Booklet - Town’s brewing history on tap (Newark)

A Newark pub has helped to pay for a guide to the town’s malting and brewing heritage to be reprinted.

Just Beer, at Swan and Salmon Yard, paid for the cost of reprinting the Malting And Brewing Trail guided walks, which were created by Newark Civic Trust.

They were paid for by the Newark branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), the Maltsters’ Association of Great Britain, and Nottinghamshire county councillor Mr Stuart Wallace.

The trail looks at landmarks from Newark’s brewing past from the 18th Century to the mid 20th Century.

Mr Duncan Neil, of Just Beer, said they were eager for the leaflets to be reprinted as they kept a supply in the pub.

He said: “When I heard it was out of print I was mortified.

“I was having a conversation with Mr Wallace over a pint and I decided I would help contribute and we would get Newark Camra involved as well.

“Camra is not just about focusing on real ales. It is also about the history and tradition of beer and ale and there is a lot history in this town.

“It is so important that we don’t let this history slip away and die.”

Mr Wallace said he supported the Civic Society’s heritage trails since they were first launched about eight years ago.

He said: “I think Newark is the jewel in Nottinghamshire’s crown and I think these trails are a good way to encourage people to come to the town and enjoy their day here.”

A member of the Civic Trust, Mr Rupert Vinnicombe, said a total of 15,000 copies of the trail had been produced.

Mr Vinnicombe said: “I think it is so important for a place like this, which has such a brewing heritage, to have information about it available especially in a local pub.

“We have eight trails and you can quite often see people walking around town carrying one of the leaflets.”

Mr Vinnicombe said some alterations had been made from the original trail including noting that the maltkilns on Lover’s Lane had been demolished since the first map had been produced.

Copies of the trail are available from Newark Tourist Information Centre, Newark Library, Ann et Vin, Millgate Museum, Newark Town Hall and Just Beer.

All the trails are also available on the Civic Trust website at www.newarkcivictrust.org.uk

l PUBLICISING the reprinted brewing trail leaflets are, from the left, Mr Duncan Neil, Jennie Richards, Mr Stuart Wallace, Mr Rupert Vinnicombe, Mr Michael Hawes, and Mr George Wilkinson.

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Towns-brewing-history-on-tap

News - Clean Sweep for museum (Newark)

Schools, churches and parish councils could be offered some of the historical items owned by Newark and Sherwood District Council’s museum service.

 

Mr Roger Jackson told the council’s cabinet the museum service owned about 70,000 items, of which 17,000 were on display at Millgate Museum.

He said they needed to look at their collections before renewing their museum accreditation next February. Members agreed that a review of its collections, policies and plans should be carried out.

Mr Jackson said: “We should be looking at quality not quantity and it might be that some items are more appropriate for other areas.”

He said the aim was to go through the collections, come up with a disposal policy and look at what they wanted to keep.

He said some of the items could be returned to their original donors or given to Newark Town Council for its museum. He suggested that items could be given to Ollerton, Southwell and other parts of the county.

Mr Roger Blaney asked if schools could be given appropriate items too so they could start their own local history museum.

He said: “We have an outreach project where the items are taken to schools so could we take them and leave them?”

Mrs Nora Armstrong said churches and parish councils might like to be offered items.

Mr Jackson said they were waiting to hear if their bid for Lottery money to turn the former Magnus buildings on Appletongate, Newark, into a National Civil War Centre had been successful.

He said it was planned to charge for entry into some of the exhibitions and they hoped to borrow relevant artefacts from other museums.

 

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Clean-sweep-for-museum

News - Roman ear pick among artefacts for adoption in Newark

A Roman ear pick is one of 18 items put up for adoption to raise funds for a Nottinghamshire museum.

Newark's Millgate Museum's adopt-an-artefact initiative will help towards a new national centre for Civil War learning in the town.

Objects have been chosen by museum staff from the 60,000 items in stores.

Sue Rodgers, from The Friends of Newark and Sherwood Museum Service, said the scheme was a way for everyone to engage with the heritage of their local area.

Other artefacts chosen include a pair of ladies' shoes from 1817 and a Roman lead coffin discovered at Brough in 1971 which held the skeleton of a young female dating from 300AD.

For donating a minimum of £10, people will receive a certificate of adoption and an information sheet on their chosen object.

Bryony Robins, from Millgate Museum, said: "Hopefully it will get people interested in the collection and raise awareness of the museum's extensive stores, which are open to the public on request."

Adopt-an-artefact

Items up for adoption include...

• A Roman Cavalry Helmet's copper cheek piece
• A post-medieval gold pendant
• A polished stone axe head
• A military tunic
• An Anglo-Saxon gold cross pendant

The scheme is the first of several fundraising projects planned by the Friends of Newark and Sherwood Museum Service who aim to raise between £50,000 and £100,000 for the Civil War Centre over the coming years.

The museum, on Appleton Gate, is expected to cost about £5m and is due to open in 2014.

Newark and Sherwood District Council has received about £200,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to carry out initial development work on the museum.

It will be bidding for a further £3.4m in February, with most of the money being used to restore the Old Magnus building which is housing the exhibits.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-16197010

Event - Chance to adopt an artefact (Newark)

An Anglo-Saxon gold cross, a lead coffin, the bell from HMS Newark and a Roman silver earpick are among historic objects being offered for adoption as part of a fundraising initiative.

Mrs Rae Elliott, with an 18th Century smock, and Mr Glyn Hughes, with the bell from HMS Newark. (051211MW4-23)

The Friends of Newark and Sherwood Museum Service will launch the adopt-an-object initiative a week today.

Money raised will help with the restoration of the Old Magnus Buildings on Appletongate, where a new museum is being planned.

People will be able to browse displays at Millgate Museum, Newark, from 6pm to 9pm to see some of the objects not usually seen by the public.

Objects can be adopted for a minimum donation of £10 per year.

In return, people will receive a certificate of adoption, an information sheet on the adopted object and a credit on the group’s website for the duration of the adoption.

For more information contact Millgate Museum on 01636 655730.

From:  http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/news/view.asp?id=8a7b1e0a-7231-102f-ad62-73917bb4195d&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Event - Inaugural museum meeting (Newark)

The inaugural meeting of the Appletongate Museum Friends’ Group takes place tonight at Millgate Museum at 6pm.

It is hoped the group will form a solid and supportive role in the planned creation of a new Civil War museum on Appletongate, as well as Newark and Sherwood District Council’s museum service as a whole.

Anyone interested can book a place at the meeting through museums@nsdc.info or by telephoning 01636 655730.

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Inaugural-museum-meeting

Event - Mines memorabilia on display (Newark_

Members of Bilsthorpe Heritage Society with the display and some of the Bilsthorpe Colliery exhibits at Millgate Museum, Newark, are, left to right, Mr Bob Bradley, of Mansfield Woodhouse, Mr Eric Purdey, of Bilsthorpe, Mr Morris Goodman, of Rainworth, and (seated) his brother, Mr Trevor Goodman of Bilsthorpe.

Bilsthorpe Heritage Society has taken its roadshow to Millgate Museum, Newark, where it will be for seven weeks.

The exhibition features many items related to Bilsthorpe Colliery, which closed in 1997. These include lamps, helmets, tools, models of mining equipment and photographs of Bilsthorpe and other Nottinghamshire pits.

The heritage society wants to open its own museum in the village and is in the process of organising a monument to the 77 mine workers who died at the pit.

The pit was sunk in the 1920s and closed in 1997.

Bilsthorpe Colliery is the only pit nationally to have a woman worker listed among its fatalities.

Fourteen workers, many of them poor Irish immigrants escaping famine, were killed in one incident while sinking the mine.

They were buried in a communal grave in the churchyard but the society organised a memorial for the men and traced relatives, some from the USA, who attended a service of remembrance in the village.

The society takes its collection into schools. The chairman, Mr Trevor Goodman, of Bilsthorpe, says because there is less of a reliance on fossil fuels to heat homes these days, some children have never seen coal before.

Mr Goodman, a former miner at the pit, said the village was very supportive of their efforts.

The memorial is being paid for by the county council at a cost of £60,000.

It will be a 1.5m high depiction of a miner’s lamp and will stand on a plinth in a garden at the side of the village chemist shop and list the names of the 77.

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Mines-memorabilia-on-display

Event - A Year in the Life of Rattlejag Morris (Newark)

Exhibition at Stage 2 Gallery, Millgate Museum, Newark – from 30^th April to 19^th June 2011

Rattlejag Morris is a local English morris dance team, founded in 2002 and based in Retford, but with members from across the region. 

The side itself is unique, as its dances and music recreate the spirit of the plough jags (or farm workers) of Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire.  The dances are based on historical information researched through these counties by members of the team.  The repertoire includes rattle, stick, sword, broom, bacca pipe and clog dances, accompanied by live music, mostly from Lincolnshire collections, played on fiddle, melodeon, concertina, mandolin, whistle, Lincolnshire bagpipes and sometimes a hurdy gurdy. 

There is not another morris side like Rattlejag – and they dance for enjoyment too!

The exhibition can be viewed on several levels:

·         The story of Rattlejag’s activities and background:
Browse the photographs, texts and artefacts– enjoy a narrative that is closely identified with this region.

·         Historical and social background :
Brief historical quotes from the side’s own research are scattered about the gallery.  There are also more detailed texts on the team’s and other research for more serious students

·         Morris dance as a dynamic dance genre:
Find out how Rattlejag created its unique morris dances. 
And this story is not just about the side itself, but about its place in the wider local and national English traditional dance culture in the 21^st century.  You might be surprised about how varied, inventive and alive that is!

·         Music and instruments-  that accompany Rattlejag dances – the music is always live, not recorded - included is historical information on why this music and these instruments.

This exhibition is the result of a “living history” project, where the side recorded all their activities through photos, video and material sources over the year September 2009 to September 2010, representing a typical organisational year for a 21st century morris dance side.  This material is being organised into a “community box” to be archived in Bassetlaw Museum as a resource for the future.  This is the only project known of its kind.  A grant from Nottinghamshire CC Arts helped the side with this work.

Come and glance around or spend a little more time.  Or come and meet Rattlejag Morris and guest teams at Millgate Museum, Newark, with a live performance on Saturday 4^th June at c. 1.00pm – and you may get a chance to join in too.

For further information, please visit our website www.rattlejagmorris.org.uk

News - Museum's future uncertain (Newark)

The future of Millgate Museum, Newark, looks uncertain as councillors are being urged to break the lease for the building.

A report to Newark and Sherwood District Council recommends withdrawal as soon as possible despite short-term financial loss.

The portfolio holder for leisure, Mr Roger Jackson, said tentative talks had taken place with the private consortium owners of the property, Wendgreen Ltd, to see if they could be released from the lease or a change of use be permitted.

The 30-year lease was taken out on April 7, 1995, and expires in 2025.

Mr Jackson said: “How an earlier council agreed to that lease beggars belief.

“It was a crazy bit of business and has tied us up in knots.”

His comments came at a meeting of the services overview and scrutiny committee.

Mr Brendan Haigh said the exhibits, such as an Edwardian/Victorian street scene, were looking tired given limitations of layout and space, and it might be better “to board it up” rather than keep it operating in its current guise.

“The whole aura of the place is tired,” he said.

Mr Haigh said he realised they had a lease and that they may have to make a loss in the short-term.

“The nettle of Millgate Museum must be grasped,” he said.

In addition to the street scene, installed more than 20 years ago, there are exhibitions centred on agriculture, trades and industry, Newark in the two world wars, and the legacy of the 20th Century.

Some exhibits could move to an agricultural museum planned at Newark Showground, it was said.

Mr Jackson said Millgate Museum was not Disability Discrimination Act compliant. A lift would probably need to be installed to meet the legislation.

He said much-needed money could be reinvested in creating a national Civil War museum on Appletongate at the Old Magnus Buildings and Tudor Hall.

Mr Jackson said the focus would be on Newark under siege.

Newark was laid siege three times by Parliamentarians and surrendered only when ordered to by King Charles I.

The council has until 2012 to develop detailed plans and apply for the £2.8m it needs from Heritage Lottery towards the £4.43m scheme.

It is believed 40,000 people a year could visit the interactive museum.

Speaking after the meeting, the council’s chief executive, Mr Andrew Muter, said: “The council is working on developing an exciting new museum at the Old Magnus Buildings about Newark’s history and the Civil War.

“If and when that project comes to fruition, the council will want to have considered the future of Millgate Museum but the time-scales for this are not yet clear.”

The scrutiny committee’s recommendation to the ruling cabinet is that: “the council should urgently negotiate withdrawal from Millgate Museum at the earliest opportunity accepting that this would incur costs in the short-term.”

 

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Museums-future-uncertain