Category Archives: Press Releases

Discovering the Landscape: landscape research bursaries available

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This year, thanks to generous funding from the Landscape Institute, we are pleased to offer bursaries to encourage use and engagement with our varied and fascinating landscape collections.  Read more about our Landscape Institute collection here, including the collections of Geoffrey Jellicoe, Sylvia Crowe and Brenda Colvin.  See a full list of our collections here.

Details below, please apply by email to merl@reading.ac.uk

From AR COL A/6/5, Folder relating to Little Peacocks Garden, Filkins [Brenda Colvin's home from 1960s]

From AR COL A/6/5, Folder relating to Little Peacocks Garden, Filkins [Brenda Colvin’s home from 1960s]

Student travel bursaries

The purpose of the student travel bursaries is to enable students to access collections held at Reading related to landscape, including landscape design, management and architecture.

We are offering 2 bursaries of £150 each.

Applications will be by email to merl@reading.ac.uk (please put “Landscape Bursary” in the subject line) will be invited from any student in part or full-time higher education.

Interested applicants should submit a CV, and a short statement (max 400 words) outlining their interest in and current work on landscape, stating how the bursary would be spent and how it would be beneficial to their studies.  Applicants should identify those materials in the archive that would be of most benefit to them.

Plate from 'The art and practice of landscape gardening', by Henry Ernest Milner, MERL LIBRARY RESERVE FOLIO--4756-MIL

Plate from ‘The art and practice of landscape gardening’, by Henry Ernest Milner, MERL LIBRARY RESERVE FOLIO–4756-MIL

Academic engagement bursary

The purpose of this award is to encourage academic engagement with collections held at Reading related to landscape, including landscape design, management and architecture.

Successful proposals will attract a stipend of £1,000. The funding can be used to offset teaching and administration costs, travel and other research-related expenses. Appropriate facilities are provided and the successful applicant will be encouraged to participate in the academic programmes of the Museum.

The intention for this award is to create an opportunity for a researcher to develop and disseminate new work in the broad arena of landscape.

Applications will be by email to merl@reading.ac.uk  (please put “Landscape Bursary” in the subject line).  Interested applicants should submit a CV and a statement (max 800 words) outlining their interest in, and current work on, landscape.

AR JEL DO1 S2/20

Geoffrey Jellicoe collection, AR JEL DO1 S2/20

Timetable

Academic engagement bursary:

1 September 2016 – applications open

31 October 2016 – applications close

30 November 2016 – successful candidates announced

Any work will need to be carried out and monies claimed by 31 July 2017.

Student travel bursaries:

1 September 2016 – applications open

28 February 2017 – applications close

31 March 2017 – successful candidates announced

Any work will need to be carried out and monies claimed by 31 July 2017.

 

For informal enquiries please email c.l.wooldridge@reading.ac.uk

We look forward to receiving your applications!

Food Glorious Food at the MERL Village Fete!

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Food Glorious Food at Uni Museum Fete

Visitors to the Museum of English Rural Life Village Fete on Saturday 31st May should get ready to have their tastebuds tempted.

The theme for this year’s family friendly Fete is food. On the menu are cookery demonstrations, food science experiments, food-inspired craft, stories, and trails, as well as delicious produce to taste.

bunny_guinnessBBC Radio 4 Gardeners’ Question Time panellist Bunny Guinness will open the event. Bunny, who lives a self-sufficient lifestyle and is keen to promote the idea of growing and producing your own food, will also be taking visitors’ questions in Q&A sessions. Bunny will also be helping to judge the new MERL Biscuit Bake-off competition.

Bunny Guinness says: “I am very much looking forward to returning to Reading where I have many happy memories. It’s fitting this year’s Fete is focusing on food. The University has a prestigious reputation for food and plant science which links directly into the town’s beer, bulbs and biscuit history. I am looking forward to chatting to fellow garden enthusiasts and food producers.”

The Village Fete is an event which sees the community and the University working together. Several local community groups and organisations, such as RISC and Two Rivers Press, have been involved in creating activities on the theme of food growing and production for the public to try out on the day. The Museum has also involved colleagues and students from across the University, so that visitors can also find out about fascinating research into a range of issues relating to food production, biodiversity and health.

Visitors can watch ‘Reading, Steady, Cook!’ demonstrations – with Food Science students from the University who have been challenged by the Chinese Association, the Barbados and Friends Association, the West Indian Women’s Circle and the University Newcomers, to create new dishes from ingredients used by the diverse communities in Reading.  Colleagues from the Department of Food & Nutritional Sciences will be joining the students and members of the Reading University Baking Society (RUBS) to demonstrate the science of baking and cheese making.

Phillippa Heath, Public Programmes Manager says: “Of course you cannot have food without drink and we are delighted to welcome the Brewery History Society to this year’s event. We have also created our own village pub, The Merl-inn, which will be serving a number of local ales and ciders. Sherfield Village Brewery, who recently created the ‘Extra Curricular’ ale in collaboration with Reading University Real Ale Society, has brewed a special ale to be served alongside beers from other local breweries at the event. Described as “a light, hoppy summer beer” it now needs a name! We’re inviting the public to suggest a name for the new ale and we’ll pick our favourite at 9am Thursday 29th May.

“Send us your ideas by tweeting to @MERLReading #MERLfete, commenting on our Facebook page, or by email to merlevents@reading.ac.uk by 9pm on Weds 28th May to enter. The winner will receive a pair of tickets to the MERL Village Fete and obviously a free pint of the new beer!

 

“There’s something for everyone to come and enjoy, from food-themed family tours of the Museum, free printing activities, traditional games and face-painting to delicious refreshments including ice-cream, smoothies (though you have to use your own cycle-power to make them!) cream teas and cake, a beer tent, vegetarian street food, and a hog roast. There’ll even be chickens and bumble bees!”

 

The MERL Village Fete takes place at the Museum of English Rural Life on Redlands Road on Saturday May 31st. Tickets are available in advance for £2.50 or for £3 on the door. Children go free. Details can be found at www.reading.ac.uk/merl/VillageFete or by calling 0118 378 8660.

 

 

 

Press release: What’s cooking in the community? Find out at the MERL Village Fete

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Students&group

Students, Ben and Deiniol, met with members of the Chinese Association

Food Science students at the University of Reading have been challenged to create new dishes from ingredients used by the diverse communities in Reading. The results will be revealed in the ‘Reading, Steady, Cook!’ demonstrations at the MERL Village Fete on May 31st.

The Village Fete at the Museum of English Rural Life, which is owned and managed by the University of Reading, will be on the theme of food (production & consumption!) this year. The cookery demonstrations will showcase the diverse culinary heritage which exists in Reading today, including ingredients such as including salted boneless cod, bonnet peppers, tofu and oyster sauce.

Members of the Barbados & Friends Association, the West Indian Women’s Circle and the Chinese Association have met with the students to exchange ideas and give them a list of ingredients to use in their new recipes. The Iraqi and Iraqi Kurdistan members of the ‘Newcomers to the University’ group have also selected ingredients which they would use for a dish called dolma, also prepared in the Eastern Mediterranean (Greece and Turkey) and in the Middle East. Representatives of each the groups will help the students prepare the recipes – and taste them for the first time – at the Fete. 

The students, Ben Smith, Lydia England and Deiniol Pritchard, are in their 2nd, 3rd and 4th years of Food Science degrees respectively. They aim to make the demonstrations informative by looking at some of the science behind the cooking and the food we eat, as well as making some tasty dishes!

Ben said “This is a great initiative from MERL to bring the department and the public together so we can explain something of what we learn about on our degree and perhaps dispel a few myths about what food scientists do!”

Bob at Fete

Professor Bob Rastall at the Village Fete in 2013

Professor Bob Rastall, Head of the Department of Food & Nutritional Sciences, will be joining the students and members of the Reading University Baking Society (RUBS) at the fete demonstrating the science of baking and cheese making. Visitors will also be able to taste Caerphilly cheese made by colleagues in the department using milk from cows on the University farms! Professor Rastall said “This is a great opportunity for our superb students to engage with the people of Reading and for us to showcase the ground-breaking work taking place in our department.”

Phillippa Heath, Public Programmes Manager at MERL said “If visitors want to get involved, we’d love them to bring along their favourite homemade biscuits to enter the Biscuit Bake-off at the Fete. We’re hoping to inspire people to revive one of Reading’s famous culinary skills!’

The MERL Village Fete takes place on Saturday 31st May from 10am to 4.30pm. For more details, visit www.reading.ac.uk/merl/villagefete Tickets are available in advance for £2.50 and on the door for £3. Admission for children is free.

Ends

Press are welcome to attend on the day. Please contact Alison Hilton, Marketing Officer at MERL, on 0118  378 8660 or a.c.hilton@reading.ac.uk  for details or to arrange interviews.

Press release: Science Week is a riot at Uni Museum

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Protest_poster_smallVolunteers at the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) will present a Reading Science Week event with a difference on Saturday 22nd March.

Reading Science Week is part of National Science and Engineering Week (NSEW), a ten-day national programme of science, technology, engineering and maths events and activities across the UK aimed at people of all ages. The ‘Performing Protest’ event at MERL, which is owned and managed by the University of Reading, will tackle the issue of protest against technological change in agriculture in the 1830s. The performance will tell the true story of William Winterbourne, accused of leading the rioters in what became known as the Swing Riots.

The team of volunteer tour guides at the Museum have written a piece of immersive theatre with the help of Volunteer Co-ordinator Rob Davies, who has a background in amateur dramatics. They will perform the dramatic, hard-hitting production against the backdrop of the Museum which houses many of the tools made redundant by technological change, as well as the machinery which replaced them.

The volunteers will play characters who bore witness during this tumultuous period, telling the audience stories of life and work in the countryside at the time. The audience will meet William Winterbourne (accused of being the illusive ‘Captain Swing’) played by volunteer Clive Pugh and will take part in a court case where they will be invited to decide whether to support him or the landowners who were trying to protect their new machinery.

Threshing

Rob Davies said ‘The ‘Swing Riots’ was a national crisis which engulfed the English countryside and resulted in the imprisonment, transportation and in some cases the execution of those involved. The introduction and rise of the threshing machine took the only winter work available away from the farm labourers, without this work many labourers and families faced starvation. This sparked riots and the threshing machines were attacked. We will explore the causes, events and aftermath of the Swing Riots both locally and nationally.

“The event was the idea of some of our volunteers who have a keen interest in the history of agricultural labourers. The team have devised characters for family tours in the past, but this time they wanted to tackle an historical event that saw great change in the countryside. They have spent hours researching, planning, rehearsing and even making costumes and a promotional ‘trailer‘! We’re looking forward to a very exciting event.’

Volunteer Keith Jerrome has been the driving force behind the event and has a keen interest in the Swing Riots, especially the local story.   He says, “Many have heard of ‘The Tolpuddle Martyrs’, the Six Men of Dorset transported to Australia for forming a trades union in 1834. Four years earlier hundreds of agricultural labourers were gaoled, many transported and some executed after what has become known as “The Swing Riots”. Setting fire to ricks and smashing the threshing machines they saw as the cause of starvation and degradation swept across Southern England. This has been “hidden history” and we seek to give back a voice to the people of ‘Captain Swing’.”

The event will take place at 11.30-12.30 and again at 2.30-3.30pm on Saturday 22nd March. There will also be an exhibition presenting objects and documents relating to the riots, such as flails and court deportations.  Booking is essential and tickets, which cost £4 or £2 concessions, can be bought from the Museum. For further details and to book tickets, visit the MERL website

MERL is also hosting Reading Science Week’s ‘Stargazing’ events this weekend, for more details see Reading Science Week programme

Ends

The press are welcome to attend. Rob Davies is available for interview and high resolution images are available on request. Please contact Alison Hilton, MERL Marketing Officer on 0118 378 8660.

Press release: #MuseumWeek comes to University of Reading

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museumweeklogo1

The University of Reading’s museums and collections will join museums and galleries from across the UK and Europe on Twitter later this month for the first ever #MuseumWeek, a project that will connect people to artwork, culture, history and science in new and interactive ways.

#MuseumWeek will take place from Monday 24th March – Sunday 30th March and will give Twitter users direct and unparalleled access to some of Europe’s leading museums and the people behind them in 140-characters bursts.

The  Museum of English Rural Life (@MERLReading), the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology (@UreMuseum), the Cole Museum of Zoology (@ColeZoology) and the Herbarium (@RNGherb) will join other UK organisations already signed up, including the Science Museum (@sciencemuseum), the Natural History Museum (@NHM_London), the Victoria and Albert Museum (@V_and_A), the British Museum (@britishmuseum), Eureka! The National Children’s Museum (@eurekamuseum) and the Tate (@Tate).

The University’s museums and collections will join others across the UK and Europe by including the hashtag #MuseumWeek in their Tweets for the week, meaning users can follow along on Twitter. In addition, every day there will be a different theme including #MuseumSelfies, #AskTheCurator, and #MuseumMemories.

Alison Hilton, MERL Marketing Officer, says “This is an great opportunity for the University’s museums and collections to take part in an international campaign. We are planning some exciting features for the week. Alastair Culham, Curator of the Herbarium will be doing a live #AsktheCurator session from a fieldcourse in Spain, and staff at MERL will be taking followers into parts of the museum not usually seen by the public! We will also be encouraging followers to get involved by tweeting their photos, reviews and questions throughout the week.”

A full list of participating UK organisations can be viewed here

Mar Dixon (@MarDixon), an expert in social media and museums and host of the @CultureThemes project, said: “Every day of the year museums and cultural institutions across the world are using Twitter in exciting and interesting ways to tell the stories of their collections to new audiences.  “#MuseumWeek will shine a light on these activities, giving a real-time glimpse into the workings of museums across the UK and Europe, 140 characters at a time.”

 

Press release: Arts Council funding brings Reading museums closer to the community

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Reading Museum outreachArts Council funding brings Reading museums closer to the community

5th March, 2014

The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) and Reading Museum have been awarded £129,150 to collaborate on ‘Reading Engaged’, a new joint project aimed at strengthening engagement with local communities.

MERL, which is owned and managed by the University of Reading, has received the award as part the latest round of Arts Council England’s Strategic support fund, announced today.  57 organisations will receive a total of £5,715,338 through the Renaissance Strategic support fund, which aims to support excellence, and the potential for excellence, in a wide range of museums across England.

Over the past year the two museums have worked together to reinforce to the local community the contribution Reading and its citizens made during the First World War. This award strengthens that partnership and sees the museums develop closer ties with community groups through displays, partnerships and events.

New display cases in Reading Museum’s ‘Reading: People and Place’ gallery will allow both museums to experiment with innovative community-generated or volunteer-developed exhibitions. MERL will use these displays to test ideas and new approaches to content creation and engagement for ‘Our Country Lives’ – MERL’s redisplay project.

MERL community eventThe funding will also support audience research that will help both museums develop new programmes that reflect the communities they serve.   Other joint activities will include working together on new merchandise for their Museum shops and on staff and volunteer training.

Kate Arnold-Forster, Director of MERL, said: “The Museum of English Rural Life is delighted to have been given this opportunity to strengthen our strategic partnership with Reading Museum. We are confident that this project will mean that people living in Reading will be able to experience more and better opportunities to enjoy what our museums have to offer. We also want to share what we learn through this project with other museums to help show them the benefits of partnership working.”

Cllr Paul Gittings, Lead Member for Culture and Sport at Reading Borough Council, said “It is fantastic that the University and Council’s museums are working so closely together for the benefit of all Reading’s communities. This further funding success builds upon the foundations of their joint work over the last 12 months and will provide more exciting opportunities for local people to engage with the significant museum collections we have here in Reading”.

ENDS

For further information, images and interviews, please contact:

Alison Hilton, Marketing Officer at Museum of English Rural Life on 0118 378 8660.

Notes for editors:

The Arts Council announcement and further details can be found on their website

 

Press release: Wolfson grant to help MERL display hidden treasures

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Wolfson grant helps Uni Museum display hidden treasures

Visitors to the Museum of English Rural Life will soon be able to discover some of its more hidden treasures thanks to an award of £175,000.

The Museum (MERL), which is owned and managed by the University of Reading, is one of 40 museums across the country to be awarded a joint grant from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Wolfson Foundation.

The grant will allow visitors to view some of the smaller, more fragile, collections and objects, currently only accessible to visitors on guided tours, in striking new display cases.  These include a range of traditional crafts including smocking and material from our more recent past such as Women’s Land Army material. Clothing from a 1990s Newbury Bypass eco-warrior will also be displayed for the first time.

The new display opportunities support MERL’s current Heritage Lottery funded redevelopment project, Our Country Lives. The project aims to transform the way that visitors understand our rural past through MERL’s collections. This means shifting the focus from large agricultural machinery to the parts of the collections which relate to how people lived – such as clothing, crafts, food and traditions.

MERL Curator, Isabel Hughes, said: “This grant will transform the public’s access to collections never previously displayed. This will help us create a more relevant museum which our modern, urban audiences can relate to more easily.”

Kate Arnold-Forster, Director of MERL, added: “This is a very exciting time for MERL, the University of Reading and our visitors and we  are very grateful for the support of the DCMS/Wolfson Foundation.”

The 40 grants, awarded by the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, are designed to fund renovation and improvement projects in museums and galleries, to increase access and enhance the display of exhibits. 40 museums across the length and breadth of England will benefit from grants worth over £4.6 million.

Culture Minister Ed Vaizey said:

“The range of projects being funded is testament to the great variety of wonderful collections and attractions at our museums and galleries across the country. These grants will help improve visitor experiences, benefiting local communities and helping to encourage growth, whilst also inspiring audiences with new knowledge, and I’m delighted that with the ongoing generosity of the Wolfson Foundation we have been able to help fund so many projects.”

Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation added: “We are pleased to be working with government to fund outstanding projects at museums and galleries across England. The DCMS/Wolfson Fund is an excellent example of how a funding charity and government department can work productively together. The projects supported this round are impressive, and will help inspire visitors to the country’s wonderful museums and galleries.”

Basket makers taking part in MERL's Radcliffe Trust-funded 'Stakeholders' project examine rarely seen items from the MERL basket collection, currently housed for the most part in the object store, only accessible to researchers and visitors on guided tours.

Basket makers taking part in MERL’s Radcliffe Trust-funded ‘Stakeholders’ project examine rarely seen items from the MERL basket collection, currently housed for the most part in the object store, only accessible to researchers and visitors on guided tours.

 Notes to editors

For further information and to arrange interviews, contact James Barr in the University of Reading Press Office on 0118 378 7115

For details of the awards, visit the DCMS website to read the press release issued today

 

Press release: Apples in abundance? Turn your surplus into juice at Uni Museum’s Apple Day, Saturday 19th October

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Press release, October 14th 2013

Wondering what to do with the extra kilos of apples from your garden tree? The Museum of English Rural Life has the answer! Bring your surplus apples to MERL’s Apple Day on Saturday 19th October and watch special guest Richard Paget press them into delicious juice.

Apple schematic from the Herefordshire Pomona

Apple schematic from the Herefordshire Pomona

The Museum (MERL), which is owned and managed by the University of Reading, celebrates Apple Day as part of the popular annual celebration of English apples and orchards.

Caroline Gould, Deputy University Archivist and organiser of MERL’s event, said “Apple Day is one of the Museum’s most popular annual events. The different varieties of apples to taste are the stars of the show, along with traditional activities such as the longest peel competition and the apple and spoon races,  but each year we look for new activities to enhance the event. This year we are delighted to be welcoming Richard Paget of ‘My Apple Juice’ whose community ‘Apple Juice Project’ aims to help communities raise funds by turning surplus, often wasted, fruit from their gardens and local areas into juice. Bring your surplus apples to MERL on the day and see them turned into delicious juice!”

“This year visitors will also be able to see a cookery demonstration by Charlotte Fyfe, author of ‘The Apple Cookbook’ and taste freshly made apple fritters, take part in an apple study being run by academics from the School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy at the University of Reading,  and find out about The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale in Kent.

MERL Archives and Library staff will be on hand to show visitors photographs and beautifully illustrated texts from the Museum’s collections . Caroline said: “Visitors to Apple Day have the opportunity to see the rare and highly sought after first Herefordshire Pomona, as well as 1950s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food films about apple cultivation, and the strikingly illustrated Two Rivers Press book ‘Apples, Berkshire, Cider’ by Duncan Mackay.”

Apples Berkshire Cider by Duncan Mackay

Apples Berkshire Cider by Duncan Mackay

“Visitors to the event can enjoy tasting different varieties of English apples supplied by Cross Lanes Farm in Mapledurham, and the growers themselves will be on hand to discuss and sell their apples. The Conservation Volunteers will be back to help families make bee hotels and R&J Nickless beekeepers will be there to explain the importance of bees to fruit crops. Families will also be able to make badges with the Nicklesses and fluffy apple pompoms with MERL volunteers.

“The MERL shop will be stocked up with apple-based goodies including toffee apples, juices and chutneys’. Tea and delicious homemade ‘Country Markets’ apple pie and cakes will also be available in MERL’s ‘Studio Cafe’”

The Apple Day event takes place from 1 to 5pm on Saturday 19th October at the Museum of English Rural Life on Redlands Road in Reading. Admission is £1 for adults and is free for children. Everyone is welcome. Full details can be found on the MERL website

Media are welcome to attend. Contact Alison Hilton at a.c.hilton@reading.ac.uk or call 0118 378 8660

Arts Council Award brings together Reading Museums and work experience opps for local residents

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Arts Council Award brings together Reading Museums and work experience opps for local residents

27 March 2013 Stall in Union Street, Reading (Dann-Lewis collection, MERL)

The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) will be awarded £275,000 and will work with Reading Museum on a new programme for 2014/15, including a series of Reading in Conflict events commemorating the First World War Centenary in 2014.

MERL, which is owned and managed by the University of Reading, has received the award as part of a funding package worth more than £375,000 made to museums in the region by Arts Council England’s Renaissance Strategic Support Fund.

The Renaissance funding will enable both museums to share skills and collections to create a programme which reaches out to and engages with local communities.

The project will also benefit the local community by addressing issues of employability, through incorporating a programme of ‘fair access’ internship and work experience. It will also provide opportunities for those normally excluded from volunteering, due to financial reasons, to acquire skills and experience enhancing their ability to secure employment or gain access to further training or education.

Reading Museum’s strengths in community engagement will complement the University Museum’s expertise in digital resources and curation in order that both museums can make more of their collections accessible online.

Both Museums hold high quality local history collections relating to Reading’s rich photographic heritage, including the Dann Lewis and Collier collections and the Reading Chronicle collections, which will be part of a major shared exhibition at RM on Reading and photography.

Other collections to be featured will be the strong war-time related collections, such as the Evacuee archive held at MERL, which will form the basis for Reading’s programme of events for ‘Reading in conflict’ and rural wartime, planned around the First World War centenary in 2014.

Kate Arnold-Forster, Director of MERL, said: “Reading Museum and the Museum of English Rural Life are two of the region’s most significant museums. We are delighted to be able to combine forces on this exciting project that will share our excellence in collections and audience engagement that will contribute to many key developments, including our joint plans for 2014 WW1 commemorations.”

Cllr Marian Livingston, Lead Councillor for Culture and Sport at Reading Borough Council, said: “The announcement of this ACE project funding for the Museum of English Rural Life and Reading Museum is fantastic news for Reading. It continues a history of successful collaboration between the University of Reading and Reading Borough Council to make our town’s collections accessible to people both locally and nationally.”