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]