We're ready to go!

The walls are painted, the floor is going down, the designs are signed off. RS, our gallery fit out contractors, are working off-site building our new displays and showcases are being made. Text is being written, images chosen, objects cleaned and mounted. Over the next two months Wakefield’s new museum will start to grow at Wakefield One.

Watch this space because it’s filling up!

View of the museum entrance

The main gallery is taking shape



Inside the Front Room

Entrance to the Temporary Exhibition Gallery

Dressing up - a preview!

We have commissioned some costumes for trying on in the new museum, based on items in the collection. 

One of the dresses is a really unusual Victorian wedding dress (showing that wedding dresses were not all white).

Our dress-up version has cheats so that it can be easily fastened to be worn over the top of ordinary clothing (rather than a corset!).  It still needs the blue braid and fringing adding to it, but we thought you might like to see the work in progress.



Original Victorian wedding dress

Our dress-up version (in progress - fringing to be added!)

News from the Stores

Conservation work for the new museum is well underway, but with so many objects coming on display for the first time, there is a lot to do!  Although our conservator, Mary Macqueen, is getting help from external conservators for the specialist work, the enormous workload has given us a fantastic opportunity to also involve work experience students.   

This photograph shows Alice Galloway, a conservation student from Lincoln University, cleaning one of the objects which will be seen in the new museum.  Alice is working alongside Mary, gaining valuable real-life museum experience which will help her in her studies – and giving us an extra pair of hands at this very busy time!



Conservation student, Alice Galloway cleaning a 1960s Dansette record player for display in The Front Room.

Alice Galloway says:
“I have had a fantastic time working on the materials for the new museum, working under a very experienced conservator with a real sense of the value of the work being done. It will be great to be able to come back later and see the museum when it opens - and perhaps bring other students with me!”

Sue Thomas, Principal Lecturer in the School of Art and Design, Lincoln University, visited last week to assess the placement and said:
“It is really good to have the co-operation of a museum service such as Wakefield Council's, especially when they can still offer a student this very valuable experience during this period of change. We hope to continue with the links for the future.”

Alice has worked on a range of objects during her time with us, including the wonderful signed cricket bat we already reported on.  See the before and after photos and spot the difference!



Before cleaning

After cleaning by Alice, our work placement student

Rugby Legend Lends a Hand

We met record breaking rugby hero Neil Fox today to look through some of the objects he has amassed during his decorated and much celebrated career with Wakefield Trinity. Neil, originally from Sharlston and whose two brothers Peter and Don were also Trinity players,  played in the legendary team which won League, Challenge and Yorkshire cup finals throughout the 1960s. Over a career that spanned three decades he scored 6,220 points, more than any other player. He also played and toured with Yorkshire, England and Great Britain.

Neil is very kindly lending some of his hard won medals, his Lance Todd trophy and International caps. These items will help us create a rugby display which will celebrate Trinity’s 1960s golden age.

Neil Fox and Wildcats General Manager Davide Longo with some of the items to be displayed in Wakefield Museum

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!