‘Old Tools, New Uses’ Drop In Workshops

September saw the third and fourth drop-in surgeries for the project take place. On the 7th, the Highland Folk Museum at Newtonmore played host to what proved to be an object-rich assessment and identification day. David Woodcock and Catherine Gillies manned the event, ably assisted by Catherine’s new intern, Sarah Heaton. Elgin Museum and Timespan Centre, Helmsdale dominated the day, arriving focused and prepared with boxes of objects and lots of images from their museums.

One or two choice objects were discovered, including a very attractive early nineteenth century linen thread winder, and a long-standing mystery item from Elgin was identified as a top hat iron! Work from this session has subsequently enabled Elgin to submit lists for the master catalogue. The Timespan Centre were delighted that we could identify the bulk of the contents of their impressive smiddy from some excellent images. Both travelling groups felt the day was incredibly useful and their long journeys more than worthwhile.

The Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh provided the venue for the final drop-in on the 27th. Sandwiched between STICK business meetings the event was well attended. Alan Randall (Focused Learning  and Interpretation), STICK’s recently-appointed educational content specialist,  attended to gain an overview of OTNU project progress and David Woodcock presented a guideline paper for assessing and recording objects for the OTNU project. David Woodcock said: “I have sat down with half-a-dozen museums today all contributing to the project. Alan Randall was impressed by the day’s events and has gained some great ideas for the learning element of the project.”