National Museums Liverpool Blog - Monday, September 07, 2009

This weekend our wonderful group of Discovery Volunteers each received their v50 Award Certificate, having completed 50 hours volunteer work at World Museum Liverpool during the summer.
 
Our fantastic Discovery Volunteers have been based on the World Cultures gallery throughout August. During this time they used objects from our handling collections to chat to many visitors - if you visited during the summer, you may even have chatted to some of them yourself!
 
The Discovery Volunteers project was aimed specifically at young people aged 16-25; to encourage younger people to become more actively involved in their museums as part of our youth volunteering scheme. As one of our young volunteers explained, the project "has shown that young people are still willing to listen, learn and teach; despite all the negative press".
 
Each of the volunteers received training from our curatorial and learning teams before finally being let loose on gallery to meet their public!
 
The volunteers team would like to say a big thank you each of the 20 young volunteers who offered their time, commitment and endless enthusiasm throughout the project.
 
More information about v, the v50 Award and youth volunteering can be found on the v-inspired website.

A random group of people who happened to be in our office at the time chose Linda Reeds' entry as the best caption. Well done to Linda. You can see all the entries here. Another image and another prize in a short while.

While I'm here and talking about artwork I'll tell you about the Flickr group we've just started that celebrates the weird and wonderful world of credit crunch art. There's no prize for this one - just the knowledge that you've far too much time on your hands. Pick an artwork from our collection and recreate it using whatever comes to hand - cats, toys, food, your children, your co-workers - the possibilities are as limited as your camera's battery life. Upload them to your Flickr page and add them to our group. Again, please bear in mind that this is a family site!

I admit to being wary of catching infections and take the precaution of washing my hands whenever possible. Other useful safeguards are adding disinfectant to the bath water and gargling with mouthwash. It was impressed on me at a very early age the awful things you can catch – especially when travelling. I caught TB as a child but threw it off – a natural immunity, I was told later.

Passengers and crews of ships have always feared outbreaks of contagious diseases that could sweep through vessels like wildfire, affecting everybody’s safety and wellbeing. The words typhus, cholera, yellow fever, smallpox and plague were enough to chill the bones of the most seasoned traveller.

It was the same on shore when epidemics swept through crowded poorly-housed communities, killing old and young alike. But on land you could at least get away to somewhere healthy – not an option on a crowded ship where there was no escape.

There is still the ever-present threat of contagions being brought into Britain. Cargoes which might carry disease are handed over to Government officials. They may be placed in isolation or quarantine for further investigation.

Historically, Customs officers played a vital role in preventing the spread of contagious diseases. This is illustrated in a display in the exciting new exhibition, Seized: Revenue and Customs Uncovered at Merseyside Maritime Museum. A photo shows a ship’s crew members being inspected by Liverpool’s medical officer around 1925 (pictured).

A painting called A Revenue Cutter on the Clyde by Robert Salmon (1826) depicts the cutter approaching a newly-arrived vessel to check for diseases. The cutter flies a signal flag from the mast which asks: “Are you healthy?”

In the 19th century the arrival of migrants in the UK brought the danger of contagious diseases. A ship’s master was required by Customs officers to swear on the Bible as to the condition of his ship. If it was healthy, he would be issued with a certificate and cleared to enter port.

A photo shows a young smallpox sufferer covered with pustules, particularly on her face, hands and arms. Smallpox was a scourge which killed and disfigured countless people over the ages - in the 20th century alone up to 500 million died from it.

There have been more than 100 disease outbreaks associated with ships since 1970, according to the World Health Organisation. Today the main infections associated with ships are gastrointestinal and Legionnaires’ diseases.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents, bookshops or from the Mersey Shop website (£1.50 p&p UK).

 

If the answer is 'yes' and you enjoyed your visit then you might want to vote for the restaurant in the Liverpool Food and Drink Awards. The awards are part of the official Food and Drink Festival 2009 which runs 13 – 21 September at venues across Liverpool. The festival launches on Sunday 13 September at Sefton Park with a free event where you can sample food and produce from dozens of bars, restaurants and stall holders, listen to live music and watch live cooking demos.

If you were ever a student in Liverpool like me, chances are Smithdown Road was the cornerstone of your life…for three years at least. The student population from the city’s three universities have always taken it into their hearts, for its diversity, quirkiness and array of pubs! Some of you may have even attempted ‘The Smithdown 10’, finishing up at The 'Big Yellow' Brookhouse pub, before stumbling back to Halls with a takeaway from Zains.

However, it’s not just students who love Smithdown. Believe it or not, Smithdown is a bit of a mainstay in these here parts, and even has a mention in the Domesday Book! So, the history of the area really does hold some uncovered secrets, which curators hope to unearth and reveal in a special exhibition to go on display in the new Museum of Liverpool.

As the museum doesn’t open until 2010 / 11, research is currently underway for The Secret Life of Smithdown project, and community involvement is at the heart of it.

To get involved, why not pop along to our mini-exhibition in Oomoo Café, 349 – 351 Smithdown Road to share your Smithdown stories and photographs of the area? The first drop-in session takes place tomorrow, Saturday 5 September, between 10am - 4pm.

Or, if you can’t make it to Oomoo and maybe have moved away from the delights of Smithdown and Dafna’s Cheesecake Factory, why not visit our Facebook page and share your anecdotes and memories of ‘Gerry the Fridgeman’, the Smithdown Aquarium, and how life has changed for the residents since they built…‘The Asda’.

For more info on the drop-in sessions and other Secret Life of Smithdown events, visit the website.

If you like a peek behind the scenes - and who doesn't - tune in to BBC2 tomorrow (Thurs 3 September) at 3.45pm for Flog It! There's a visit to the new Museum of Liverpool with a preview of some of the objects that will be featuring on the galleries. It's also available on BBC HD at 6.30pm later that day. And if you miss it you can always catch it on BBC iplayer.

This Thursday (3 September), the Lady Lever Art Gallery is hosting a special event to raise funds for the Hillsborough Memorial Appeal. During the early hours of Sunday 7 June 2009, the Hillsborough Memorial Garden in Port Sunlight Village was seriously damaged. Over 35 metres of stonework were destroyed in an act of mindless vandalism. The Port Sunlight Village Trust needs help to restore the garden.

You can support the appeal by visiting the Lady Lever Art Gallery this Thursday. Doors will be open 6-8pm. The cafe and shop will be open, plus there's entertainment from the Wirral based Capriccio Singers Chamber Choir. Bring your friends and family.

There's more on the appeal on the Port Sunlight Museum and Garden Village website.

I always relish the anticipation of travelling – it is enjoyable to plan your journey and visualise what you will see and do. It is wonderful that many people can now travel relatively cheaply for pleasure. Once people stayed put and only journeyed out of absolute necessity.

In the early days of mass emigration many travellers probably thought of their approaching voyages with dread. It was often an exhausting ordeal just getting to your embarkation port and successfully boarding a ship.

Emigration was boosted by steamship development and by the 1870s most emigrants travelled this way rather than by sail. Steam power at sea – like the railways on land – made journeys quicker and also led to regular reliable timetable services. No longer did passengers have to cope with many delays mostly caused by bad weather.

In the second half of the 19th century, shipping companies such as White Star, Cunard, Allan, Inman, Guion and National ran regular services out of Liverpool. They took trade from the American sailing packet services, bringing money and business to the port. Importantly for the benefit of emigrants, they brought competition. Fares and charges were driven down as the shipping companies fought to attract business.

Publicity was often focused on First Class as the liners developed and became more luxurious. However, emigrant passengers provided the bread-and-butter profits for the shipping companies.

In the winter some rooms were now heated, unheard of in the days of wooden sailing ships where accommodation was invariably cold and wet.

On shore, appalling conditions experienced by emigrants gave cause for concern and moves were made to relieve their plight.

In the new emigrants’ gallery at Merseyside Maritime Museum there is a contemporary print of a Government-funded emigration depot (pictured). It was opened in Birkenhead in 1852 for British emigrants heading for Australia. The depot provided meals, warm shelter and safety until its closure in 1868 when general conditions for emigrants had improved.

The accommodation which the depot offered helped to increase sailings from Liverpool and shipowners competed for lucrative Government contracts. In the depot you had to behave and follow the rules.

Liverpool-based Thomas Ismay’s White Star Line (Oceanic Steam Navigation Company) become one of the major transatlantic emigration operators which later built the Titanic.

On display are several items which saw daily use on emigrant ships. There are large coffee and tea pots embossed with the famous White Star flag. A soup ladle was made for the Guion Line in 1871.

Our Maritime Archives and Library have information on firms involved in emigration. There's more on the experiences of emigrants in our 'Leaving from Liverpool' feature.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents, bookshops or from the Mersey Shop website (£1.50 p&p UK).

Saturday’s Carnegie Challenge Cup is certainly going to be different. For the first time since the 1986 final between Castleford and Hull, none of the ‘big four’ - Leeds, Bradford, Wigan and  St Helens - will be going Wembley. That privilege will be enjoyed instead by Huddersfield Giants and Warrington Wolves along with coach loads of their thirsty fans. 

I, for one, am relieved. Not only is it great for the game to share the silverware but we also have a family wedding on Saturday and a congregation made up of Wigan and Saints fans who would no doubt spend the day with their eyes on the score instead of the bride (and I include the groom in that). So hats off to Huddersfield, and the best of luck to Warrington who will be flying the rugby league flag for the region – it’s going to be a rip-roarer!

Anyone involved in the game of rugby league knows what an exciting and entertaining spectacle it can be and is always on the look out for ways to spread the magic. That’s why I am thrilled to see the formidable Ellery Hanley represented in John Ferguson’s photography exhibition ‘Black Britannia’ at the International Slavery Museum. The exhibition features portraits of Black Britons who have contributed to British culture and whose achievements can provide a positive role mode for many Black British youngsters today - and what an inspiration Ellery has been in his field.

Ellery played phenomenal top flight rugby at Bradford, Leeds and most notably for Wigan during the peak of their success, as well as for Balmain and Western Suburbs in Australia. Over the course of his career he was capped 34 times for Great Britain and became Britain’s first Black coach in 1994. In 1999 he also coached the Saints to Super League victory.  His accolades include the Rugby League World Golden Boot Award, Man of Steel, the Lance Todd Trophy, an MBE for services to rugby league and induction into the Rugby League Hall of Fame.

When it comes to rugby league Ellery Hanley certainly set the standard. If Warrington and Huddersfield need any inspiration for the weekend’s big clash, then this picture will surely provide it. 

The upcoming exhibition 'Liverpool people by Stephen Shakeshaft', which opens at the National Conservation Centre on 18 September, is bound to bring back a lot of memories for people who have seen Liverpool evolve since the 1960s. However Stephen wasn't the only person documenting the changing face of the city, as this photograph from his archive shows. This one of a selection of images that didn't quite make it into the exhibition itself that Stephen has kindly agreed to share here on the blog instead. He recalls:

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"In a way we became unofficial archivists of the Liverpool scene. The post-war planners destroyed old Liverpool with a determination never matched by the Luftwaffe. Communities were wiped out. Slums went, but so did good houses. Folk songs were written about moving out to the housing estates in Speke and elsewhere. Uprooted families gazed from the windows of high rise flats.

The process was photographed by myself and painted by Frank Green. Our purpose was the same - to record the passing of the old city. This is Edge Hill as it was then. What would these houses have been worth today with modernisation and renovation?"