Thanks to everyone who came to the MERL Annual Lecture last week to hear Richard Benyon speak on the future of the British Countryside. If you missed it and would like to know more about the issues he addressed, please read the write-up issed by the University…
http://www.reading.ac.uk/news-and-events/releases/PR477752.aspx
Richard Benyon, Newbury MP and Minister for the Natural Environment and Fisheries, will explore the issues surrounding the future of the British countryside when he presents MERL’s Annual Lecture on Thursday 29 November.
Richard Benyon said: “In 2012, it could be said that the British countryside is in a state of imbalance. While many species have, within a generation, all but disappeared from the landscape, others are thriving and becoming increasingly problematic as pests or predators of endangered species. We face an unprecedented number of invasive and non-indigenous species, as well as the unwelcome arrival of new diseases in plants and animals. So we have to face it: for perhaps decades we have been getting it wrong. Now, we need to be braver about intervening to better manage our wildlife and countryside.”
Kate Arnold-Forster, Director of the Museum of English Rural Life says: ‘We are delighted to be welcoming such a distinguished speaker for this year’s lecture as part of MERL’s contribution to the national debate surrounding the future of the countryside and the promotion of wider understanding of issues relating to rural life’.
Richard Benyon has been MP for Newbury since May 2005. Before coming to government Mr Benyon served as a Shadow Minister for the Environment, Fisheries and Wildlife. Prior to this appointment he was a Party Whip. He has also served on the Home Affairs Select Committee.
Mr Benyon lives in West Berkshire where he is a farmer. He is a former soldier and is a founder Trustee of the charity Help for Heroes.
The lecture is being held on 29 November at 7pm in the University of Reading’s historic Great Hall, on the London Road campus. Admission is free, although tickets are required. These can be requested by contacting the Museum at merlevents@reading.ac.uk or calling 0118 378 8660. Further details are available on the MERL website at www.reading.ac.uk/merl.
Interactive exhibits, home-grown food and fun activities helped the University of Reading to win two top prizes at the Royal Berkshire Show 2012.
The University’s display won first prize in the best large trade stand and the best local trade stand categories at this year’s show, which ran over the weekend of 15th and 16th September. The display showcased the University’s leading role in teaching and research in agriculture, food science and rural heritage.
Applications are invited for the 2012 Traditional Craft Fair to be held at MERL in November
We are pleased to announce that following the continued success of the Museum’s Traditional Craft Fair, we will be running the event again this year on November 10th, 11am to 4pm.
The emphasis is on traditional and heritage crafts and stallholders are encouraged to demonstrate on their stands and are welcome to offer small hands-on activities for visitors.
The Museum also provides a free drop-in activity for families and refreshments are available in our ‘Studio Cafe’.
Craftspeople and makers are invited to submit applications for stalls by Thursday 7th September.
How to apply:
To read the stallholder information and download the application form, please see the MERL Traditional Craft Fair 2012 page.
With the school summer holidays approaching, the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) is launching new family tours as part of its exciting summer programme.
The Museum, which is owned and managed by the University of Reading, was recently nominated as one of the country’s top 20 Family Friendly museums by Kids in Museums, but far from being content with this achievement, the team at the Museum is constantly looking for ways of improving visits for its youngest visitors and encouraging families to come enjoy the Museum.
This August families will be able to take part in free, interactive tours specially designed to help them engage with and understand the stories behind the Museum’s collections.
Families will meet characters from England’s rural past, such as Alan the sheep shearer, Dave the blacksmith, Molly the dairy maid, Gabriel the farm hand and Maggie the Thatcher and visit the Museum with them as they bring to life what it was like to work in the villages, farms and fields of the past and tell their personal stories. Each 30 minute tour will be delivered by two characters from the team.
The tours have been developed by staff and volunteers in the MERL tour guide team with the aim of bringing to life the objects on display in the Museum and helping families get an idea of what kind of lives the people who used them might have lived.
Kaye Gough, MERL volunteer (Gabriel the farm hand) said: “We’ve had tremendous fun creating this series of family tours. We hope the visitors who join us will enjoy it as much as us. We hope visitors learn more about this fascinating museum and the stories it has to tell.”
Rob Davies, Volunteer Coordinator, said “Once again, our volunteers have surpassed themselves with their dedication and positive attitude to another project. Every character has been carefully researched and we are sure that visitors will have a fun and educational experience!”
The tours take place on 8th, 15th and 22nd August, at 11:30 at the Museum of English Rural Life, they are free but booking is required as places are limited. To book, and for details of the tours and other events in the Museum’s programme of summer events for families, visit the website at www.reading.ac.uk/merl or call 0118 378 8660 during opening hours.
ENDS
For more information about the MERL’s summer programme, visit www.reading.ac.uk/merl or call 0118 378 8660.
For more information for media, contact Alison Hilton, Marketing Officer at the Museum of English Rural Life on 0118 378 8660 or Pete Castle at the University of Reading press office on 0118 378 7391 or p.castle@reading.ac.uk.
Notes to editors:
MERL, part of the University of Reading, draws on and adds to the University’s unique research into agriculture, history and rural practices, and has collections permanently open to the public at the University’s historic and recently refurbished London Road campus.
As the crowds gather to welcome the Olympic torch to Reading, the Museum of English Rural life at the University of Reading is reflecting the influence English country heritage has had in world sport – including helping provide the spark for the modern Olympics.
The torch will come to Reading on Tuesday evening (10 July), carried along the A4 London Road between 6.14pm and 6.34pm, before an evening celebration at the Madejski Stadium, where the flame will be kept overnight before continuing its journey around Britain the following morning.
Just yards away from the official route, the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), part of the University of Reading’s London Road campus, will stay open until 9pm on Tuesday to give anyone coming to the area the chance to visit the exhibition Playing Fields: Our Sporting Life in the Countryside. The exhibition, which runs until 16 September and is free of charge, takes a look at the rural sports that changed the world – and one or two that didn’t.
The opening ceremony of the London 2012 Games will feature the British countryside and farmyard animals, acknowledging the importance of rural life in shaping modern Britain. Playing Fields is an opportunity to look back with pride and to enjoy and explore a peculiarly rural, and peculiarly British, take on sport. It also showcases the influence of rural life and rural sport on the Olympic movement. For instance, the Olympic ideal owes much to the market town of Much Wenlock, Shropshire, a quiet English parish in which a local agricultural society promoted the idea of an Olympian Class prior to the re-establishment of the modern Olympics by Pierre de Coubertin in 1896.
With items drawn from the museum’s diverse collections, Playing Fields takes a light-hearted look at major sports like football and cricket, the roots of which lie partly in traditional rural contests. It also sheds light on less familiar but equally fascinating activities, from the thorny challenges of competitive hedging to the little-known ballgame knur and spell.
Guy Baxter, of MERL, said: “We were delighted to discover that Danny Boyle, the director of the Olympic opening ceremony, had singled out the influence of rural life in Britain as the key message of the opening event. MERL is about recording our rural past and helping people to learn about it.
“Rural sports, from cricket on the green to tennis on the lawn, have had a massive influence on our culture, and on the wider world. It’s great that we can celebrate these sports, in Olympic year, with a free exhibition that is both fun and informative, and we’re even more pleased to be able to extend our opening to coincide with the arrival of the Olympic torch to Reading.”
This display forms part of a project co-ordinated by the Heritage Sports Network to showcase the wealth of sporting history in the United Kingdom. This national exhibit explores the huge contributions made by British sportsmen and women over the last century.
ENDS
For more information about the exhibition, visit www.reading.ac.uk/merl or call 0118 378 8660.
For more information for media, contact Pete Castle at the University of Reading press office on 0118 378 7391 or p.castle@reading.ac.uk.
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Notes to editors:
MERL, part of the University of Reading, draws on and adds to the University’s unique research into agriculture, history and rural practices, and has collections permanently open to the public at the University’s historic and recently refurbished London Road campus.
Free craft workshops, morris dancing and pedalling your own smoothies! These are just some of the attractions families can enjoy at this year’s Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) Annual Village Fete on Saturday 9 June.
MERL, which is owned and managed by the University, has been hosting the popular event on their Redlands Road site for five years. This year the fete has a special Jubilee theme to coincide with the Queen’s 60th anniversary celebrations.
The Storyteller Laureate, Taffy Thomas, will be performing at the Museum of English Rural Life on March 20th.
The Museum (MERL), which is owned and managed by the University of Reading, will be welcoming Taffy Thomas as the first guest of local folk singer Hilary James in her ‘Song, stories and traditions’ folk series.
In this fourth series, Hilary James continues to invite friends from across the folk scene to perform alongside her and mandolinist, Simon Mayor, exploring English music and poems, stories and traditions.
Currently artistic director of Tales in Trust, the Northern Centre for Storytelling, Taffy Thomas has also been awarded the MBE for services to storytelling and charity. Inspired by Justin Partyka’s striking photographs of East Anglia currently on display in the Museum, Taffy will take guests on a journey round the region, telling tall tales of tall ships and landlubbers. He will be accompanied by songs from Hilary and additional music by mandolin and fiddle maestro Simon Mayor.
Hilary James says ‘Taffy Thomas lived for some time on a farm in Suffolk near the places featured by the writer George Ewart Evans in his book “Ask the Fellows Who Follow the Plough”. Taffy also fished out of Aldeburgh, so his “Tales of Land and Sea” have a genuine taste of East Anglia about them, even if the teller does have a Welsh name and the remnants of a Somerset accent!”
The concert series is supported by the University of Reading Arts Committee and the West Berkshire Brewery, who supply the beer for the bar.
Tickets cost £15 or £12 (concessions) and are available in advance or on the door. For further details visit www.reading.ac.uk/merl call 0118 378 8660 or email merlevents@reading.ac.uk
