At last weekend’s Christmas market we asked people to tell us their memories of Kelham Island Museum and to help us start thinking about what the restored museum should be like.
Here are a few of the things people can remember:
“A place to bring visitors – so proud of our heritage!”
“The street of Little Mesters provided a fascinating insight to old Sheffield – just what Kelham should do.”
“The noise and fascination of the steam engine at full throttle. What a feat of engineering.”
And here are some of the suggestions for the new museum:
“More human stories and reminiscences”
“Must have plenty of interactive hands on exhibits so that children are interested and involved.”
“Hands on activities for the grown ups as well as for the children.”
“Can you put a flood mark on one of the walls and a new section dedicated to the flood?”
What are your memories of the museum? Do you have any suggestions for the future? Click on 'comments / leave a comment' below to add your thoughts and see what other people have written.
Tuesday 4 December 2007
Consultation at the Christmas market
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4 comments:
My favourite Kelham Island memory is being taught how to ride a Penny Farthing (shakily) around the yard by the Bessemer Converter on a school trip.
We loved the museum; the steam engine running (shame it wasn't for longer!), the exhibits and the soft play area. Hope its as good as new soon.
Ideas; a nice cafe with good coffee as well as tea and home made cakes? (says Mum!)
it would be lovely to have lots of real stories about they type of work that was done in Sheffield - perhaps audio recordings near some of the exhibits. Could you work with BBC Radio Sheffield to get people's memories recorded now and used later? It would be good publicity for the museum
I really hope the museum can be restored and not dumbed down too much or kiddified like the Weston Park museum was when it was refurbished. The great thing about Kelham Island was it was possible to learn a lot about the old Sheffield trades. The displays and explanations were pitched just right at the level an adult could learn from.
There's no point in aiming museums just at kids. It leads to a level of oversimplification and dumbing down of knowledge. Any child visiting will always have an adult with them who can help the child understand the displays in case of difficulty and the museum should have clipboards and interpretive hand outs/activities for younger viewers.
I hope there are no intrusive audio commentaries, they distract from trying to read and concentrate on the displays.
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