New Young Curators' Club

We are excited to be launching a new Young Curators’ Club in September.

This free club will give young people the opportunity to get involved in the museum, handle real museum objects, discover interesting historical facts and try new craft activities.

Over the summer, young people are also invited to two drop-in activities to meet the session leader, find out more about the club, pick-up a members’ pack, and try a new craft activity to take home.

No need to book, just drop-in!

Free drop-in activities for 8-13 year olds
Learning Zone within Wakefield Library
17^th August and 31^st August

Saturday 17 August – Monster Pebbles – 10am to 12noon

Using the Sandal Castle stone gargoyle as inspiration, have a go at creating your own painted stone monsters!

Saturday 31 August – Butterfly Bonanza – 10am to 12noon
Taking a look at the butterflies in the Waterton Collection, and drawing inspiration from Waterton’s Nature Reserve, create your own butterfly feeder to take home.

Young Curators’ Club

• Are you aged between 8 and 13?

• Do you enjoy discovering interesting historical facts and trying new crafts?

Why not join the Young Curators’ Club?

The Young Curators’ Club will start on 21 September and will take place on the third Saturday of each month, from 10 am to 11.30 am.

Email for an information pack.

Scissors, Paper, Stone

Wakefield Museums recently secured funding from Arts Council England to commission an artist to create an installation using museum objects in an innovative and exciting way in a special showcase in Wakefield One – the building in which Wakefield Museum is based.  

We were looking for an artist to use our collections as inspiration to create a beautifully engaging display. We asked artists to submit ideas that would allow people to engage with museum collections in a different way. 

We received loads of fabulous proposals that used the objects (we suggested a decorative Victorian bath or some stone heads) in some really interesting and unusual ways.

In the end we selected a proposal to use the stone heads in a piece called ‘Scissors Paper Stone’ by artist Rachel Sim.  Rachel is a recent graduate from the Royal College of Art.  Her work offers a graphic interpretation of cityscapes using various methods of printmaking to reflect her personal view of architecture and contemporary urban experience.

In Scissors Paper Stone, Rachel will explore the themes of renewal, reinvention and the passing of time in Wakefield.  She will create a series of sketchbook drawings of the architecture, patterns and textures of Wakefield.  These will inspire structures and prints that will be formed into a 3D installation -a cardboard city. The stone heads (from buildings in Wakefield) will then be placed on plinths within the cardboard city, allowing the viewer to peak through and spot them.

The installation will be in place from autumn this year.  So watch this space for more updates.

For more information about Rachel Sim, visit her website.

Behind the scenes for Castleford Museum

Some of the rarest and most important pieces going on display in the new Castleford Museum are the remains of an Iron Age chariot. 

After over 2000 years in the ground they are very fragile and had to be sent to a specialist conservation lab at York Archaeological Trust to get them ready for the exhibition. Here is one of the finished tyres in its protective sealed box being loaded into the van to come back to the museum stores. The next step is for a specialist mount maker to create some sort of cradle to hold it all in place.

Inside this box is an Iron Age tyre!

Buried in the chariot was the body of an Iron Age man. His remains are also very fragile and the conservator’s next job is to prepare the skull for display.

 

Archaeological conservator, Mags Felter from York Archaeological Trust

This skull was buried with the iron age chariot and is now very fragile

Imagine... Castleford Forum Library and Museum

This is the top floor of the new Castleford Forum Library and Museum, it may not look special yet but imagine….

A brave warrior being immortalised in a grand chariot burial

A roman soldier in full armour, making his way to Castleford and missing the home cooking of Rome

The heat of a glass works – hot enough to melt the soles of your shoes

The anguish of a community ripped apart by closing mines, over time finding pride and strength in their town.

The roar of a crowd as Castleford beat Huddersfield 11 – 8 in the Rugby League Cup 1935

The great and good of Castleford in their fancy frocks playing marbles on a ‘Reet Night aht’

These are some of the stories you will encounter at the new Castleford Museum opening later this year; Imagine….

All in a flap - and the winner is...

The votes have been cast.  The scores have been counted.  We have a winner!

Thank you for voting on your favourite flapper dress! 

Come to Wakefield Museum on Wednesday 31 July (5-7pm) to see all 3 dresses, and see which one has gone on display along with carefully chosen accessories.

To celebrate the change in our displays, we are going all 1920s for the evening, and everyone is invited to come and get into the spirit!

Picture taken from a 1920s birthday card in the museum collection

Inspired by three gorgeous 1920s flapper dresses in our collections this event is bound to be hotsy- totsy!

The joint will be swinging, with a Charleston inspired Zumba, a fascinator workshop, bow-tie tying demonstrations, a display of vintage inspired headpieces, and much more.

So don’t be a sap, pop on your glad rags and head on down for a swell time.

Flapper Dresses
The public has been casting votes as to which 1920s flapper dress should go on display at Wakefield Museum.  For tonight only all three dress will be displayed, with our social history curator on hand to talk about the dresses and the museum collections.
 

Fabulous Fascinators

Join in with a drop in workshop to make a 1920s inspired hair fascinator.  Plus bow tie tying demonstrations for the gentlemen!

Milliner extraordinaire

Knottingley-based milliner, Deborah Walton will be showing some 1920s-inspired hats in her collection, and will be available for hat advice!

Photo Credit: Jessie Leong Photography

Charleston Zumba
Get with the swing of things with a taster session of Charleston Zumba from Sports and Active Lifestyles.  Sessions are at 6.30 and 7.00pm.  Sports gear not necessary!

A 1920s card in the museum collection

The Great Gatsby

“Can’t repeat the past?…Why of course you can!”  F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Need some literary inspiration…take a look at some of the classic novels written during this period in a novel book display from Wakefield Libraries.

Mocktails @ Create Café

Indulge yourself with a 1920s style mocktail at Create Café.  Create café will also be offering a special menu for the evening.  Charges apply.

Life in the 1320s!
Plus visit our temporary exhibition Food For All Seasons to meet our infamous peasant Alice Gerbod and find out what life was like in the 1320s!

All events are free unless otherwise stated.

Drop in to Wakefield Museum between 5.00pm & 7.30pm.

Some fabulous drawings!

Last week we received a lovely package in the post...

In early June a group of pupils from Silcoates School visited Sandal Castle as part of their school project work.  Pupils were taken around the castle site by one of the Museums' Learning  Officers and told the history of the site along with information about the castle's surviving features.

Pupils asked thoughtful questions to further their understanding and worked on site collating evidence for their project work.

Along with this lovely letter, were some pupils' drawings, and they were all so fantastic, we had to share a few!

What a lovely letter to receive!

What we can remember about our trip to Sandal Castle:

A pupil's drawing of Sandal Castle done back at school - all the features are there!

This picture shows an aerial view of Sandal Castle, showing impressive visualisation skills!

We love this image of a knight at the Battle of Wakefield!

Castleford's new museum!

Castleford’s eagerly awaited new library and museum, is well underway.

The museum team is working hard on the internal fit out design for the third floor museum space.

Displays will include:

• The importance of Bronze Age Castleford

• A unique and fascinating Iron Age burial chariot

• Objects from Roman Castleford (or Lagentium as it was known then), including a leather sandal, a milestone and an ear pick!

• How mining has shaped the community

• A stunning display of Castleford made glass and ceramics

• Plus rugby, marbles and not forgetting Henry Moore.

There will also be 4 very special community cases, offering the opportunity to the people of Castleford to make their own museum displays.

This plan shows the basic layout of the new museum space. The display cases on the left hand side will consist of roman stonework pieces.



This plan shows the central display island that will feature a large screen showing historic film from the area.

As we get closer to the scheduled opening in autumn this year watch this space for more behind the scenes updates…