues out the door! Friday night’s rambling talk (as I happily term these) was great fun for me as the speaker and the kind (and hopefully true) words after showed it seemed to have struck a chord with attendees. It really was a strange feeling to realise that the first time I ever spoke publicly was as part of the Discovery Club in the Museum, perhaps 18 or even 20 years ago. Not just I, but everybody who came up with kind words and recognition of those days perhaps won’t want to admit it is more likely the latter date! Thankfully as the crowd this time was much bigger than the first, and I am a little more practised it was an evening I really enjoyed and hope the audience found some tales of interest as well. Saturdays’ ‘unknown’ of ‘Not The Antiques Roadshow’ (a fine title since one of our team is a specialist on the show!) was always going to be a day of unknowns. Firstly would anybody turn up??- a fear held by a few staff and volunteers. Our fears were allayed by half past ten when the door was being opened to expectant owners. By 11am and opening time we had a queue, which throughout the day seemed only ever to get longer and waiting times similarly. The good humoured visitors all seemed thrilled to be in such a lovely surrounding while waiting and I did hear a few comments by people who were new visitors to the museum that they all plan to come back soon. As ever these days the variety comes not just with the objects the people bring but the stories they attach to them. Sadly not all stories proved the test of our investigations with some family myths debunked but I think all who came left knowing a little more, understanding their objects a little better and enlightened on the – sometimes surprising - values. Heather has asked for a few stories about the day but the blurred pace it went by at I must admit to struggle to remember too much detail (5pm rolled around as if it were lunch time). But perhaps the most local of stories was the collection of fourteen items of Elgin silver all made by Joesph Pozzi. While I had hoped to see items of Elgin silver I had not expected to see such an array of objects from soup ladle to teaspoons and very interestingly all by the same maker. Why collect items by one maker you may (and I did) ask; because he was a family member some generations back! Along with the usual high number of British and European ceramics we saw a very interesting and high percentage of oriental pieces arriving at our tables. The variety in age, style and values were as broad as perhaps we saw in any field. The stories seemed to show the history of Moray natives out in the east on business or building an Empire in the military. With items from the smallest of farthings, to a three piece bedroom suite!! (thankfully the owner only bringing a drawer and some photos), to Elgin silver and an almost 200 year old autograph collection the day flew by and with great excitement to all. Values were as varied from as little as a few pence to some really exciting finds at many £1000’s of pounds! It was lovely to see the hard work of the Society pay off and I trust that you enjoyed the day as the team and I did. From Theo, Kim, Steven and myself again thank you and we hope the events were as great a success as we all felt they were. Colin T. Fraser and team, Lyon and Turnbull. MUSEUM ASSISTANT UPDATE Art Exhibitions Five of Moray’s ‘Local Quines’ put together a really first class exhibition which was received exceptionally well - as it deserved! The sum of £220 was raised for Elgin Museum funds. The 2015 season should open with a World War I related art exhibition by Primary school children, followed by self taught artist Ian McArthur, then contemporary artist Sherin Elhegazi who specialises in diptych acrylic paintings and a potential gap (artist as yet to be confirmed). We will finish the year with Moray’s senior schools participating in an art project for display during October 2015 – project title to be confirmed. For July, August and September, in the Main Gallery we are very pleased to be able to host Alison Kinnaird’s glass installation, commemorating World War I, “Unknown”. Auctions, Antiques and Hidden Treasures Lecture & ‘NOT’ the Antiques Road show drop-in with Lyon and Turnbull Mary and I were delighted with the success of the Friday night talk by Colin Fraser and the drop-in on Saturday 1st November proved to be extremely successful; along with the raffle, we raised £725.50 for museum funds. We owe a big ‘thank you’ to the generosity of Lyon and Turnbull who provided their expertise and travel free of charge. It was lovely to see Colin, one of our ‘old boys’ from Discovery Club, back in the Museum where his interest in antiques began. Left to right: Steven Moore, Theo Burrell and Colin Fraser from Lyon and Turnbull with members of the public and their Treasures at the ‘NOT’ the Antiques Road Show’ event. Volunteer ‘Thank You’ party Some of the 40 people who attended the volunteer get together Myself, Bill and Mabel were able to say a big ‘THANK YOU’ to most of those who have helped at the museum this last year, as 40 people managed to make it along and very generously contributed some delicious treats to their own party! It was lovely to be able to mingle with friends and thankfully my 3 jugs of inventive cocktails disappeared before 2pm so they can’t have been too disastrous (thanks to Milan for the ingredients!). Above: Preparing cocktails, socialising and cocktails for sampling; ‘Leptopleuron Lacertium’, ‘Mr Ingram Special’ and a ‘Dandaleith Dandy’ . Coracle Race Charles Quinnell, presenter for BBC Alba successfully took part in the 5th successive Tay Descent on 25th October 2014, navigating 23 miles in appalling conditions in a replica Spey Coracle to raise money for Elgin Museum funds. Another 2-3 paddlers from the Coracle Society paddled 7 miles to help raise money for our museum. They can still be sponsored via The Coracle Society Website or through ‘Just Giving’, although the latter only for a short period from now. Above: Charles Quinnell testing out a coracle at the 2014 Portsoy Boat Festival. Museum Shop Tracy Metcalfe has taken a stock report for the end of season and will rethink where we want to go next year, including any new stock that might be relevant such as museum badges and Elginia masks! Tracy hard at work, sorting out the shop stock record Volunteer Training I am happy to report that since the volunteer party I have trained 9 volunteers in collection care and most have already had their hand to the grindstone since, working on documentation of the collection. Left: Working with volunteer Milan Ardis on the 1988 High Street Excavation finds Right: Volunteers move the log boat from ready for the Dandaleith stone. . Festival of Museums 2015 We did not put in an application for funding for 2015 as the deadline was 24th November and we were not sure if we were likely to be able to retain Di Hannan at that point. However, following discussion with Di, who, thanks to Heritage Lottery funding, we now get to keep for another 2yrs (YIPPEE!!!). We think we can do something medieval-related using what we already have in-house and with items borrowed from elsewhere. This should generate significant interest but without the need for external funding. Any ideas or volunteers available for March, please get in touch. Weddings in the Museum Thanks to Mary Shand who has attended a number of wedding fairs to advertise us as a venue, we had 2 unique weddings in the museum this year - Emma Spackman to Colin McKillop and Katherine Kerugh to Simon Jack. The Jack wedding with bridesmaids and Star-Wars multicoloured light sabres to see the eclectic young couple on their way to wedded bliss. Natural History Collection Martin Cook, joint editor of ‘The Breeding Birds of North-East Scotland, and in association with Bob McGowan, chairman of the British Ornithologists’ Union and bird specialist at the National Museums of Scotland has spent many months studying, cataloguing and finally deciding on the relevance of the stuffed-birds in the collection of Elgin Museum. Unfortunately after many hours of deliberation, research and discussion, disposal has been necessary for some of the birds which have no provenance, were in a very sorry state and too poor for display and of no use as a scientific record of the species. Permission for this disposal was agreed at the last AGM. This has freed up a small amount of much needed space and ensured that the collection that has been retained is relevant to the history of the museum and adds to story rather than detracts. A number of other specimens have been transported to NMS to add to their research record of British and foreign birds. Janet Trythall with a rather sad, faded, one eyed Kingfisher from Devon and Martin Cook with a (once upon-a-time) black grouse selected for disposal. Keith Bland, volunteer at NMS and a specialist in Lepidoptera spent 2 days in December rationalising our insect collection to ensure that we retain good specimens for use with schools and their ‘mini beast’ projects and for artists who come to draw and/or paint them. Keith took specimens back to NMS which were in good condition and/or had provenance and are of relevance for research purposes and the remainder of the collection was necessarily (but somewhat heart-breakingly) disposed of. Keith Bland studies our collection of insects Heather Townsend Museum Assistant Another round up of miscellanea from the Vice-president Well, the second half of the season flew past probably as some of it I spent out of the Museum – call it market research! And when we picked up a mooring for the afternoon in the Sound of Sleat to visit a museum, our first impression was, “Where’s the welcome we give in Elgin?”. Lossiemouth and especially our own volunteer, Iona Kielhorn did a grand job in September with Doors Open Day; The Moray Society still feels something of a moral responsibility to see that DOD continues in Moray since our Civic Committee relinquished the role. I especially enjoyed the opportunity to see round the sewage works. Has anyone any suggestions for an organiser for 2015? A welcome visitor was Neil Gordon, descendant of the Reverend Dr George Gordon of Birnie, here to donate family portraits. We must find somewhere to display at least the painting of George Gordon, archetypal Victorian polymath minister, correspondent with Charles Darwin and THHuxley and a key activist in the first seventy years of the Museum’s existence. Work on revision of our Constitution continues. At the moment the ball is in the court of the solicitors in Pitlochry; they have our responses to their long list of consultation questions to inform a first draft, and we expect to have the document ready for the AGM. The project is being funded through a Sustainability Grant from AIM, the Association of Independent Museums. This also funded a very well received free open evening: The Trustee Toolbox. More than thirty attendees, from a wide range of local charities, enjoyed the presentation by our charity specialist solicitor, and drinks and nibbles. Feedback was incredibly positive – after all, it is not at face value, the foundation for a riveting evening. The renewed interest in the Sculptor’s Cave, Covesea, led by Professor Ian Armit and his assistant Dr Lindsey Büster, Bradford University, has been tremendously satisfying for me personally with my special interest in the cave. It has been great to be involved, including through sharing of the resource of our Museum. It looks as if the child’s mandible (ELGNM 2007.35) donated in 2007, will soon be C14 dated to contribute to the story. The Data Structure Reports and raw find lists for the excavations this summer make exciting reading and expand the already known stories of excarnation at Covesea. Formal reports and hopefully further excavation will follow. Meanwhile, Lindsey presented a paper at the European Archaeology Association’s meeting in Istanbul in the session on “Caves as ritual spaces in later prehistoric Europe”. From their scanning programme, a 3D model is being made of one of our cut-marked vertebrae for a science festival in Bradford, “Being Human”. Here are a couple of web links that might be of interest:Rupert Chill and team carried out some musical experiments during the dig, competing with the herring gulls and kittiwakes outside: http://musicarchaeologyrecordings.wordpress.com/recordings/sculptors-cavecovesea-scotland/ After the dig, Channel 5 abseiled in (thanks to Mountain Guide Kevin Rutherford), to kick off a series about “Underground Britain”. http://www.channel5.com/shows/underground-britain/episodes/episode-1-683 Gordon Noble, Senior Lecturer at Aberdeen University made his annual visit to the Museum with some 30 archaeology students and staff, primarily to study our Kinneddar and Burghead stones which integrate with his Northern Picts project. Leanne and Morag also had out a table of Treasure Trove acquisitions which added an extra dimension to their visit. The afternoon continued with the trip to the Sculptor’s Cave made more challenging than ever for some of the less nimble because of the swell and algal froth among the beach boulders, but all contributing to the sense of place inherent in a field trip. Networking is often the best bit of museum sector meetings, the reward for enduring the excruciating “breaking up into discussion groups”. Last week I spent a day in Dundee at the RSS Discovery Centre, starting with a meeting of Museums Galleries Scotland’s Recognition Fund, from which we benefit for the care of our Recognised collection of fossils – currently Sue Beardmore’s year-long post. Such a wide range of collections are Recognised: from Neil Curtis with the whole of Aberdeen University’s collection and almost nowhere to display it since the loss of the Marischal Museum, to Anstruther with their Fifie, Reaper with their news of a successful grant application for a suit of sails to keep her sailing and the associated skills alive. Back-to-back was a meeting of the Museums Association, up for a Scottish visit. It was useful to see how Elgin fits into the bigger picture. In a session on the consultation for the revision of the MA’s “Code of Ethics” we learned more of the background to the Northampton disgrace with their sale of the Sekhemka statue. And it looks as if Di Hannan’s ongoing remit with outreach in its various senses accords well with the MA’s vision that “Museums Change Lives”. Over a glass of wine with the Chair, Sharon Heal, I was able to identify us as the Scottish finalists in the family Friendly Museums contest! A study day on conservation at Am Fasgadh, the Folk Museum at Newtonmore was an eye-opener. They have a new fantastic purpose-built store with laboratory, workshops and meeting rooms, and a wet-room shower, funded through Highland Council from monies ring-fenced before “The Crash”. Heather chose a 400 B.C Greek terracotta horse with headless rider for me to take for the Bring-an-Object session and Milan now has the two pieces and the recommendations of Jeanette Pearson, Inverness Museum conservator, for its restoration. We have a visit arranged to the Geology store in Inverness as a follow up. To end, top activity for me was the afternoon spent in the North Store with Heather looking for architectural stone. Key joys: we were almost undisturbed and doing a task with museum objects. A bonus was finding a plaster cast of our Burghead bull, Burghead 3. The question remains, why and by whom it was made – all we know is it was donated by Alexander Junner in 1929. The paper work we collated was a contribution to the project to rationalise our architectural stone, timed particularly in advance of the visit by Rona Walker, Historic Scotland and Mary Márkus, specialist carved stone consultant. Janet Trythall Vice President Education and Outreach December 2014 What a busy two years, where did the time go! Drop-in craft activities, object handling sessions, family packs being trialled as well as the Telegraph ‘Family Friendly Museums’ award ceremony to name a few events have led to the end of the LEADER funding and the imminent arrival of Christmas. Lots of schools and community groups have taken part in museum activities and outreach sessions, with more enquiries for next year already being received. With new funding from Heritage Lottery, I have already started work on the ‘Intergenerational’ activities based around the Incorporated Trades papers kept at the museum, as well as the usual school activity sessions and holiday activities. If anyone feels that they would like to come and help out at these sessions then please feel free, more often than not the adults have more fun that the children! Just a few of the people at one of our sessions this summer. We have handling boxes and loans boxes for groups to use which have proved really popular – especially the ‘Vikings’ box which schools seem to be fighting for just recently – and hopefully we will have a children’s corner ready for the museum opening next year that will encourage children of all ages to linger for longer in the museum. If you have any ideas/suggestions for activities or you would like to help next year then please feel free to get in touch. Finally, I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and thanks to all who have helped out this year, especially Heather and Sue without whom I would not have had nearly enough coffee/biscuits/listening ears and helpful ideas. Di Hannan Trustees' Toolkit On Wednesday 22nd October, The Moray Society, thanks to funding from the AIM Sustainability Fund, held a trustee training event which was open to all charity trustees within Moray. While the event was primarily a training session for our own trustees, we were delighted that we were also able to invite the many organisations who took the chance to hear the excellent presentation from Colin Liddell of Mitchells of Pitlochry, specialists in charity law. Colin gave a thorough and comprehensive run through of the latest regulations as regards OSCR, HMRC etc. Colin Liddell giving his presentation ------------------------------------Testimonial Below is a copy of a note left on the suggestions board in the Museum. As you will see, it is written by Freda Matassa, author of “Museum Collections Management”. Excellent unsolicited praise. Moray Society Prize Draw The Prize Draw has now been running for thirteen years and during that time has diverted almost £14,000 into the Moray Society current account. This total includes donations submitted through the Prize Draw fund but does not take into account any further income accrued from Gift Aid generated by eligible donations. This has been of considerable benefit to our daily running expenses and continues to be so, given the huge inflationary price rises on all our utility bills The price of the tickets remains unchanged and at present there are 93 tickets in circulation at £10 each. These are all eligible for the 12 prizes during their lifetime (1 year/4 draws with 3 prizes each). If you are not attracted by those odds then remember that you can still help the Society by purchasing one or more tickets in the sure knowledge that the only winner can be the Society itself. All income generated by the draw goes directly into Moray Society funds apart from the prize money paid to the lucky winners. Please address any questions or applications to me at the Museum (or email mabritch@keme.co.uk, or tel 01309 673597) Moray Society Prize Draw Please allocate me ........ tickets in the Moray Society Prize Draw @ £10.00 each. *I enclose my payment of £...... *Please forward me a standing order mandate Name....................................................................... Address………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Post Code.................................... *please delete if inappropriate Please address any questions or applications to me at the Museum (or tel 01309 673597). Ritchie Mabon Prize Draw Co-ordinator Membership Can I please make my annual plea to all members? It would be very helpful if all members could check how much they are paying on their standing orders and, in fact, to check that they actually are paying by standing order. There are some who may think they are paying who are not. The current rates are given below for all to check that they are paying the correct amount. I will write to ‘defaulters’ at the beginning of next year to ask whether they wish to remain as members. With the increased cost of admin, I am afraid we cannot afford to provide, for example, newsletters to those who do not pay. I am sure that, in the majority of cases, it is purely an oversight. PLEASE, PLEASE CHECK. Current rates are: CURRENT SUBSCRIPTION RATES Adult £25 (each member) Family (up to 2 adults and 2 children) £40 Student (ES40 & under 18’s) £10 Corporate Membership £100 Bill Dalgarno And now the end is near….. The time has come for the Museum to close its doors for winter, and my job of museum outreach project assistant is nearly over. My colleague Leanne and I have for the past six months, been quietly working away in the East store documenting, photographing, cataloguing and accessioning new objects (and catching up with the inevitable backlog that comes from too much stuff and not enough space) and it is with deep sighs that the crossing of t’s and dotting of i’s is close to completion. Our organised chaos has brought forth a veritable hoard of beautiful objects to go on display, perhaps not quite not quite in the vein of the Viking hoard recently found in Dumfries and Galloway, but still pretty exciting to look at and to imagine the context of their story. Some of the ‘new’ items include an inimitably wearable Iron Age glass bead (Leanne’s favourite) which when lifted up to admire, reminds one of looking into a sparkling spring sky, full of blue and white swirls of loveliness. This bead may have been made by recycling Roman glass, which shows that up-cycling, is not a new phenomenon. My (current) favourite however, has been a hinged, late medieval zoomorphic strap end, with a flexible terminal. This beautifully crafted piece was probably used as a book clasp, attached to leather straps which held the book shut, (maybe for a medieval lady’s girdle bookwell in my imagination it is!) but for me, what is most exciting about this particular item, is the fact that it still works in the way it was supposed to (I was so thrilled that I made a small video gently showing its flexibility). It has a strange little face at the end of the terminal which almost looks as if it is softly smiling and as an added bonus there is what appear to be the remnants of pink/red enamelling, which seem to glitter under certain light…. For those of us who love to see how book clasps looked in their original settings there are versions online at Pinterest. Indeed I was so enchanted; it nearly overtook my love for old brooches…. http://www.pinterest.com/jillie1/clasps/ Both objects are relatively recognisable, (I concur that the bead is more quickly recognisable than the book clasp) but they are something that people can connect with; they have not become distorted out of recognition, nor has their purpose shifted with the passage of time, their function remains relatively clear. The recognition and connection to objects on display is not something that happens with every item, for example, who knows what this object is and what is its function? There isn’t a prize for guessing, but you can smugly pat yourself on the back if you do know…museum professionals/archaeologists need not apply (you know who you are!) It is still a crucial purpose of a museum to look at how objects are displayed and interpreted, to recognise that meanings can change; that there are different opinions and understandings when viewing objects; and how we can use our collections to gain knowledge and in turn, cascade that knowledge to our audiences in order to make their personal museum experience more rewarding (apparently this has the specific term of ‘audience development’). This particular issue of re-connecting with the objects on display is one the team shall be mulling over for the next few months, who we are aiming our exhibitions at and how displays relate to the viewer are questions we need to address in order to communicate the story of Elgin and the people who lived, loved and died here in a more meaningful way. Finally, in October and armed with our lovely shiny new things and with Dave Anderson’s archaeology toolbox, (a big thank you to Dave and to NADFAS) Di, Leanne and I took part in a drop in session at the museum, taking charge of the archaeology handling as a tie in with the Festival of Archaeology and our drop-in guests got the first visitor viewing of the new objects that will go on display in the springtime. All the things Leanne and I have been part of this year have been exciting and have given us a new perspective on how to engage with an audience on an emotional as well as an intellectual level and one which we hope to bring forward to 2015, but until then, for the next few weeks the work in the East store continues. . Morag and Leanne at the drop in session, October 2014 Morag MacDonald Elgin Museum presents Moray Geology: Past, Present, Future An exploration of the unique Devonian fish and Permo-Triassic reptiles in Elgin Museum Sat 21st- Sun 22nd March 2015 List of speakers includes: Robert Davidson (University of Aberdeen) Prof Nigel Trewin (University of Aberdeen) Dr Nick Fraser (National Museum of Scotland) Prof Michael Benton (University of Bristol) Dr Sue Beardmore (Elgin Museum) Dr Alison Wright (Highland Geological Society) Dr Laura Säilä (University of Helsinki) and Dr Neil Clarke (Hunterian Museum, Glasgow) Registration £5; Fieldtrip £5 For further details or to register, contact Dr Sue Beardmore at moraygeology2015@hotmail.com Diary Dates Tuesday 9th December Management Committee meeting 10.30am Tuesday 20th January Moray Society Board meeting 5.30pm Thursday 22nd January My Year in Elgin Museum by Dr Sue Beardmore 2.00pm Tuesday 10th February Management Committee meeting 10.30am Friday 27th February Cromarty Medieval Burgh Project by Steve Birch of West Coast Archaeological Services 7.30pm March Date to be confirmed Members’ visit to the Biblical Garden Sat 21st and Sun 22nd March Geology of Moray: Past, Present and Future see separate advert Monday 16th (2pm) & Tuesday 17th March (10am) Volunteers’ Pre season Opening Meetings Saturday 28th March Museum Opening for Season 11.00am Tuesday 14th April Management Committee meeting Moray Society Board meeting 4.00pm 5.30pm Friday 24th April Moray Society AGM followed by Talk on the Dandaleith Stone (to be confirmed) 6.30pm 1 High Street, Elgin, Moray, IV30 1EQ – Tel: 01343 543 675 – Email: curator@elginmuseum.org.uk ELGIN MUSEUM – Scotland’s oldest independent Museum – Established 1836 The Moray Society: Company No 106529 Charity No 017546