Sporting history comes to Wakefield Museum

When hostilities resume at Headingley this week, as South Africa try to replace England as the world’s top test cricket team, we might want to cast our minds back to a time when cricket was more of the fabled gentleman’s game.

Wm Sykes Cricket Bat

Wakefield Museum has acquired a cricket bat from match in 1935, in time for the test match between the same two teams this Thursday.

Signed by the 1935 test match teams

The cricket bat, recently acquired by The Friends of Wakefield Art Galleries and Museums for Wakefield Museum, was signed by all the players in the 1935 England-v-South-Africa test match,  including Herby Wade, Dudley Nourse, Jock Cameron, R.E.S.Wyatt, Herbert Sutcliffe and Hedley Verity. Signed and endorsed on front by Jock Cameron, who tragically died of typhoid fever shortly after returning to South Africa. 



The bat was made locally by William Sykes Ltd.of Horbury, a world leader in the production of high quality sports equipment. The company went on to build a worldwide reputation for excellence producing high quality sports equipment including the footballs used for cup finals in the 1940s.

The bat is a great asset for Wakefield Museum and will be a proud product displayed in the Work section as it was 'Made in Wakefield'.

And the winners of the 1935 test series? South Africa sneaked it 1-0!

Museum Engagement Event

Today saw people from a range of organisation across the district invited to the first of a new series of engagement events planned by the museum service. Initially aimed at those with an interest in local history and heritage, it was an opportunity for the attendees to find out more about the museum service and some of the exciting new developments. 

The group met today to hear about developments in the museums

Museums are undergoing major change in how we deliver our services particularly with the transfer of Wakefield Museum to Wakefield One and the building of a new museum as part of The Forum, Castleford.  The meeting outlined how these two new museums will offer the opportunity to reinvigorate our displays and how people will be able to access collections and information in different ways. Other exciting developments were also discussed, including work on the future development of our collections, plans for community led exhibitions and displays, and how we will further develop our learning and outreach work. 

Curator, John Whitaker, explaining how the new museums are being designed to allow for changing displays

With so much going on it was an ideal time to kick of these engagement sessions with a chance to meet with our museum team.  The event included staff from the collections, exhibitions and learning teams doing a series of short presentation highlighting current projects and outlining future plans. Needless to say the sessions generated much interest. We see them as an opportunity for the service get feedback and how we are doing and to find out how local people might want to become more involved in what we do.

Thanks to everyone that came!

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'Doing a turn' in The Front Room

Time for another sneaky preview of the new museum.
We will have a gallery exploring the home which we are calling The Front Room.  This will be a very interactive space, and we are even planning some performance spaces in it.  These areas will be perfect for costumed role-play.

Layout design of The Front Room with raised platform as a performance space

Here is an initial view within the gallery, looking towards one of these performance spaces - a Victorian kitchen.  

The table at the front of the picture will be used for object handling, and to house interactives for families to enjoy.  

It's a space the Learning Team can't wait to get their hands on!

Charles Waterton celebrated in new BBC series

200 years ago this year local naturalist Charles Waterton set off on the first of his celebrated ‘Wanderings’ in Guyana in South America. He made three trips into the rainforests and brought back many specimens of bird and animal, which he preserved and displayed in the museum at his home at Walton Hall, near Wakefield.  It was his first trip in which he made one of his most important achievements, bringing back a sample of wourali poison (known today as curare).  

This poison was prepared by the Macusi, an Amerindian tribe, for use on their blow pipe arrows when hunting.  Curare paralyses the body of the victim leaving them unable to breathe for themselves. 

Physicians in Europe were keen to learn more about the poison because of its potential use in medicine but few samples were available to perform tests, and most samples which had previously come into Europe were weak. In 1812, Waterton not only brought back a powerful sample but also observed how it was prepared.  He was even able to perform an experiment with it: he gave some to a female donkey (which he named Wouralia) and using bellows to keep her breathing, he showed that she made a complete recovery, living for another 24 years.

Waterton's experiments on the donkey with curare were detailed in this booklet, published in 1839.  

Although a powerful and controllable substance, curare didn't have a proper role in medicine until the 1940s when it was used with anaesthetics to perform operations. The curare keeps the body of a patient calm and relaxed whilst the anaesthetic makes them unconscious. Without curare a higher dose of anaesthetic is needed which can be dangerous for the patient.

So today Waterton is recognised as bringing curare to Europe to be used in operating theatres around the world.

His discoveries are to be part of a new BBC series on the History of Medicine which Wakefield Museum is helping to research.

A quiver of curare tipped arrows and a bowl used by the Macusi tribe to prepare the poison will be on display in the new Waterton gallery at Wakefield Museum.

Bowl used by the Macusi tribe to prepare curare

Ideas and plans are coming to life!

Here is a quick preview of the layout of one of the sections of the new museum.  This section uses the decorative carved beams in the collection to show how some of the now long-gone Tudor architecture of Wakefield looked. (The beams are represented here by simple brown blocks, but they are beautiful really!).  See this posting for more details.



Design ideas for the Tudor Wakefield section of the museum

It is really exciting for us to see the progress from ideas, concepts and lists to 3D drawings like this.  Can't wait to see it for real!

The Celtic Head

The Museum's Celtic Head has been used to inspire creative writing in a number of ways.  

It has been taken into schools to inspire personification poetry - asking how an archaeological object would 'feel' about being discovered and put on display in our new museum.

The Celtic Head has been used to inspire a varied range of creative writing!

It has also been on display in Drury Lane Library, where it inspired this piece of writing by Brittany in the Library's Teenage Readers Group.

...................

I held her hand and supported her as she limped through the library.  Turning towards the literature section I noticed something and hatched a plan.  

At 8pm I caught the bus back to town.  As soon as I’d tucked her in bed I had changed into my jeans and jumper and snuck out.  Sitting on the bus I evaluated my plan.  I had never done anything like this, never thought I’d be capable but here I was.  Jerking forward as the bus braked at the bus stop, I climbed out of the bus, throwing a wave at the familiar bus driver.

Watching for any standing public, I walked around the back of the library.  I stood at the back door and slipped the key in.  I ran through the hall and deactivated the beeping alarm.  I caught it just before it screamed at me, and I pushed away the thought of what would’ve happened if they’d changed the code.  

I went through the doors and strode into the main hall, overwhelmed by the vastness of the area without the bustle of the crowds.  I stopped at the dome holding the Celtic head.  Up close it looked like it was snarling, as if it knew my plan.  

I pulled out my nail file, and gently eased it around the circle lid.  Being careful not to drop anything I eased the lid up.  Lifting myself onto the cabinet I reached inside and lifted the Celtic head from its place.  Slowly and carefully I pulled it into my arms, set it on the cabinet and climbed back to the ground.  

Staring at its gruesome face I realised what I had done, a tear rolled down my cheek.  It was for the best, I knew that.  But why, I questioned myself, had it come to this?  Why had we been dealt this hand?  I pushed the thoughts out of my mind, picked up the head and turned around. 

“Hey Rox.”  Standing there was Liz, a library worker, my personal favourite one at that. The head suddenly felt 10 times heavier, I didn’t have time to hide it.  “What you doing here?”  She continued, although it was pretty obvious what I was doing here.  
“I was…um…I just needed to…”  I sighed, giving up the façade.  “I was taking the Celtic head.  Its magic you know.”  Tears started coming quicker.  

“I don’t believe in magic.”

“Neither do I.  But it’s worth a shot.” I tried to wipe the tears, but the stupid head got in the way.  “How did you know I was here?” 

“I was just leaving, heard the alarm beeping.  Came to investigate.  I assume you used your mum’s old key?” 

“Yeh.  It was still on the hook.” 

“Look Rox, I’m not going to involve the police.  But please, put the head back.  Its thousands of years old, it won’t help.  Please.”  She took a step closer.  By now the tears were coming so fast, and my nose was running, but I couldn’t stop.  I was nearing hysterics.  

“Well nothing else helps.  We need something, and this is the only thing I can see at the moment.”  I hiccupped.  

“What did your mum say?  Did she think this was a good idea?”  She came closer, held out a tissue.  I put the head back on the cabinet and took the tissue.  

“She didn’t say anything.  I didn’t tell her.  Even if I had she wouldn’t have agreed. She’s given up Liz, and I can’t accept it.  She may accept that there’s nothing else, but I don’t.  I need my mum, forever, not for the next 3 months.  I can’t just sit there and do nothing.  When I’m helping her walk I see people look at us, they pity me.  I don’t want that, I want people to be jealous of my beautiful, healthy mum, one who doesn’t have…cancer.” I’m hiccupping so much now.  

“Listen.  You can do this.  You don’t need a silly head to sort your life out.  You need to just accept it…I know it’s hard but there is nothing left.  You need to get on with your life, enjoy it while you still can.”  She’s come over now, she puts her arm around me, just like she did when I was younger, and came to work with my mum, it was her way of saying hey.  Now it feels like a comfort blanket, all warm and safe.  “You know we’re always here for you both.  Come see us more often.  We miss your mum, and you.”  

I turn towards the head.  It doesn’t look as scary now.  I realise I don’t need it to feel better, I have something better. 

Love.  

A Miraculous Discovery - The benefits of working with Local Studies

One of the great benefits the Wakefield Museum project is the bringing together of two fantastic local history resources – the museum collections and the local studies library. Last week we looked through the studies store to see what we could use to complement the museum collections on display and found something amazing!

This pamphlet  “A Miraculous Victory” was published in May 1643 and tells the story of a daring night time raid on Wakefield during the English Civil Wars. Thomas Fairfax (later the Commander in Chief of Parliament's New Model Army) stormed through Wakefield from Stanley down Northgate and into the Bullring taking prisoners, guns and ammunition belonging to King Charles I.

A Miraculous Victory - 17th century pamphlet held in Wakefield's Local Studies collection

The War area at Wakefield Museum will focus on different wars fought or endured by Wakefield’s residents and the first display will feature the English Civil Wars. There were three major events in Wakefield, from a skirmish at Walton Hall, the fighting in the streets of Wakefield and the siege of Sandal Castle, which led to its destruction. Using this pamphlet from Local Studies with examples of cannon balls, swords and the armour worn by Colonel Bright, one of Fairfax’s officers on the night time attack, will not only bring together collections but give a bigger view of what happened in our town. 

Colonel Bright's armour - Colonel Bright was involved in the attack detailed in the pamphlet