Porthcurno archive closes before big move

As part of the museum’s development project, the Porthcurno archive and search room will shortly be moving from its current location in the main museum building, Eastern House, to a new purpose-built facility. Due to this, the search room and archive is now closed to public visits and enquiries whilst we relocate the archive. We regret we will be unable to respond to any archive enquiries during this time, and apologise for any inconvenience caused. Normal service is expected to resume in August, with a ‘behind-the-scenes’ event planned for later in the year.

Watch out for more news and latest photos of the new building, which also houses the Clore Learning Space, coming soon.

Student TV crew interviews Telegraph Museum development team

Taking part in BBC News School Report, a national annual takeover event, three students from years 7 and 9 of Penzance school Mounts Bay Academy visited recently to get the lowdown on our ‘Developing for the Future’ project.

The young production team consisted of Freyja, Year 9, producer and boom operator; Emma, Year 7, presenter; and Oscar, Year 7, presenter.

The students were the first members of the public to get behind the scenes of the new archive and Clore Learning Space, due to open later this year.

The students donned hard hats to interview Development Project Manager, Henrietta Boex, and Chris Williams, Project Manager with construction company Midas, on site.

“Although we spent a lot of time talking to people about design before construction began, the students from Mounts Bay Academy are the very first members of the public to have actually been inside the new archive and Clore Learning Space. They were a very professional and well prepared production team and asked some searching questions. We hope these young reporters will come back and follow up on their story once the building is fully open.” – Henrietta Boex, Development Project Manager.

Year 7 students Emma and Oscar interview Development Project Manager Henrietta alongside the new roller racking in the new archive facility.

This is not the first time the academy has taken part in the takeover project; last year a different group of students’ work featured in BBC School Report’s ‘Best of 2012’ highlights film. The project, which is now in its seventh year, aims to give UK students aged 11-16 the chance to make their own news reports for a real audience.

The Porthcurno report and other films produced by the students can be viewed on the Mounts Bay Academy website where you can also leave feedback for the students: http://mounts-bay.cornwall.sch.uk/

We hope the students of Mounts Bay Academy will return to inspect the site and its new facilities once the building is completed.

Latest photos from site

The new archive and Clore Learning Space is evolving at a rapid pace, and a recent site tour on a cold but bright day revealed the light and airy nature of the new space. With rows and rows of roller racking now in place, the archive appears hungry for the many thousands of documents, photographs and objects that will soon be at home here. With around 27 trades people currently on site, the building is already buzzing with activity and museum staff and volunteers can begin to get a sense of how the building will perform for visiting schools, community groups and researchers.

A behind-the-scenes event is currently being planned to coincide with national Heritage Open Weekend in September. Details of that event will appear on this blog as soon as they are available.

Got a question about the project? Here’s how to get in touch:
Media enquiries: Rachel Webster, Communications Officer
T: 01736 811915 E: rachel.webster@porthcurno.org.uk

Project enquiries: Henrietta Boex, Development Project Manager
T: 01736 810966 E: henrietta.boex@porthcurno.org.uk

Looking back towards the main museum building, Eastern House. Photographed 14 March 2013.

Our Collections Team has been working for several months to prepare thousands of documents, photographs and objects for relocation. This space will be handed over to them in the coming months.

The search room is where visiting family historians and academic researchers will be able to access archive documents. The space is also expected to be used frequently by the Local History Group.

This linking area connects the search room and archive facilities to the Clore Learning Space. With one side of the building tucked into the landscape, the glass front makes the most of Porthcurno’s beautiful natural light.

The flexible new learning space is filled with natural light, thanks to windows on both sides. The beautiful, heavy wooden beams of the distinctive V-shaped roof add warmth.

 

Stood outside the existing archive in Eastern House, looking down towards the new building. The distinctive roof design echoes the natural landscape of Porthcurno valley.

£150,000 towards boosting coastal communities

We are delighted to announce an award of £149,587 by the Coastal Communities Fund towards our capital project, ‘Developing for the Future.’ The award was announced today by Community Secretary Eric Pickles and will help to fund the two-phase project, due for completion in 2014.

“We are delighted by news of the Coastal Communities Fund award. For 140 years Porthcurno was an important hub of global communications and known internationally. Our project aims to tell this story but also to spread the benefit of development to local communities through opportunities for enjoyment, learning, volunteering and employment.” – Henrietta Boex, Development Project Manager.

Phase one of the project is the construction of the new archive and Clore Learning Space; due to open later this year. The learning space will provide a hub for visiting schools, community groups, family researchers and academics whilst the state-of-the-art archive will house some 2782 objects and over 18,000 documents… and counting!

In this, the second round of Coastal Communities funding, twenty seaside projects in England have received grants of up to £2.6 million to use on projects that will deliver almost 4,000 jobs, support 250 new business start-ups, and create more than 1,500 apprenticeships and 400 volunteering opportunities.

Porthcurno Telegraph Museum’s own project is expected to create 5 new full time posts (some of which have already been filled) as well as new volunteering opportunities. Additional employment opportunities are expected to be created indirectly through construction, exhibition design and installation and later on for the local producers who will supply the museum’s new cafe.

For more information about the Coastal Communities Fund, see: http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/

Museum re-opens following collection move

Throughout January our brilliant volunteers have been hard at working moving our collection of 1920s telegraph equipment. The collection, known as ‘regen’, is now the first thing visitors will see (and hear!) on entering the WW2 tunnels.

From this weekend the museum returns to normal winter opening (every Sunday and Monday, 10:00 am until 5:00 pm) with introductory talks running throughout the day.

Watch out for more details on the challenges of moving an irreplaceable collection of historic objects in the next issue of our quarterly magazine, PK News. (Not subscribed yet? Become a Friend of the museum online now: http://www.porthcurno.org.uk/page.php?id=40 )

12 highlights of 2012

What 2012 has meant to us…

1. Big opportunities
The news that we had been awarded £1.44m by the Heritage Lottery Fund was a great start to the year. The award secured our capital project ‘Developing for the Future’, due for completion in 2014.

2. New additions
With such an ambitious project on our hands, we’ve grown our ranks! Content Researcher Rosalyn Goulding, Community Participation Officer Diane Spiers, and Collections Transfer Assistant Eleanor Mills are just some of our new faces.

3. Fresh challenges
Building a brand new archive and learning centre through the height of summer was a bit of a challenge! But we got through it and the new building taking shape in Porthcurno will open in the spring of 2014. Watch out for details of our launch events coming soon.

4. Old challenges!
What can we say? The Great British weather never lets us down! (Or should that be, always lets us down?) Luckily our visitors are made of brave stuff, and visitor numbers were up in 2012, despite it being the 2nd wettest year ever recorded by the Met Office. (The wettest was 2000 in case you were wondering.)

5. Loyal supporters
As always, our loyal supporters have played a vital role in our success through the last 12 months. We were especially grateful when President of the PK Trust, Lady Banham MBE, grabbed a spade for our celebratory turf-cutting ceremony.

6. Olympic fever
We couldn’t help but get swept up in the sporting spirit when the torch relay blazed past our front door this spring. Local school children and keen photographers created a unique community exhibitions at the Museum, and inspired us all with their creativity.

7. Fun & games!
Museum staff and colunteers tormed Porthcurno beach in the summer, unleashing Physics Busking on an unsuspecting public. Explosions, mini tornadoes, laughter and general mayhem ensued. Will we be doing it all again in 2013? You bet! (Many thanks to the Institute of Physics for supporting ‘Physics on the Foreshore’ 2012.)

8. New audiences
Our Ideas Cafe programme of free evening talks really took off in 2012; thanks to brilliantly engaing speakers covering a diversity of subjects from solar flares and twinkling stars to Cornish mine engines. We’ve got plenty more up our sleeve for 2013, including a special evening of talks to celebrate National Science and Engineering Week in March.

9. Nice surprises
We were delighted to be awarded GOLD Small Visitor Attraction of the Year at the Cornwall Tourism Awards, and haven’t stopped showing it off since! Listen out for news of our South West Tourism Excellence Award in February 2013.

10. Bright young things
A talented group of graduate engineers from Cable & Wireless Worldwide worked alongside local school children to design and build seven new interactive units exploring the science of light. The units are proving a big hit with visitors of all ages. A collaborative project between the Museum and a new group pf graduate engineers is already underway for 2013.

11. Knit one purl one
Our creative volunteer group, the Cable Stitchers, went from strength to strength in 2012. Among their latest creations are these beautiful learning resources for our KS2 workshop ‘Cornwall’s Sea Life.’ A spin-off remote volunteering group, The Castaways, was also formed.

12. LOTS of boxes!
Our Collections Teams has been busier than ever, preparing over 20,000 items for relocation to their new home. Our new archive facility will open this spring, with a behind-the-scenes event planned for later in the year.

Exhibitions move begins!

The big exhibitions re-shuffle has begun, meaning that the Museum will be closed throughout January.

Our dedicated volunteers are working hard to relocate our collection of original 1920s telegraph equipment, whilst the relocation of the workshop has already taken place. We will continue to bring you news of our progress here, and will feature the project in an article appearing in the next issue of our magazine, PK News.

For the time being, here’s a shot taken by Collections Manager Charlotte, who wanted to make sure she can put display cases back together again in exactly the same configuration! We’re thinking of taking photos afterwards post-move too, and doing a spot the difference competition in the office.