Volunteers in the spotlight

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Jenny

All of a sudden, our volunteers have been in demand during October and lots of people want to talk to them. At the start of the month, three volunteers were interviewed by HMIe inspectors, as part of an inspection of the Woodfarm High School catchment area. This week, a focus group met with a member of staff from our local Voluntary Action branch, as part of our ongoing work towards the Volunteer Friendly Award. Finally, yesterday one volunteer (thanks Helen!) and I spoke to staff from the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, who wanted to find out how the Volunteer Friendly Award is benefiting our project.

So, I thought I ought to continue the theme with another volunteer-written blog post. Jeffrey is a regular visitor to Giffnock Library and to the Heritage Centre, so has been able to help out with a variety of tasks. Take it away Jeffrey… Continue reading →

Posted in ERC Heritage Service, HLF Museum Artefacts project | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Two in a row

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Jenny
Volunteer Catherine hard at work in Giffnock Heritage Centre

Volunteer Catherine hard at work in Giffnock Heritage Centre

Just like the buses, you wait months for a volunteer’s blog post, then two come along in quick succession.  This week’s blogger is Catherine, who has been working on a names index to the Gibson collection.  Her work is a great example of where a volunteer is bringing her own indexing experience and skills to a task that we would not have the time to do ourselves, and which adds extra value to the collection for future researchers.

“Since I’m undertaking a Archives course at Glasgow University, I thought that getting as much experience as possible is a good thing, and this why I’m volunteering at Giffnock Heritage Centre. My project is mainly to create an index of personal names and businesses that occur in the Gibson collection. Continue reading →

Posted in ERC Heritage Service, Family history, Gibson family, HLF Museum Artefacts project | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Second in an occasional series!

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Jenny

Back in June I had the bright idea of asking some of our project volunteers to write for the blog.  Like many other ideas I have, it has taken a long while to get going!  Nevertheless, I am delighted to hand over the keyboard, as it were, to Beth.  Despite enduring two previous spells of work experience at the Heritage Centre, she was apparently happy to come back for more…

“I have been working with Jenny and Amanda at Giffnock Heritage Centre for nearly three years, through a combination of work experience and volunteering.  The past has always fascinated me: not the history of the sweep of ideas and movements, but the real ordinary people of the past.  I suppose that’s why I have enjoyed these past few years so much – the sheer range of activities I have been able to take part in has been amazing.  I have carried out family research, spent an afternoon pouring over old Barrhead house plans, gone on heritage walks – the list goes on and on. Continue reading →

Posted in ERC Heritage Service, Gibson family, HLF Museum Artefacts project, Local history | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Going to school with John Robertson

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Jenny
School pupils and the Heritage Project Officer with the Robertson obelisk

P6 pupils from Neilston Primary School have a look at the Robertson obelisk

At the end of August I was invited to Neilston Primary School, to speak to two primary six classes about John Robertson, Neilston engineer.  The pupils will be researching him as part of a wider project on the Victorian era and the inventions of the time.  They’ll be looking at the changes that have taken place in Neilston since that period, including the different forms of energy that have powered mills, factories, transport and homes.  Hopefully the project will produce work that we can display in Neilston Library, so that more people can learn more about the village’s famous son. Continue reading →

Posted in ERC Heritage Service, HLF Museum Artefacts project, John Robertson, Local history | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

New photos on Flickr

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Jenny

We’ve been having a busy few weeks, with no time to post, but plenty of photos taken.  These include some taken by our volunteers, as part of our plan to record places and objects connected to the Museum Artefacts project.  You can see the latest additions to the HLF project subset on East Renfrewshire Council’s Flickr gallery.

Posted in ERC Heritage Service, HLF Museum Artefacts project, Local history | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Halfway through

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Jenny

The start of July marked the halfway point of our HLF project, and since I came back from holidays, I’ve been thinking about what we’ve done so far and what we still have to achieve before the end of March next year (and trying not to panic!).  This week I’m meeting up with all our registered volunteers to discuss a variety of possible future projects and to find out where their interests lie.  The focus will now shift from the cataloguing and packing tasks to research and display work, and to creating lasting content about the four collections we are looking at. Continue reading →

Posted in ERC Heritage Service, HLF Museum Artefacts project, Local history | Tagged | Leave a comment

Reconnecting with the Maguire family

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Jenny

When we began researching John E. Maguire back in March, we had no idea if the donor of his paintings was still at the same address, or indeed if he was still alive, as it was several years since we had been in touch.  At the end of May, I wrote a speculative letter detailing the work that was being undertaken on the paintings, the family history research that had been completed, and the fact that one painting was due to be part of an exhibition later in the year.  However, I didn’t have particularly high hopes of receiving an answer.

Yesterday, I was excited to receive an envelope with handwriting that I recognised from old correspondence.   The donor, also a Mr. Maguire, was very pleased to hear from us: “I was delighted…to learn that the paintings by my grandfather form such a point of local interest…That the National Galleries of Scotland have shown an interest is extraordinary…”  He went on to say that he had very little information about his grandfather, so I have promised to send him a copy of the family history research carried out by our volunteers.  It’s really nice to know that volunteer work can have this kind of added benefit, and can be enjoyed by the very person responsible for giving us the collection in the first place.  Nice high note on which to finish up for my holidays.  Au revoir for two weeks folks.

Posted in ERC Heritage Service, Family history, HLF Museum Artefacts project, John E Maguire | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Getting historical at Barrhead Gala Day

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Jenny
Barrhead Gala Day: James Cowan

Barrhead Gala Day: James Cowan

As I approached the marquee in Cowan Park on Saturday, I was struck by the sight of two men in top hats.  One was James Cowan, who left money after his death for a public park in Barrhead, and the other was John Shanks, erstwhile sanitaryware manufacturer in the town.  They were accompanied by Jean Gebbie, owner of the inn of the same name in Waterside, and by Kate Cranston of Glasgow tearoom fame.  Continue reading →

Posted in ERC Heritage Service, HLF Museum Artefacts project, James Maxton MP, Local history | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Special guest appearance at the Barrhead Gala

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Jenny

This Saturday (18th June) is Barrhead Gala Day and I’ll be putting up a display about the HLF Museum Artefacts project, as well as showing some items from the James Maxton and Gibson family collections.  The Gala Committee has arranged for actors from the Historical Adventures company to appear as figures from Barrhead’s past, including a James Maxton, and I have asked if he will do us the honour of appearing at our display to have a look at some of our Maxton objects.  Maybe he’ll do a speech for us!  I am also keen to see how he will model Maxton’s famous long hair…

If you’d like to come and see our display, I’ll be alongside the Library Services stand in the marquee at the swingpark in Cowan Park, from about 12pm to 4pm.

Posted in ERC Heritage Service, Gibson family, HLF Museum Artefacts project, James Maxton MP, Local history | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Volunteers Week 2011

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Jenny

To mark Volunteers Week 2011 (1-7 June), I thought it would be nice to start a new blog feature, which is to have our project volunteers tell you a bit more about what they are doing.  First up is a post from Morag, who has been coming in on a Monday afternoon to give me a hand.

“I was quite surprised when I was invited to volunteer to help out with the East Renfrewshire HLF project.  For one thing, even though I am an avid reader and use the library service a lot, I wasn’t really aware of what the Heritage Collection was.  Now, some four weeks later, I find that East Renfrewshire has a number of collections, each of which is a melange of different pieces and types of information, from broad and general records about the area, its development and history, to quite detailed accounts of family life in the last century.

Continue reading →

Posted in ERC Heritage Service, Gibson family, HLF Museum Artefacts project | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment