County Report for:
Cornwall
Date:
18th March 2010
By:
Emmie Kell
Please remember that most of this report will be available on the Federation Website
on your ‘County’ pages. So please do write with this in mind. Any private issues for
the Committee only should be entered in last section named “Fed Eyes Only”
County Report
County Museum
Group
Has there been a meeting? What were main topics?
Was anything raised that should be brought to attention
of Fed Committee?
Write Your Report here
Cornwall Museums Group met on the 29th Jan 2010 at China Clay Country Park, St
Austell. Items on the agenda included updates on the MDF Volunteering project and
the development of the Cornwall Museums’ Strategy. The next CMG meeting is on
21st April at 10.00 am in Penlee House, Penzance.
The 2nd meeting of the Volunteer Network was held after the CMG meeting, this
forum is proving useful for sharing best practice in relation to volunteering in museums
and items on the agenda included how to attract more volunteers and barriers to
volunteering. There is a small travel subsidy for those wishing to attend this meeting,
contact Jo Warburton MDO (jo@geevor.com) for more information. The next
Volunteer Network meeting is at 10.00 am on Wednesday 31 st March in Lostwithiel at
the Guildhall (above Lostwithiel Museum).
Anything Happened
Has anything happened in your County which other
reps and Fed Committee should know about?
Write Your Report here
Developments:
MDF 2009-2010 – Value Volunteering
This project is nearing completion. The aim was to increase the number of volunteers
participating in museums and to widen the skills of existing volunteers. This was
undertaken in different ways including establishing a volunteer network, a volunteer
newsletter, running pilot projects and holding workshops. There is a report based on
the results of questionnaires sent round at the start of the project and aim to produce
a final report in due course which will be distributed as an advocacy document for
the importance of volunteering in Cornwall’s Museums. Copies of the Volunteer
Newsletter, Volunteer recruitment posters and a Volunteer Pack can all be obtained
from Jo Warburton (jo@geevor.com).
MDF 2010-2011
Discussions are taking place as to how the MLA’s theme of social and economic
regeneration can best be applied to Cornwall’s museums.
MDO provision for Cornwall
The existing MDO provision for Cornwall has been extended for a further 6 months.
Plans to establish a new permanent museums team for Cornwall are still being
developed, so in the meantime, MDOs will continue to support Cornwall Museums.
Training
What training has been undertaken in last quarter and
what is up-coming in next?
Write Your Report here
Training
Cornwall MDOs are continuing to liaise with the South West Fed and feed the training
needs for Cornwall’s museums into this programme. There will be an interesting and
varied series of training days in Cornwall this summer.
Successes
Any particular successes in county, including grant
applications, openings, awards, etc?
Write Your Report here
Leach Pottery long-listed for Art Fund Prize
The Leach Pottery in St Ives has been long-listed for the £100,000 Art Fund Prize, the
UK’s largest single arts prize. Public vote is still open and voting is through the art fund
website
http://www.artfundprize.org.uk/2010/vote/
The Porthcurno Telegraph Museum has been awarded a first-round pass and has
been offered a development grant of £50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. If
successful at round two, the project will refurbish and extend the existing and semiderelict buildings at Porthcurno Telegraph Museum to improve interpretation, and to
provide better access and storage conditions for the object and archive collections.
The resourcing of a new flexible learning space will proved opportunities for formal
and informal learning, exhibitions, family activities and community activities. This will
be supported by a part time Learning Officer and Community Participation and
Volunteer Co-Ordinator.
Problems
Any particular problems or challenges faced by
museums in your county?
Write Your Report here
Membership
Any new members? Any lost members?
Write Your Report here
Ideas
Any ideas from you or your membership to help the Fed
help you?
Write Your Report here
Any Web Links
Any Websites created by County members of interest?
Write Your Report here
This is the address for the newly created Cornwall Digital Learning Network.
http://digitallearningnetwork.net/groups/cornwall-digital-learning-network
The aim of the group is to help promote and share best practice in digital learning –
basically to help people find out the latest ways that technology can help to
promote learning in museums. The group is very informal and is reliant on people
sharing their ideas, flagging up examples of best practice and asking questions.
The group is hosted the Digital Learning Network (born out of the E-Learning Group for
Museums, Libraries and Archives) or DLnet for short, the aim of which is to go back to
basics and just get people talking about technology and learning in museums,
archives and libraries.
The Digital Learning Network arranges events, meetups (called ‘Think Drinks’) and
really tries to encourage people to come together – whether it’s 3 people in a pub or
100 people at a conference.
The purpose of the group is to help



people find out more about digital learning
build networks
exchange ideas, experiences, and best practice
You can be a member of DLnet online for free, just follow the link above.
Anything Else
Any other points that you wish to raise?
Write Your Report here
The group MAGnet which was formed to support education and learning in museums
and archives in Cornwall has not met for a while. It has been suggested that the
rather than trying to resurrect these meetings a dedicated slot on learning is provided
either within or at the end of each Cornwall Museum Group meeting to ensure that
the focus on best practice in learning in Cornwall’s museums and galleries is
maintained. This will be discussed at the next CMG meeting.
Images of Use for Fed
Do you have any images that might be of use to the Fed
or could be put up on the website?
Please send images separately to co-ordinator
Fed Eyes Only
Enter here any issues, topics or news for Federation
Committee only
Write private issues here
Please feel free to keep report short and to the point.
If there is no news, don’t worry – just leave section blank.