About
On this page we tell you about some of the things we have been doing at the museum. Using Twitter, you can follow the day-to-day life of the museum. We report on what's going on in the museum, what's being done for the future development of the museum, and of course keep you up to date about events, using the Twitter service. The stories below are more detailed reports on things that we have been doing at the museum.
This summer, following a successful bid for funding, the London Canal Museum has undertaken its very first Youth Participation Project. Aimed at young people with learning difficulties living in the local boroughs of Islington and Hackney, the scheme took the form of a summer filming project based at the Museum, but also taking place at various points along the towpath and the canal itself. As a youth-led endeavour, the young participants themselves decided what issues they wished to highlight and to this end, the film has focussed largely on the local politics of canal users, as well as the issues such as litter and graffiti that plague their everyday environment. Following on from the initial planning and the engagement of both a Youth and Media Mentor and volunteers to help guide the project, 3 months of workshops on filming, photography, editing and drama, as well as boat trips along the canal itself, have finally culminated in a short docudrama entitled 'The Cut'. The finished film will be on display to the public as a temporary exhibition following its screening on 10th September. A selection of the best photographs taken will also form part of the exhibition, providing a valuable record of the modern day Regent's Canal.
The museum has invested in a brand new shop till system that brings modern technology to the reception and shop. When the museum opened in 1992 the shop and entry into the museum was documentd by staff using a wholly manual system with all sales logged on paper and a manual back-office system that was highly labour-intensive. In the late 1990s a computerised system was introduced using a till programme designed by a member of the museum's own team and intended for use on second hand computers running under MS-DOS. This system survived until August 2010. Whilst fulfilling all the major functions of a retail system it was less user-friendly than modern retail computers and there were anxieties about support, the original author having moved to a new home many miles from the museum.
The new system chosen comes from RCS Retail, a Yorkshire based specialist in retail systems. It provides the staff who serve customers with a touch screen monitor and easy-to-use functionality. Transactions take a very short time and all the staff have welcomed the speeding up of the end of day procedures that the new system brings about. The till is on the museum's local area network and cabling had to be installed to connect it via a rather circuitous route to that network. Back office procedures are carried out on an office computer that provides for easy update of stock and product information.
The museum will now benefit from a reliable, supported system, that is easy for staff to learn and use. Customers will benefit from shorter transactions and fewer hold-ups. The change to a modern, computer-based till also makes it possible for staff to have access to an Intranet for staff information. This was not practicable previously because multi-tasking was not possible under MS-DOS and there was no room for another computer. A separate project, to create an intranet for the museum, replacing a good deal of bulky paper, is now under way.
The museum's long and major project to transform the south west corner of the first floor with a new "water and locks" exhibition is making progress behind the scenes with work now under way on the design and construction of the model that will be a key feature of the new display. Visitors will already have noticed some preparatory work with the flip-book stand already in place and exhibits moved to accommodate it,and old exhibits removed from the walls. A maintenance job has been carried out to replace a section of the window sill, on the window that is in the middle of the exhibition. This was followed by the repainting of the inside of all the windows on the west side of the first floor, and redecoration works in preparation for the exhibition. Lighting for the exhibition is being installed in advance of the exhibition itself, leading to the slightly strange sight of an extensive lighting system for a blank wall!
We had confirmation in
April that our application for "Accreditation" had been a success with no
conditions or caveats. Accreditation is the national standard for museums that
demonstrates that a museum meets all the standards laid down by the Museums,
Libraries, and Archives Council. As for all participating museums it took a lot
of work to submit the application with reviews and revisions to policies and
practices.
Accreditation is important because it reassures people who may be considering donating artifacts to a museum that it is a fit and proper place to put them, where they will be cared for to recognised standards and, at least in theory, for ever. It is also a reassurance to those donating money or offering their services as volunteers.
We have completed a project to bring a range of excerpts from our
extensive oral history collection to the public. The project had two parts:
The oral history recordings were all recorded by the oral history team at London Canal Museum over a period of several years. The growing collection made it possible to choose excerpts that would be interesting to the public and make a contribution to the museum's major purpose of public education. After an analysis of the material by one of the LCM team, we engaged specialist oral history editor Helen Lloyd, whose experience includes work on radio at the highest professional level, and who has won prizes for her expert work on oral history. Some of the material was of variable technical quality and additional work by a sound engineer was necessary, as well as a great deal of editing to make the most of the collection. At the end of the project we have produced a range of excerpts for public download, a radio-documentary style piece about the lives of the people who lived on boats, and a significant addition to the museum's exhibitions.
One aspect of the scheme that has been slightly delayed is the provision of Braille captions for blind and partially-sighted visitors. The present temporary graphic panels will soon be replaced by new ones and zinc plates holding the Braille captions will be fitted on top of the stainless steel surrounds. These have already been made to a non-standard size in order to provide for this. Oral history is of particular interest to visually-impaired people for obvious reasons and our aim is to remove the barrier to it that arises from inability to identify what is on offer.
A project unseen by visitors, but of considerable long-term importance, has been completed to carry out preventative maintenance to the museum's roof. The largest piece of work was the covering of the small flat-roof section in the midle of the building with a special material that will extend its life for, we hope, several decades. Flat roof surfaces seldom last as long as the 50 years that was the age of our roof surface. It was felt that this roof section was on borrowed time, but there were no leaks or significant problems. The decision was taken to cover it rather than replace it, a technique that has extended its life. London contractor All Seasons Industrial Roofing carried out the work and has also carried out a range of other general repairs and preventative maintenance:
The result of all this work, funded entirely by the museum from income, is that the roof is now in excellent condition for the future. Visitors will not notice, but the roof is one of the most important parts of any museum!
Halloween at London Canal Museum was the biggest and best event so far in the five years that the joint event with Camden Canals and narowboat Association has been running. Over 400 people passed through the museum's front door on 30th and 31st October to be greeted by a wide variety of ghosts and ghouls, terrifying sounds and sights, wicked witches and a shady character or two, determined to burn the latter at the stake. Our story teller told chilling tales to adults and children at regular intervals and of course the spooky boat trips through Islington Tunnel departed regularly through both evenings. A Tunnel of Fear contained creepy surprises for those who dared to enter. Almost every ticket was sold out well in advance for the boat trips, and museum staff fielded dozens of calls during the last week of October from people who had left it too late to book. The capacity of the charity-run community narrowboats used and of the tunnel itself is limited so the number of tickets available cannot easily be increased. Next year's dates will again be 30th and 31st October, which in 2010 are a Saturday and Sunday.
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