The Chinese School of Durham

Last Saturday we were visted by several teachers and students from the Chinese School of Durham. It was a fantastic day. The museum's curator, Craig, started by giving a guided tour around the museum whilst the children did our trail! We then had lunch together (with the most amazing chocolate cake ever!). We then all went into the classroom and saw the Chinese objects we have chosen for our exhibition. Everybody had the chance to handle the objects and ask questions. Many of the teachers and parents from the school had loads to tell us about the different objects and it was really useful! Photos to follow soon!

The Anticipated Return and the Weather

[The below entry was written by Dan T, one of the founding students of Stories of the World Durham and previous 'Blog-writing extraordinaire'. Dan is now at the University of Leicester and went to the Horniman Youth Conference as a part of the Durham delegation. Unfortunately, due to snow, we weren't able to make it from Durham, but travelling from Leicester, Dan went anyway... here are his thoughts!]

Well well well well (too many wells) after an absence of typing in this blog for a few months, that's right I'm back. It is only a cameo appearance.

What a day I have had as you may well know the plan was for the SOTW team to go to London and for me to meet them there then go to the youth conference at the Horniman Museum. There was however a lot of snow and as we all know Britain and especially public transport is rubbish in the snow so unfortunately they had to cancel, and I was gutted at this because I was looking forward to seeing people. Not to worry though I decided to do all I could (which really wasn't that much) to save the day. Armed with a Laptop a semi functioning brain I set off for London, this was because everything else was in Matt's kitchen. With hindsight I should have prepared something the night before but I went to sleep instead. I had the marketplace all planned out steal their printer, which they let me do, and then use this brilliant blog. As the theme of this trip is things not going to plan the Internet wouldn't work, panic time, so in my robust borderline insane or maybe troubled genius I whipped some PowerPoint presentation up in about 8 minutes printed it off and stuck it on the wall. rap but effective. Anyways I did my best to sell the project but after a prolonged absence it was more difficult than I anticipated.

The day started with three papers on youth culture and the challenges they face. This is a wide grouping as each was unique but I can't be bothered to write about each one in detail at the moment (I'm very tired). Two focused around gender roles using young men who modify their cars and do these have a place in museums. Make your own judgments. The second on the skull as a symbol of death in fashion. Quite morbid but so are the team with their exhibition. The final paper was on the high pitched whistling device used by Local Authorities or Supermarkets to target young people and stop them causing trouble, but at what ethical cost. There we are each had its own unique but linked together perspective.  Then there were discussion groups but I skived these to set up the market place.

After the lunch buffet (got nothing on you Matt, especially those chocolate tortes, in fact that would be a great Xmas present hint hint) and the market place the workshops started. I went to one on using applied arts in museums, basically a bit of drama to keep things entertaining for the youngens while they learn. This was incredibly useful and can be considered for events when the SOTW gallery is launched (and I still want to open it, unless you get Stephen Fry nobody else outranks me). The second workshop I attended was on youth led tours I thought this could relate to the already completed trail and the launch event again. This is on how to engage young people more and not just read from a sheet etc. I will post the notes or drop them at the OM in January.

Finally there was an after conference party. After enjoying my food I ventured out to marvel at the brilliant  street entertainers of Covent Garden. I then went to Leicester Square because I could, why not eh? Wandered about saw some sights, meant to take photos of the whole day took my camera but forgot the batteries. Then it was back to St Pancras and home.

All in all an exciting stressful challenging but still fulfilling day. It has been a pleasure to write this I am incredibly proud of the prep work the entire team did. I am also incredibly disappointed you couldn't be there. But I tried to deliver in the style of a martyr, but unfortunately it needed a hero, however I delivered a Legend.

Seriously leaving behind the joking arrogance it has been an honour to be allowed to represent Durham despite having very little contact. I am proud of you all and after looking around today you are the cream of the crop and you are going from strength to strength. People often say the sky is the limit; I say rubbish, there is no limit to what you can achieve if you work for it, and you guys have.
Muchos Gracias (with a hint of sadness)
Dan

Getting ready for London!

Okay, so today Amy, Alex and Jono (US!) came down to the museum to finish the preparations for London Town! On Saturday we're off to London (bright and early D: possibly 5am.....) to showcase what our Stories of the World project has involved these past few months. We created a snazzy powerpoint whilst Jono designed some cool SOTW merch ... HOODIES !!

We're off for food :D so next post LONDON !!

Egyptian video from Saturday

Walk like an Egyptian!

Today we got to handle objects from Ancient Egypt which linked to our exhibition theme of medicine and death. Among our favourites were the amulets and the canopic jar, where we got to smell the marvels of Ancient Egypt, a rare treat. Afterwards, we shared our interpretations of the objects before meeting with a group of Egyptologists to discuss our ideas. It took a while for the group to get going but once they did, we learned all about the importance of honey and pomegranates, the health foods of 4000BC! It was also interesting to hear about how magic was used to prevent illness or attack from wild animals. Armed with this new knowledge, we can't wait to get stuck in with preparations for the exhibition. Tawaret, here we come!

Meeting

We started by talking about the visit to the Chinese residents and what we had learn from the interviews. After this, and much talk of Strictly Come Dancing and X-Factor, we did the 'mystery museum' exercise. There were a range of objects out on the table and we had to rank their importance and value. The owner, Mel, then came in and told us all about them and why they were important to him. This was really funny, and showed that without a 'human narrative' it is hard to get a true idea of an object's importance. Here are some pics from the session!

The mystery museum!

It's a drab dreary day in Durham. A few of us have come up to the Oriental Museum for the Wednesday afternoon session (we can't make the Saturday session). Initially we were given a group of 'mystery' objects, which belonged to one person. We had to rank them in terms of fhier value and importance to that person (without knowing who they belonged too!). We recorded our initial reactions to each of them (we cannot say too much because the people who come on Saturday haven't seen them yet). After recording why we ranked them the way we did and our initial impressions the owner of the objects came and spoke to us about them. We then had to re-order them! It helped us to see how interpretations of a single object could vary depending on who was viewing them! We then recorded some of our intial reactions to Chinese objects and planned the London trip to the Horniman museum SOTW conference!

Chinese Community interviews!

Yesterday we went to the Chinese Association of Newcastle to interview ten residents from China and Hong Kong. We wanted to hear their memories of illness and medicine to help us with our exhibition. We arrived at the Association at 11.15 and were met by Stephen, one of the centre volunteers. We were immeidately made very welcome and were led up to a room that was set aside for the interview. Despite all being a bit nervious, as soon as the residents arrived we were put at ease. It was fantastic hearing everything they had to say.... although we had planned to ask 16 questions, we only managed to do three!!!! We didn't mind, as the residents had so much to say and we wanted to hear it all! Fortunately we recorded all of the interviews, so we had time to listen rather than scribbling everything down!

The residents had lots to say about their experiences from across the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s,  the relationship between modern and traditional medicines and even recognised some of our objects! We hope to arrange for the residents to visit us in the museum in the near future. It was fantastic! A massive thank you to all of the residents and the Association for helping us!

After this we went for a Chinese meal (keeping in the spirit of the day) and then some of us went on a 'historical tour of Newcastle' (forunately the rain had stopped). All in all a great day. Jen even managed to do some shopping!

See below for some clips from the interviews and photos from the day.

[interview 'montage']

[The residents with the SoTW Durham team]

[One resident shows us his lucky coin which gives protection from ill health and misfortune]

[Jono, Alex and Amy enjoying the warmth of Bessie Surtee's House on the historical tour]

We're going to Newcastle!

Today we're going to Newcastle to interview some of the Chinese community about their memories of illness and medicine when in China, and whether these have changed. It looks to be a great day. We have prepared 16 questions, 8 of which are general questions and 8 which relate to specific objects we have chosen. The only thing is..... it's tipping it down with rain and we have to walk to the station!

Preparing for interviews

Hi everyone! Things are moving forward with the exhibition plan. We have now chosen a range of objects covering the topics of 'illness, medicine and death' from the Oriental Museum's collections. As many of these are from China we are preparing to interview Chinese residents in Newcastle next Tuesday. Around 80 residents of Newcastle's Chinese community meet every week for lunch at the Chinese Community Association. They have very kindly agreed to be interviewed by the project team, so today we are going to build a questionnaire to take with us. The main aim is to gauge the cultural background of the objects which we have selected for the exhibition. It will be really fascinating hearing the memories of the residents, but also nerve-racking. We obviously want to make sure our questions are along the right lines! The residents are also letting us take pictures and video so watch this space!

THE LAUNCH!

Today was our much-anticipated launch of the 'Globetrotting with Callum' trail.  What can we say, other than it was GREAT!  Seriously, we had a brilliant turnout, so thanks to everyone who came today and made the day extra fun for us all.  After our pre-speech nerves had worn off, and our 'oscar-winning' film was shown and the kids had fun running around.

In the afternoon, we had 'Callum Crafting' sessions where some very artistic camels were created.  After today, we hope that in the future, the project will be just as successful.

[The Stories of the World trail team with our 'Colour Hero' Les]

THE LAUNCH!

Wow - so much has been going on that we haven't had time to fill out this blog! Sorry! In the last week we have taken delivery of 3,000 fab children's trail booklets, 600 camel floor stickers and created our own 'virtual children's' tour. Preparations are now being made for the big launch of the children's trail this coming Saturday. It looks to be a big event, with plenty of children, the project team and people from Stories of the World all coming! It will also be the first time we will show our virtual tour to museum visitors. Before that though, we will give all you lovely people a sneak preview!

Enjoy!


[The 'Globetrotting with Callum' video and Children's trail have been designed and chorographed exclusively by our 'Stories of the World' project team. These are student volunteers from Gilesgate Sixth Form centre aged 16-18. They have been pivotal in re-interpreting the Durham University Oriental Museum's world collections and bringing them to a whole new audience. Our students have been working as a part of wider project with Tyne and Wear Museums and Middlesbrough Museums]

Wednesday 6th October

Plenty-a-going on. The trail came in and we started planning for the launch of 'Globetrotting with Callum' which will happen on the 16th October (MASSIVE HINT.... 16th October). We have designed a short presentation and some children's entertainment in the form of design your own Callum the Camel. We're a bit nervious, but loads of people have shown an interest. We also hope to show our 'virtual video trail' that we filmed a few weeks ago. Exciting stuff. We also dipped into the stores to look at some Vietnamese statues to use for our exhibition. All of this after a full day at college.... now that is dedication!

Saturday 2nd October

Today was another action packed day! The exhibition team were looking at objects related to death and burial including a Canopic jar from Ancient Egypt (including ancient sludge inside!). Once again, we were thinking about how these objects could be displayed and how they related to each other. While we were doing this, the trail team were busy filming a virtual trail, so there were lots of children running around with cameras and tripods! Watch this space for the video!

Saturday 25th September

Wow - what a session! Last Saturday we chose a range of objects from the museum database that we wanted to include in our 'forthcoming' exhibition - Illness, Death and Afterlife. Well, having trawlled through the museum system last Saturday, we got to see and handle the objects this Saturday. We started to think about how these could be displayed and how they related to each other, their use and the people who used them. It was really great to actually see the potential objects. While we were doing this, the group working on the Children's trail were making a 'virtual trail' to post online. All great stuff!

My Final Entry

Well the time has come for me to put in my final entry and in a break from tradition I am actually going to write this while thinking at the same time.

What can I say, well I have been working with Durham Stories of the World since just about the start all those many moons ago. To be honest I started this as the typical that will be good for the UCAS form and with the intention of that's that once I got my offers. But sitting here with two weeks until I go to University I'm still here, it became more than a ticket to getting uni offers. What do I see in SOTW now, a brilliant project to give young people a voice not just in the museums but within their communities using the museums to challenge social and contemporary issues. To me that is a truly admirable thing to do.

Durham isn't just the only place where I have been involved. I got to work in Newcastle on CultuRise with an amazing group of young people from all over the world. Not only did this increase what we would call racial tolerance but I prefer to think of as an acceptance and embrace other people's culture. Plus I got one hell of a trip to Sweden which fell on my 18th birthday, can't complain eh.

Why would I tell others to get involved with projects like and including SOTW, well first of all its fun and I have had so much fun all be it slightly stressful fun over the past year and a half. But I have also seen myself develop as a person I have gained confidence levels which I never knew were there, been out and spoke to schools and met amazing people, my academic skills have gone to personal highs. Most  of all I have had fun.

Now I must say some thank yous the museum staff in Durham and Newcastle for their support which has been crucial to any success. My colleagues group members, or as I would call them friends, amazing people energetic driven enthusiastic ambitious and successful the future captains of industry and people with the ability to change the world, good luck to you all. Matt for his continued support and countless hours of work he has put in and having to work with me. A big thank you especially, not playing favourites here but Sarah Price you opened me up to adventures and I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am without you. Thank you so much.

I will now sign out for the final time I will continue to follow this blog and it has been great fun.
Thank You All
Daniel Tinkler

The Trail Booklet Arrives

Well well well the moment has arrived with the glorious fantastically brilliant, add your own adjectives at will, trail booklet has arrived  (always wanted to start a blog like that). What can I say we are even gaining international recognition throughout Europe Belgium sent its two finest teachers to work with us or they came as part of the Da Vinci scheme, I prefer to think of it as the former.

Today there were four of us myself (Dan), Amy, Alex and Jono. Today the responsibility seemed to increase to unparallelled highs, first of all we got to run through the booklet and make sure everything was correct and in working order, which it was a result which doesn't normally occur when I'm involved. Then we got the call to say the text for the booklet needed to be sent in the exact form, which panicked me a little but it has been worked through and is now being checked over by Rachael, before being sent back. Progress at an alarming rate until it is realised that i have made a few errors with the text (this hasn't been confirmed but is more than likely).

It was then the time to write an official section about Stories of the World for the back cover of the booklet. Of course as it had to be "official" that sent waves of fear through the ranks but hey what can you do, personally I think what the group came up with looks passable as official. And a pass is a pass right.

To finish off we went with the most challenging aspect of the day designing the video for the virtual trail luckily our 2 teachers had experience in this so it was great to have them around. Unfortunately I can't tell you too much about their designs other than they were looking innovative fun and thought provoking. Now this isn't down to secret service like security but my sneaking out of the room and phoning Colour Heroes to admit that I was confused by the picture Sudoku that an eight year old could figure out easily. It's fair to say that was not my finest hour.

There is no video today as like the genius that I am I forgot but hopefully my vivid description and literary technique has painted a picture in your mind. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words and I can't be bothered to type that many, hopefully it worked if not never mind.

Today we designed a logo, looked for objects for the exhibition and talked to some mackam engineers who came up with some great ideas for the exhibit. We made some great advances in the design of the actual exhibit space and discussed some logistical issues with the design, such as accessibility. Overall it was a really successful and productive day.

The Stories of the World team met on 31/8 and decided on the subject of Death and Medicine for the exhibit being produced. The team discussed audience, theme and a mission statement and came up with a large number of ideas ranging from partitions in the exhibit space to motion sensitive audio speakers which would enhance the experience or looking at exhibits and make the museum more interactive, so it appeals to more audiences. It's a shame that only 6 people turned up. They must have been out sunbathing (Elliot), or living it up in France (Catherine S). Anyway, the meeting was a success and resulted in a lot of positive constructive ideas which will help the exhibition. This video below is of our exhibition space!

The Trail Nears Completion

Well what a busy momentous week we've had so far and it's only Wednesday.

First off we started with a trip to the Fulling Mill museum of archeology for the entire group and got to see a children's exhibit designed by Durham University's museum studies masters students on the theme of myths and monsters. This was to see how there exhibit was designed and learn from them for our exhibition. It was of course fun and child friendly plus me and two other students got to dress up as dragons (photo will be uploaded when people bring in consent forms, hint hint) what more could you ask for. We also looked round the rest of the museum and the video below shows part of that, we saw the differnce of which I couldn't possibly comment on, or wait there both brilliant.

Today was even busier we had our much anticipated meeting with Lorraine from Colour Heroes our graphic designers. We have now completed a mock run through of the trail booklet and we are entering exciting times. It does of course mean even busir times are ahead with the follow up work, but hey its worth it. After three hours of solid discussion and planning we made vast amounts of progress. this whole making progress while working feels wierd, but I personally feel professional and as they say there's a first time for everything.

Better say a big thank you to Helen again for confirming the trail; will work with a few minor tweeks. Or yeah and Matt great work with getting the meeting but personally a bigger thank you for another buffet where I yet again out ate everybody ele (probably combined).

Well that's all for this update and thanks to Isobel Siddons for becoming our first follower.

Until the next edition of typing without thinking, bye.

Group Meeting Update

Well we've had another successful day with an amazing free buffet lunch (well done Matt) or yeah and we did do some work as well.

I have managed to locate another video of the object handling session featuring Amy showing her knowledge of how not to break things of great historical importance, if only I knew how not to break things in my own house. Although I did manage not to break the objects I got to handle, which was a massive shock.

Today was a little bit hectic with the group splitting into several smaller groups. However we seemed to have success the trail group went off to work on well the trail (perhaps I should think before typing, Nah). we are now at the point where we are ready for the meeting with Colour Heroes next Wednesday. Then the trail should be up and ready to go. Phase 1 is nearing completion.

We had the rest of the group going round the museum looking for themes and objects that they liked and want to incorporate in the final exhibition. Then the whole group got back together and we managed to narrow down the themes for the exhibition to: Weapons and Sport, Writing and Language or Deaths (we have some very morbid people) and medicine. The groups then made their case to our Collections Manager Helen the star of the videos posted last week. Helen was brilliant as Lord Sugar and has approved the exhibition ideas.

Thats all for now as I am exhausted and am going home to bed.

Preparing for tomorrow

Currently planning for another big day in the Stories of the World diary. Another group meeting up at the Oriental Museum to plan the forthcoming exhibition.!

The Wonders of the Stores

As promised I have taken videos from our trip into the stores. Then I used my mightily flawed technological know how (there's some big money words) to upload them onto this Internet thing, I surprise myself at times with sheer guess work and luck om my side ( I think I may even put the lottery on) I appear to have succeeded.

These are the videos from three of the cupboards in the stores and the wonders they hold. Take a look and a big thank you to Helen our Collections Manager for training us with object handling and then taking us down to the treasures of the deep and astounding us all.

The Busiest Day So Far

Today is a busy day for us, first off we are currently deeply engrossed in preparing a booklet for the children's trail we are creating. We have just confirmed a meeting with the graphic designer Colour Heroes for our booklet ( that's right were being professional). I think its fair to say the cogs are turning at remarkable rates and we could possibly be the most productive people in the university, partly down to the fact its the summer vacation. You'd think planning an activity trail for children would be relatively easy, but this would of course be too simple. At the moment the ideas are bouncing around the room and it is quite simply phenomenal.

Then to make the day even more complete we will have the newer members of the group arriving for an object handling session. I can honestly say I am looking forward to this and wondering how many valuable artefects will I end up damaging, only time will tell. Then to finish the day in style we are being allowed into the Oriental Museums stores. Wow. This is of course going to be amazing for us all to see the vast array of treasures that are hidden from the public's eye, but for how long we may take a particular fancy to something and put it in our exhibition. I of course will have to fool the museum staff into thinking I have the ability to walk without bumping into things otherwise Mr Clumsy will never be allowed in the stores.

I will post follow up videos and photos (provided they let me in ).

Bye For Now

First meeting - Saturday 24th July

We had our first meeting at the Oriental Museum, Durham. This included a general introduction to the project and a tour of the museum!