The Wye Rural Museum Trust Looks for Help

The Wye Rural Museum Trust was set up in 1996-7 to take over ownership of the Agricultural Museum at Brook, near Ashford, from what was then Wye College, University of London. It is run by a board of Trustees, some appointed and some co-optative. One of the former is appointed by the Kent Archaeological Society (originally Kenneth Gravett and currently Alan Stevens). The Trust has made good progress in its first ten years, but now wants to develop various aspects of its work. For this it needs some more specialised voluntary help in certain areas, supplementing that already provided by the team of volunteers who help in opening the Museum to the public during the summer months.

Would any other member of the Society be interested in joining what is certainly an interesting and worthwhile organisation? This would not be in the role of a Trustee but to help with certain specific projects in which their previous interests or experience might be useful. Some of the needs might well be met by people working from home, though some may need a presence on the spot, which might be more convenient for people living within a reasonable distance of Brook.

We have listed below some of the areas where help would be welcomed. All would involve individuals working on the basis of what is practicable for them - we are not looking either for a lifetime commitment or the burning of midnight oil!

1. People with experience in oral history work, video recording and editing, or the design and putting together of written text for publication would be very useful in our HLF-funded project on Recording Woodland and Agricultural Crafts.
2. Many of the items in the museum’s collections and/or the activities with which the Trust is involved are potential sources of short articles or news releases for the press, and anyone with experience of producing such items, or editing work produced by others for the purpose, would be welcomed.
3. We are keen to address the problem of marketing to increase visitor numbers. The most likely source of significant additional visitors is the encouragement of organised parties of ‘special interest’ groups (eg, Historical and Archaeological Societies, Young Farmers’ Clubs, WI’s etc). This work would involve email, telephone and postal contacts and the Trust would refund relevant expenses.
4. We are also developing contacts with some local schools, and anyone with teaching or other relevant experience with children would be very helpful to us here.
5. For those who enjoy ‘hands-on’ approaches we shall, we hope, have a need for some volunteers who can be trained to show visitors round the Museum or, if this does not appeal, who might like to help in the conservation work which some of the exhibits need from time to time.

If any reader would like to discuss a possible interest in any of these topics (there are others), or to discuss aspects of the matter in more detail please contact either the Honorary Curator, Brian Winstreet (tel; 01304 824698; email; brianwinstreet@hotmail.com) or the Trust Secretary, Tom Hill (tel; 01227 730477; email; hill.te@tiscali.co.uk). We should be delighted to hear from you.

ABOVE TOP: The barn - east view.
ABOVE BOTTOM: Interior of barn with a farm wagon, one of the museum’s many agricultural exhibits.