In April I was lucky enough to start the Lifelong Learning placement at the Ulster Museum. I have always enjoyed history and communicating with people from all backgrounds and after postgraduate research in history and museum studies I began working with Discover History (Ulster Museum). This confirmed that I wanted wider experience and this CEI placement has certainly offered that.
Susan Kelly with the Junction Club group wearing Girona inspired costumes at Discover History, Ulster Museum
Much of my early work involved organising an Edwardian Fun Day at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum to celebrate the first birthday of the Treasure House project.[1] We entertained 200 Clanmil residents at an action packed day with street games, workshops, musicians, and light entertainment from Andersonstown Community Theatre. Guests were sustained by chips, cakes and lashings of the all-important tea! It was indeed a hugely fun day and I was greatly helped by my coach Sue Cathcart, other CEI trainees, staff, volunteers and the weather! Everyone worked hard and left tired but happy and we heard it was the talk of Clanmil.
Edwardian Fun Day at Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, making sweetie mice
A very different but equally satisfying project has been to design and deliver an outreach programme for fourteen adults with learning difficulties at the Junction Club. My aim was to make part of the NMNI collection accessible to a group who are not traditional museum visitors. Our theme was the Ulster Museum’s Girona collection and I introduced this with a short story I had written for a drama workshop. Costumes and props were provided and photographs taken to record the performances. It was satisfying to see the ownership each person took of their character and of the iconic salamander. The next week we considered the potato, as legend has it they were washed ashore with the Spanish Armada shipwrecks. We studied images from the NMNI collection, such as Paul Henry’s The Potato Diggers and agricultural photographs from the Glass album. We then decorated skittles with the characters from the Girona. None were damaged in the hilarity of the ensuing potato skittles. On our visit to the Ulster Museum it was wonderful to see how much the group had learned and remembered. They were vocal about their enjoyment.
To design a programme that gave a group a warm welcome and a new feeling of familiarity with the collection was challenging but ultimately extremely rewarding. I will consolidate experience gained with a variety of groups in forthcoming months, such as young mothers and a club who have language and mobility issues following strokes. I am really enjoying being in the education office at the Ulster Museum with the support and creativity of the lifelong learning team and the Community Engagement Initiative has provided me with this fulfilling opportunity.
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[1] Treasure House is a Big Lottery funded 5 year project delivered by National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI) in partnership with Clanmil Housing Association to provide social and learning opportunities for older people within all four NMNI museums.