Please remember that most of this report will be available on the Federation Website on your ‘County’ pages. So please do write with this in mind. Any private issues for the Committee only should be entered in last section named “Fed Eyes Only”(See also below)

CountyReport
County Museum Group
The Spring Group Meeting (and AGM) for Museums in Somerset was held at the Town Hall, Bridgwater on Monday 19th May. 30 members attended with 7 apologies given. The meeting was followed by a visit to the Blake Museum.
The Autumn Group meeting is set for 20th Oct 2014.
Anything Happened
The meeting was opened by the brand new mayor of Bridgwater in his first official engagement for the town and the meeting was also welcomed by Mike Searle of the Blake Museum.
John Page was elected as the new chairman and Colin Spackman was thanked for his three year term in the post. The other new elections were as follows: Mike Motum (vice chair); Jane Hill (secretary); Angus McPhee (treasurer); Nigel Wood, Vicky Dawson, Colin Spackman (general officers); Charlotte Berry and Steve Minnitt (ex-officio).
There were general updates on the SW Fed (including publicity for the SW Conference in Bath) and the Southwest Museum Development Partnership.
Steve Minnitt gave a short presentation on the new Southwest Heritage Trust, for which a Chair has been appointed. 10 trustees have now been appointed. The next stakeholder meeting was to be held on 18 June and the trust will officially be launched on 1 Oct 2014.
The Somerset MDOs reported on their activities, including current funding streams (Small Grant, Big Improvement; Rapid Retail; Digital Engagement Project) and the South West Museums Visitor Focus project on audience development. The South West Museums Sustainability Programme and the new Somerset Learning Forum was also discussed, alongside the ongoing application by the SW Museum Development Partnership 2015-2018, Annual Returns and recent stats for the Somerset Routes website.
Sam Astill (Somerset Heritage Centre) gave a presentation on the ‘Somerset Remembers’ WW1 project, giving some of the background to the project and inviting delegates to submit new content to the proposed digital archive which was demonstrated.
Finally, the new Chair of the Southwest Heritage Trust David Gwyther introduced himself to the Group and fielded questions about the activities of the Trust over the remainder of this year. After lunch, the Group visited the Blake Museum and had further opportunity to speak to David Gwyther in more detail.
Training
No SWFed training sessions have been held in Somerset yet during the current programme.
Successes
Axbridge and District Museum Trust: has successfully completed Accreditation and been given a Small Grant, Big Improvement award to purchase a digital frame
Fleet Air Arm Museum: visitor numbers are up on last year. The Robot Wars event proved popular.
Alfred Gillett Trust (Clarks): three new members of staff have started work on digitising the historic shoe collections. The Trust has loaned shoes to No One Royal Crescent, Bath, for their current Georgian exhibition. The Trust will shortly change over to using Alib.
Somerset Heritage Service: new members of staff are being recruited for work on the Rural Life Museum revamp project, with building work starting in Sept. The Brick and Tile Museum is earmarked for development in the future. The Somerset Remembers WW1 project is being launched.
Watchet Market House Museum: visitor numbers are up, possible due to their new display cases. Awarded a SG-BI grant towards oral history project ‘Watchet Voices’.
Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust: completion of the exterior restoration of SDJR carriage No 4 has generated much positive publicity.
Somerset Cricket Museum: WW1 exhibition has been very popular and brought in new material which will be eventually presented to the IWM. Campaign medals for Len Braund were found in a Devon antique shop.
Minehead Museum: the museum opened its doors for the very first time in April. Visitor numbers are encouraging and donations are coming in quickly.
Westonzoyland Pumping Station: good attendance at their ‘Steam on the Levels’ weekend has generated funds towards their new toilet block.
Frome Heritage Museum: visitor numbers have nearly doubled as a result of their new exhibition ‘Quarry Faces’.
Milverton Archive and Local History Group: the group has been renamed and as a result has many more volunteers.
CHAC, Yeovil: have received an HLF grant for a WW1 project, as well as a SG-BI award to produce a 2015 calendar.
Problems
Axbridge and District Museum: currently experiencing reduced visitor numbers due to smaller size of ad in the National Trust handbook (done without prior notice to the museum)
Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust: currently negotiating a new lease beyond 2020
Southwest Heritage Trust: an ongoing area of concern for the county
Somerset Cricket Museum: insurance quotes have doubled since for recent floods
Membership
Nothing to report
Ideas
Nothing to report
Any Web Links
Nothing to report
Anything Else
Fed Eyes Only

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