Museum History
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1991/4Bulletin / April 1991LOAN NOTES / The loan notes scheme has aroused interest and so far over
1991/4Bulletin / April 1991FRIENDS TRIPS / The Friends depart on their annual trip this week - this time to Sheffield, and the Derbyshire peaks.

Bookings are coming in rapidly for the trip to the European museums in September and if you are interested in going we recommend you get your application in as soon as possible.
1991/4Bulletin / April 1991SUCCESSFUL LUNCH / The lunch held at Slindon was an entertaining occasion. Lord Nicholas Gordon Lennox presented an interesting and amusing account of his life in the Diplomatic Service. The lunch was well attended and raised about
1991/4Bulletin / April 1991LIME SLAKING / Over one ton of lime, which was slaked before Christmas, has been used in the construction of the Sole Street building and its surrounds - which has kept Neill Wilkins busy and out of mischief this winter!

This simple but messy process involves slaking calcium oxide (burnt limestone), known as quicklime, with water. A violent chemical reaction takes place and the thick liquid formed, known as milk of lime, is sieved to rid it of any impurities and left to settle in the Museum's lime baths.

Gradually the lime putty settles at the bottom covered by water of lime on top. It is then stored in the baths until needed, improving with age. The best lime is reputed to be about six months old when it is "nice and fatty".

When slaking, great care needs to be taken not to splash the eyes or skin with the quicklime which will cause lime burns and used to be used for disposing of the bodies of hanged men. This is mentioned by Oscar Wilde in the Ballad of Reading Gaol. So far Neill has manage \\
1991/4Bulletin / April 1991GOOD WISHES / Geoff Kent is recovering after a spell in hospital and we all send our good wishes to him for a speedy recovery.
1991/4Bulletin / April 1991A SPECIAL THANK YOU / All that is left now is for me (Pat Melhuish) to say thank you for the warm welcome I have received from everyone here at the Museum. I am enjoying the work immensely - there's never a dull moment!
1991/4Bulletin / April 1991ANDY'S GREEN SURVEY / During the winter, Andy Hodby conducted a green audit of the Museum. Over the next few weeks we will be considering Andy's recommendations and deliberating on them. The aim is to examine all our activities and assess (1) whether they can be conducted more efficiently and sparingly and (2) whether the materials used are environmentally friendly and if not, are there satisfactory alternatives.

Already Andy has highlighted a number of areas where simple improvements can be made and the most visible of these will be in the recycling efforts. Andy is currently constructing a special bin, specifically for aluminium drink cans, to be positioned near the caf
1991/4Bulletin / April 1991RETIREMENT / Les Whitecall, who has for over ten years kept the grass cut around the Museum and has been responsible for much of the tidy presentation that is so much appreciated, has finally decided to retire.

Very sadly his retirement coincided with the sudden death of his wife. I am sure all of you would like to wish Les well in his retirement and to join in expressing our sympathy for his sad loss. Later in the year, a special presentation will be made to Les.
1991/6Bulletin / June 1991SECRET PRODUCT / An eccentric happening at the Museum was the launch of a new crisp, the name of which is still secret. Sales representatives of KP Foods met here to receive their latest crisp induction and samples were eagerly tasted by the Museum staff at every available opportunity. Comments were varied!
1991/6Bulletin / June 1991FROM THE COLLECTIONS / The last six weeks or so have seen few new acquisitions added to the Museum's collections. This is perhaps as well as in between the Brick Exhibition and Heavy Horse Event preparation, documentation on earlier large donations has been continuing slowly! Once again the emphasis of the new items has been on rural life items, not because they have been sought out, but been offered.

A fine collection of dairying items was accepted from Mr Churches of Little Hambrook Farm. This included a crate of the old widenecked milk bottles, plus a tube of the original cardboard tops. With this donation also came a variety of milk retail measures, milk sampling measures and wooden grain measures which compliment the standard measures recently accepted on loan by the Museum.

Continuing a tenuous cattle link, we also collected a slaughter house winch from a demolished building in Havant. This was used to haul carcases up for butchering. The winch, which is manual, was made in London and las \\
1991/6Bulletin / June 1991RETIREMENT OF PERCY NORTH / Percy, our Book Keeper extraordinaire, will unfortunately be retiring shortly. It has been decided to seek a replacement for him as soon as possible in order to provide a period of handover which is very necessary in such an important job.
1991/6Bulletin / June 1991VISITOR NUMBERS / Numbers have encouragingly maintained their early season momentum. At the end of May we were 5,000 visitors up on the same period last year and during difficult economic times this has given us a healthy start to the first half of the season.

School bookings have, after two difficult years, returned to their mid-1980 levels and it is good to see the wallchart well marked in red, indicating maximum numbers for school children.

A group from a travel firm visited recently in order to make a video promoting the Museum to the Japanese. We may well be in for a mass influx from the East if the video is successful and this should swell the numbers even more.
1991/6Bulletin / June 1991STUDENT HELPERS / We have had the benefit of several students recently who have all enjoyed their stay with us (so they say!) Chris Tod was with us for 6 weeks from St Mary's College, Twickenham. He was given a variety of exercises to undertake, including the unenviable task of dealing with telephone enquiries when Lynn and Pat became too exhausted to cope.

We currently have with us Liz Garrett who is working with Geoff King on the education side, and Caroline Mann from Chichester College who will sample a variety of jobs here at the Museum in her two weeks' work experience.

We will be welcoming Richard Trelfa (a blind student) next month for weeks' work experience. He will be working with Julian Stodd on the development of a Braille leaflet for a walk around the Museum suitable for blind people. In order to produce this we are looking for a SPONSOR - anyone with any ideas please??
1991/6Bulletin / June 1991EDUCATION / A two day visit was arranged in April for Ventnor Middle School from the Isle of Wight.

A pot of potage soup, made from vegetables and herbs, was prepared in the traditional manner over the fire on the Junior Friends' campsite.

The school experienced the full range of facilities offered by the Museum. There was consultation with a school visit; resource sheets and tests produced by the museum; short explanations from museum staff relating to building construction; the animals; processes such as the manufacture of flour and wood products. To conclude, the school presented a musical entertainment using Titchfield Market Hall and attempted to eat their potage soup.
1991/6Bulletin / June 1991NEW ADDITIONS / Rosie's foal, Singleton Primrose, was born at Singleton on 30 April and is constantly admired. In addition we are able to report 2 fine heifer calves from the Sussex cattle.
1991/6Bulletin / June 1991JUNIOR FRIENDS / The Junior Friends gathering on the third Saturday of each month has got off to a good start. The children have been involved in a variety of problem solving exercises including building walls and making scarecrows.

This year's SUMMER WEEK will take place between Saturday 27th July and Thursday 1st August.

On the Saturday our intention is to meet in Chichester for an introductory afternoon on the theme of MARKETS. If we can get permission we shall have some sheep in a hurdle pen on view in either East Street or the Market area. We shall be linking with staff of Chichester District Museum who will explain their current Market exhibition.

From the Sunday to Thursday at Singleton the children will be helped to manufacture goods for sale at their market to be held in the Museum Square.

Several staff have already offered to help. Geoff King may be asking you in the future.
1991/6Bulletin / June 1991LURGASHALL MILL / Flour sales at the mill have been very good and we are optimistic of having another good year. Thanks to the sterling efforts of Ruth and Peter Stock, several new trade outlets have been found for our stoneground wholemeal flour. We are currently looking for a steward or friend who lives in or near Bognor Regis to help us with small deliveries over to St Richards Hospital at Chichester; they have just ordered some flour to try and we are hoping to be able to supply them on a regular basis.

Sales of our 'new' pink wholemeal recipe book have just broken the 10,000 copies mark since its launch last May.

A new mill steward, John Greenhalgh has joined our team and is currently learning to grind flour and cope with 600 school children every day. The latter takes a lot longer to learn!
1991/6Bulletin / June 1991LOAN NOTES / Many thanks to those who have contributed to the loan note scheme. Particular thanks go to those who, stimulated by the loan note proposal, made substantial donations to the Museum instead.
1991/6Bulletin / June 1991ARDINGLY / The South of England Agricultural Society gave the Museum a covered stand in the Wildlife and Woodlands Area and asked us to put on a demonstration instead of the static exhibition we have had in the past. We had a much more extended display than before which was successful in attracting a great deal of interest. Our thanks to those who manned the stand during the Show.
1991/6Bulletin / June 1991LAUNCH OF THE SOUTHDOWN SHEEP BOOK / The South of England Show coincided with the launch of The Southdown Sheep book, written by Valerie Porter. The launch was well attended by members of the Society and press. The book retails at
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