Newsletter - Issue 36

SECMF

You probably have heard of the SECMF, of which we are a member. This stands for the South East Cornwall Museums' Forum, which is headed by our Curatorial Advisor, Kate Johnston.

The group was formed just one year ago, and is made up of the eight museums in Caradon: Elliott's Grocery Store and Mary Newman's Cottage and Garden, Saltash Heritage Museum and Local History Centre, Mount Edgcumbe House, The Guildhall Museum and Gaol in Looe, Polperro Heritage Museum of Smuggling & Fishing, Liskeard and District Museum, Stuart House Trust Arts and Heritage Centre, and Callington Museum. Together we have produced the "Time Trail" leaflet. We have all had access audits arranged, and have obtained group funding for a travelling exhibition, group funding for our own Children's Workshops, and have put together two costume boxes - Victorian and Tudor - which can be taken along to schools to enhance items of the period. We have an oral history project on the go entitled "Saltash Stories" and the results of these interviews will soon be able to be heard in the Museum. As you can see, there are great advantages to us being part of a larger group, as funding for projects is easier to obtain. Training sessions have been arranged assisting with oral history interviewing, working with children, focus on live interpretation, improving documentation and labelling of items and how we can better liaise with our schools. These training sesions have been attended by several members of the Management Committee.

If you have a special interest and would like to become involved, please let Lizzy Sharpe-Asprey know, as she is our representative on the committee.

Are you interested in Archaeology?

"Archaeology is the study of man's past through the material remains surviving to us."

This term is used when there is not enough written information for areas and periods to provide a reasonable guide as to what was happening at the time.

Still interested? Then you may be pleased to know that Saltash Heritage has set up an Archaeology Group. The aim of the group will be to investigate and study sites of interest in the local area. Some sites have already been identified by aerial photography as likely pre-hsitory sites.

We already have expreienced members, including a tutor of archaeology, who are more than willing to share their knowledge. In the main, our investigations will be done in the form of field walking and the use of geophysical surveying instruments.

Of course, we shall need funding to buy the equipment required and to that end we are hopeful of acquiring a Local Heritage Initiative Grant.

Even if you have no experience or knowledge of archaeology it doesn't matter, as long as you have the enthusiasm, we will be delighted to have you on board!

If you require further details, please contact Dave Kent.

Saltash Heritage, 17 Lower Fore Street, Saltash, Cornwall, PL12 6JQ --- Tel: 01752 848466 --- Email: info@saltash-heritage.org.uk --- Registered Charity No. 297525