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CURATOR'S
COMMENTS
by
Maurice Cole
Reference
to my notes suggests that a year has gone by since last I penned this
column.
How have we spent this period, forced upon us by the Public Inquiry, dealt
with in the Chairman's and the Editor's Notes? Well, in some ways the
delay has been most welcome, which statement you may find difficult to
understand! However, it has given us time to undertake much of the work
necessary to bring us into line with the requirements of museum
registration.
Most important in this connection is the matter of formally cataloguing
the collection. Much work has been done over the years in this regard, but
it became increasingly apparent that the 'goal posts' had moved somewhat,
necessitating a fresh start.
Many meetings have taken place with bodies such as The East Midlands
Museum Service, the Museum Documentation Association and other museums who
have had to travel this particular road. The decision was taken to commit
straight to computer and Project Advisor, Tony Barratt, has been
particularly active in this area. With the help of companies such as
Barclaycard and Dell Computers, the office at Weedon has taken on the
appearance of a computer suite.
Meanwhile elsewhere on the Weedon site more practical work has been
proceeding apace! Readers must appreciate that the Trust has been
collecting material to create the museum for some twenty years and storing
it in cartons and pallets.
While the limited records gave an indication of the content, we took a
deep breath and started to unpack the lot, so that we could re-pack in
thermal containers; in effect this means that when complete, we
shall have all the branches in one container, and all the foam equipment
in another, and so on. Revelling in this task have been Malc Tovey and
Allan Youngman assisted by Pat and Roy Murfin and Phil Hansford.
Elsewhere on the site, engineer Norman Simmonds, together with Denis
Bigrave and Cedric Ellingworth have been busy refurbishing the Trust's TK
Bedford GP lorry, which we have decided to retain so that it can be used
to recover larger exhibits. Restoration work has also commenced on EN6080,
a Leyland/Metz TL originally purchased by the County Borough of Bury in
1934, largely due to the generosity of 'Friend' Ken Unsworth who knew the
appliance in its final years of service. Pat, Roy and Phil have been
closely involved with this project, which will take some time to come to
fruition.
Recent acquisitions have ranged from communications and fire alarm
equipment, to a quantity of glass slides, received via Ken McClennan,
which feature a wartime fire on board a ship called Corinthic at
Liverpool - all useful additions to the collection.
For the post card this time (see page 7) we turn to a card sent from a
National Fire Brigades Union camp at Kings Park, Bournemouth in 1914,
showing the nightly arena demonstration depicting early firefighting. Such
displays had of course led to loss of life on occasions, but they
continued to be a popular feature of such events.
The Collection Curator can be contacted at: 9 Morland Way, Manton Heights,
Bedford, MK41 7NP. Telephone: 01234 355453
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