Funding success leads to two new projects
December 2005
Thanks to a successful funding bid to EEMLAC, the Museum of the Broads is undertaking a pilot project during the winter closure months to digitise around 500 of its photographs. The photographs are presently an under-used resource for the Museum, but comprise a fascinating record of life and work on the Broads which we are sure will be of interest to many. Once the photographs have been digitised, either through scanning or digital photography, the images will be made available to visitors via a computer network in its Discovery Centre.
Volunteers Ann Cumbers and Peter Berrie, who are tying up documentation queries and unravelling IT challenges respectively, are assisting Liz Larby with the task. Other volunteers will be offered some basic IT training as part of the project, both to help them assist the public with their searches and to give them some useful skills into the bargain. It is hoped to get the images onto the Museum's website in the future to make the collection even more widely available, and of course, once the digitisation bug takes hold, to extend it to more parts of the collection with the help of further grant funding.
Preservation work on the 178-year-old 'lateen' rigged racing yacht 'Maria' can now progress thanks to a £5k grant from the Awards for All lottery fund. This grant was followed by a second grant of £5k from the Leader Plus, Broads and Rivers Community Chest fund. The International Boatbuilding Training College - a Centre for Excellence for wooden boatbuilding - has agreed to carry out important and urgent work to ensure the long-term structural stability of the vessel. Very strict guidelines have to be adhered to, so that only minimal structural work is carried out and so that her uniquely near original condition is not compromised.
It is hoped that 'Maria' will be able to return to Stalham within 12 months. Along with the vessel the museum is lucky to have almost its entire history from the day it was built in 1827. One of our volunteers is preparing a booklet on 'Maria' which will be available to visitors when the Museum re-opens in 2006. Hopefully, sufficient funds will allow full interpretation of the boat so that it can be enjoyed by all for many years to come.