A huge well done to my friends at Athelstan Museum, Malmesbury, where the work of the dedicated volunteers who run every aspect of the museum has recently been recognised by two awards. Volunteer stalwart Bill Reed received the Marsh Volunteers for Museum Learning Award for South West England for the Malmesbury Voices oral history project … Continue reading Congratulations Malmesbury volunteers

Thanks to the generosity of Biffa Award and the success of the previously funded projects, I'm delighted to be working with AIM on a further round of History Makers grants. The programme is now open for Expressions of Interest. Eligible organisations can apply for grants of up to £75,000 to create new exhibitions telling the … Continue reading Does your museum have a History Maker?

The Modes Users Association (MUA) have just released the latest version of their Modes Complete museum collections management software (stop reading now if you are already yawning, but please read on if you are a bit of a data geek like me). For the last few months I've been part of the team beavering away … Continue reading Under the bonnet of Modes

Just wanted to say congratulations and give a plug for the refreshed websites of Chard Museum and Athelstan Museum, Malmesbury. Both have been given a makeover and recently relaunched as part of wider development work at both museums to improve user communication and offer. These two museums are 100% volunteer run and although physically closed … Continue reading Athelstan and Chard – website refresh

Wow. How the world has changed since I last posted on here..... First and foremost I hope you and yours are well and safe. A window into my life over the last month would be: Work/Serious stuff As a freelancer I was already used to working from home, but now share the office with my … Continue reading What a difference a month makes

Wasn't quite sure what to call this post - such unprecedented times. Talking to friends and colleagues over the last few days its clear we are all learning to adjust together to this new way of being. Not easy, but it is temporary and we will come out the other side. Museums and other cultural … Continue reading Hang in there

On the day that the new £20 note is launched featuring JMW Turner I wanted to say a huge 'well done' to my friends at Athelstan Museum Malmesbury on their successful fund-raising campaign to purchase a Turner watercolour of Malmesbury Abbey. The purchase of the painting will be accompanied by a redesign of the museum's … Continue reading Turner in Malmesbury

Happy New Year one and all Starting off the new decade with a nice mix of exciting new projects and continuing work with some organizations I have worked with for a while now. Looking back to the end of last year I finished the evaluation of a National Lottery Heritage Funded Collecting Cultures funded project … Continue reading Creative Wiltshire

Warning - this post contains discussion of museum documentation. If that's not your thing, maybe look elsewhere! One of the services I offer is support and training with the Modes Collections Management System. After 20+ years working with the software and getting to know the team I've decided to jump in even further and have … Continue reading A la Modes