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Gretna or Eastriggs in the past.

Free walks and tours for Doors Open Day Weekend

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The Devil’s Porridge will be taking part in Doors Open Day weekend this September 7th and 8th. The museum itself will be open as normal (entry charges apply) but we will be offering a series of FREE activities throughout the weekend.

Please email: manager@devilsporridge.org.uk to book your place, phone 01461 700021 or message us through Facebook. Please book (don’t just show up) so we can plan for numbers. Please specify Gretna walk 1 (10.30 am), Gretna walk 2 (1.30 pm), Eastriggs Walk or visit to the pumping house when you book. You are welcome to come to more than one activity.

Saturday 7th of September

Guided walks around Gretna: a chance to find out about the World War One buildings still in existence with an expert guide. Hospital, doctors house, cinema, maternity unit, hostels, barracks and more!

Starts and finishes at St Andrews Church, Central Avenue.

Walk 1: starts at 10:30am

Walk 2: starts at 1:30pm

Walks will last an hour and a half

Sunday 8th of September

10:30am

Guided walk around Eastriggs: ‘the commonwealth village’: find out about the different World War One hostels and the workers who lived in them. See where the tennis courts were, the staff houses, the fire brigade, the cinema, the dance hall, the dairy, the police-cells and more!

Walk starts at The Green, Eastriggs and ends at The Devil’s Porridge museum. The walk will last one and a half hours.

1:30pm

A chance to visit the Pumping House with an expert guide. This is one of the only original World War One factory buildings left. We have been given the permission of the land owner to visit inside this building (which is not usually open to the public). Take a look inside the pumping house which was built to supply the Factory and its power station with the water it needed (5 million gallons a day!)

Where to meet,

If you are approaching the Pumping House from Gretna, travel along the A6071 towards Longtown. Turn left at the junction with the A7.

Travel along this road until you see the Pumping House on your right and then park in the layby nearest to the field on your right. Full images and maps will be published on this page nearer the time of the event.

young people playing board games in The Devil's Porridge Museum at Games Club.

Termtime Clubs

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After the success of our summer of fun we have decided to run a number of clubs during term time from the 24th of August until the start of the October holidays. We will be running a variety of clubs some of which are new and some of which are continued from our Summer of Fun.

Here is a list of the clubs which will be running and what dates and times they will be running from:

Arts and Crafts Club

Every Monday from the 26th of August from 3.15 PM to 4.15 PM, The Devil’s Porridge holds an Arts and Crafts club. With expert help, from Wendy and Alison, young people can learn new skills, develop their talents and make fantastic craft projects to take home with them. All resources are provided, and all sessions are free! No need to book.

Arts and Crafts Club

Learn the Ukulele

Learn the Ukulele will take place every Tuesday from the 27th of August from 4.00 PM to 5.00 PM. The ukulele is an incredibly social  instrument because its not intimidating at all and can be played by anyone, young or old, musician or non-musician. Its happy, joyful tone make it a delight to play and accessible for everyone. Our learn the ukulele sessions are aimed at beginners of all ages. Join Stephen Oswald for a 7-week block of exciting lessons and learn to play this fun and enjoyable instrument. Ukulele’s are provided, and all sessions are free. Booking is essential please contact: steven@devilsporridge.org.uk

Ukulele Club

Let’s Bake

Let’s Bake will take place from Wednesday the 28th of August from 3.15 PM – 4.30 PM. Have fun in the kitchen learning some new skills and try out some exciting recipes. Over this 6-week block of Let’s Bake we will be exploring The Great War Bake Off Recipe Book. All ingredients are provided, and all sessions are free. Booking essential, contact: steven@devilsporridge.org.uk

Lets Bake

Young Historians Club

Young Historians Club will be taking place from Thursday the 29th of August from 4.00 PM – 5.00 PM. A club designed for budding young historians. Join our young historians and take part in fun activities and projects all based around historical time periods and themes. We are going to start exploring Animals in War as part of the museums upcoming Animals in War pop-up display within the museums education room. All resources are provided, and all sessions are free! No need to book.

History books

Creative Colouring

Creative colouring will take place from Friday the 30th of August from 3.15 PM – 4.15 PM. The relaxation and therapeutic benefits of colouring are well documented. So, what better way to finish the week than spending an hour indulging in this simple pleasure. Bring your colouring book from home or use one of ours, along with our stock of coloured pens, pencils and crayons. This is an intergenerational activity and the whole family is welcome to come along and have fun! All resources are provided, and all sessions are free! No need to book.

Colouring in books

Also join us for some of our other clubs including Pokémon Club which takes place every Saturday starting on the 24th of August from 11 AM – 12 noon.  Games club which also takes place every Saturday starting on the 24th of August from 2.00 PM – 3.00 PM. Gardening Club also takes place every Sunday starting on the 25th of August from 11 AM – 12 Noon. These clubs do not need to be booked.

A living history reenactor stands beside a child holding a replica gun. They look happy.

Military vehicle weekend and social media takeover

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Military Vehicle Weekend and Social Media Takeover.

 

A military vehicle weekend took place at the Devil’s Porridge museum last weekend laid on by the Scottish Homefront Living History Society featuring vehicles and artefacts from World War One and Two. Despite the wet weather everyone enjoyed themselves and had great fun interacting with some of the different objects there such as a gun from World War One which many people enjoyed having their photograph taken with.

Military vehicle weekend 

But the military vehicle wasn’t the only exciting thing going on at the museum this weekend. For the first time ever the staff and volunteers at The Devil’s Porridge handed control of their social media over to a group of keen young volunteers.

Military vehicle weekend 

The Museum Manager, Judith Hewitt had the following to say about the social media takeover. “We’ve been putting young people at the heart of our museum for the past couple of years and this weekend they completely took over (our social media!)  It’s great to communicate ideas about the past in this modern medium and to connect with a younger audience.  Our young volunteers were wearing ‘I’m taking over stickers’ all day and took some great photos and videos to upload online.  Thanks to Morgan, Jake and Elliot for taking part and taking us over!  It’s going to be an exciting few months at the museum as we wait to hear whether we have won the “Most Family Friendly Museum in the UK” award and also take part in a full-on museum takeover day in November.”

A person making an animation.

Stop motion animation workshop

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A chance to work with a professional film company on a stop motion animation featuring stories from World War 2.

The completed film will be played in the museum.

This will take place on the Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th of September from 10.00 to 16.00.

Young people must be 12 and over.

Booking is essential as there are only 10 spaces.

If you would like to book a space then you can email us at manager@devilsporridge.org.uk or phone at 01461 700021

Kids in Museums logo.

Kids in Museums Manifesto Day 2

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The Devil’s Porridge Museum has pledged to put families and young people at the heart of our museum through the Kids in Museums Manifesto!

Kids in Museums Manifesto pledge number 2:

Make it easy and comfortable. Think about your facilities and spaces from a family’s perspective. Have seating for all generations to enjoy a rest. Can you provide a picnic area, make your café family friendly or direct people to reasonably-priced eateries nearby? Having baby changing facilities, a breastfeeding welcome attitude, booster steps in your toilets and somewhere to keep buggies is important for those with younger visitors.

Breastfeeding Welcome Poster

At The Devil’s Porridge we strive to make the experience as easy and as comfortable as possible for visitors of all ages. For those with young children we have space to leave your buggy next to the front door, booster steps in all our toilets and baby changing facilities in our disabled toilet, making it accessible to either mum or dad. Lift access between each floor of the museum and no steps within galleries or at our front door makes accessing the museum easy for everyone. When it’s time for a break we have high chairs and a children’s menu in our café, as well as a welcoming attitude to breastfeeding. We also have picnic tables outside which are free to use. And if you need a rest as you explore the museum at your own pace, there is always a chair on hand and a friendly volunteer to assist you or beguile you with tales of HM Factory Gretna!

A person jumping up in the air.

‘Back yourself’ drama project

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This review was written by Alastair, who attended the ‘Back yourself’ drama sessions organised at the museum for local young people and run by Becky Crawley (photographed below) of the Helen O’Grady drama school.

First Entry

After first being introduced to Becky, who stated she was going to have us go through a drama exercise. The exercises included:

Throwing a ball around, when you passed the ball the person who caught it had to say a word beginning with letter that was stated at the beginning

Also did “state a fact” is the best name I have, where you turn to the person or your right. You say two things about you and they say two things about themselves, then you both say what you have just heard to the wider group

Breathing exercises and basic body language were included

The last part of the actives was role-playing. First you would role-play either a person selling a bad (total rubbish) car or you were the one buying it.

Also there was a situation where we predated that we were at a expensive French restaurant and that one of us has cockroach in their soup at which point someone had to be a waiter who was nice or more confrontational.

Personal note: Alright here is where I talk to you or a computer screen in this instance, well I found the session rather interesting the role-playing was rather quite enjoyable as I haven’t done that without a teacher before.

  1. The other members of the group were the best part, Harriet did sell me that car. To be entirely honest looking around that room I felt like I had been in everyone’s place at some point, I certain have been in Sharon’s, which did give me an odd feeling. Boy that was deep but there you go, though I have never been like Kelly as I really don’t like pizza.

Second Entry

The second session comprised many activities from the first session, include steady breathing exercises, saying single words as you go around the circle and working on body language. But the exercises were taken to the second stage as…..

Breathing actions had counting to ten (really) loudly and then trying to count in a very presentable way

The single words were no longer random but had to be woven into a cohesive sentence, which did go down a odd route. The short of the story is that Wolverine needed mental help, but it was all in his head or was it?

The new role-play exercise being that me and Harriet both sat in front of Becky and act like we were both employed by her and competing for a promotion. It started so well but there was money on the line (image money but still) as such the incrimination were soon flying, I said she would stop talking about scones and how great she made them, but wait for this, she accused me of leaving the safe open when the shop was shut (total out of nowhere but effective). In the end neither of us got anywhere as Becky couldn’t stop laughing

The final part of the session involved presenting a little talk to the group. My was all about Spider-wick the characters, plot, ending and why I like it so much even now. Harriet was all about a horror movie with a lot (we talking like 5 to 6) sequels all staring Freddy Kruger.

Personal note: The session was actual efficient, for the first time in a  while I didn’t think of every word I was saying, or looking around for problems or analysis (yes I do that). Lastly as this is a personal note I did get a good group, Harriet is a really interesting person and nice to go through the exercises with. Coming up with a short talk for next time with be interesting have to decide either go for a rant on the dark tower or a long talk on something historical, decisions.

P.S I know there are a lot of brackets in these just my thing

 

Last Entry

So how was the final session?

Well it was very heavy on the creating a front or putting on a performance of someone your not.

First we played two truths and a lie, well that didn’t end well for me Harriet worked it all out, all from the little bits of information I had given during our conversions, (dam it) still pretty clever. I was also the only one that got found out.

Next me and Harriet enacted three silent scenes that consisted of us playing a video games, being tourists somewhere(my guess is Paris I could pull of my French waiter) and lastly we posed as two people arguing over the directions on a map, though Becky thought we looked my like a couple bickering, that was my fault should have gestured with my hand more.

Then it was on to role-playing (again I know drama duh) so what was it this time, well it was the two of us creating conflict and then finding resolution’s. In this case Harriet played a person fed up with a group member over a assignment and I get to play her friend but I’m also a friend to the girl she is upset, by the end we had pretty much got into a conflict but hadn’t got out, yeah the acting and the argument I guess got a bit to real (but serious what kind of crazy person gets in the middle of two girls fighting uhhh). After that exercise was concluded the next scene to created was two interviews one good and one bad, in this case someone who wanted the post of librarian but was loud, flirty and came across as sneaky. In the other case a vet who feared dogs and was very nervous, stressed and figed. Then we both did normal interviews as ourselves or the straight back “I am very professional” selves.

 

Well that’s it we didn’t get to do are second presentations as we ran out of time. We were given out certifies saying we had completed the drama course “Back yourself” and Becky mentioned our full assessments had been sent out to our work coaches.

 

  1. S I would like to thank Harriet for staying with the course all the way through unlike the others, doing it alone would have been boring and for a girl with little confidence she really was clever and very interesting to do exercise with a kind of get to know.
  2. S though I probable wasn’t as great I do feel like I have improved my social skills and have gotten I little more relaxed in interviews.

Characters Devils Porridge

Thanks to Alastair for writing this report (and for letting us take his photo as well!)

Someone sorting through pieces of paper in the office.

Young volunteer help at The Devil’s Porridge Museum

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This weekend we had lots of help from our young volunteers.

14 year old Andy helped sort and organise a recent donation of Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society journals in the morning.  He sorted them by date and volume, put them in a folder in our archive and typed up a list of contents.  They are now available for any interested researcher to use.  These magazines belonged to a gentleman who has sadly now passed away and were donated in his memory by his sister.

In the afternoon, Russell assisted Judith in the object store.  He has been volunteering at the museum for several months now but had taken a break for his exams.  Now he is back and he helped tidy the object store and wrap objects in acid free for storage.

 

Another young prospective volunteer came in to the museum the other day to inquire about volunteering and assisting with catering.  Another has expressed an interest in helping in the garden.  We always welcome volunteers and are very grateful to them for their help – they are integral part of everything the museum does and can be found everywhere from Front of House to behind the scenes.

If you would like to volunteer with us, please email info@devilsporridge.org.uk

Kids in Museums logo.

Kids in Museums Manifesto

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The Devil’s Porridge Museum has pledged to put families and young people at the heart of our museum through the Kids in Museums Manifesto! Each day this week we will highlight our engagement with one of the manifesto pledges!

Kids in Museums Manifesto

Be welcoming. Create an environment where families can explore, have fun and learn together. Make sure staff and volunteers provide a warm welcome and make all interactions with visitors friendly and informative. Include things that can be touched and make labels clear to explain when they can’t. Welcome enthusiastic comments and always keep instructions positive.

 

At the Devil’s Porridge Museum we provide a free welcome talk and have friendly and passionate volunteers located around the museum itself to answer any questions and provide further information. There are a number of interactive aspects to the exhibits in the museum and objects that can be handled by visitors. There are also blue step stools spread throughout the museum to aid those smaller visitors who can’t quite see into all the cabinets and displays.

 

Our ‘Mammoth’ museum hunt will also be launched next week for young visitors and those young at heart to help them explore the museum.  Watch out for an exciting post about our Kids in Museum Mammoth hunt next week as our Summer of Fun gets underway.

A military lorry and motorbike belonging to living history reenactors.

Military Vehicle Weekend

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The Devil’s Porridge Museum will be hosting a Military Vehicle Weekend on Saturday 27th July and Sunday 28th July.

The weekend will include a barbecue on Saturday the 27th. There will also be some interactive events which people can take part in.

This event will be used to give people an insight into how both civilians and soldiers lived during the Second World War by using the equipment, vehicles and clothing of that time period. For example civilians had to be called up for military service if they were a young man and also had to work in munitions factories if they were a woman and children had to carry gas masks to school in case of an attack.

This event can also be used to pay tribute to those who fought in World War 2 and those who had to experience hardship while the war was going on so that we could have the freedoms that we have today. It also gives people an idea of what people had to go through during the war and in post war times this gives the current generation some idea of what it was like for those ordinary people living in extraordinary times.

A map with some castles on.

Talk: In Search of the Border Reivers

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An introduction and invitation by Peter Nicholson
June 18th
7pm
£3 per person payable on the door

The Border Lands straddle the once disputed boundary and Debateable Land between the formidable nations of England and Scotland. For centuries the bloodily disputed border was a permanent theatre of war, a crucible of conflict, the much terrorised province of one of history’s most opportunistic and all time successful brigands, the Border Reiver. We will search for the places, pele towers, barmkins and battle sites and search for the people who are portrayed by re-enactors and described in records written in 1550 – 1650. We will wonder why they appeared and why they went away, or did they? Your surname may link you to those lawless families where you may be “English at your leisure and Scottish at your will”.

About Peter Nicholson
The project was started in 1998 to develop tourism and economic development with the cooperation of Carlisle, Cumbria Dumfries & Galloway, Scottish Borders, Northumberland local authorities. An ordnance survey map, gazetteer and car trails were created and I created a website and multimedia CD. The intention was to theme the area similar to the clan names of the highlands.

I developed information systems in education and businesses, eventually creating multimedia “books” that bring information alive. I accumulated a huge repository of information about Border Reivers some of which became part of the millennium project for SCRAN [Scottish Resource Access Network]. Unfortunately technology moves on and the original CDs and online items are out of date. Fortunately copyright is either mine or I have permission to give use and I now want anyone to use all the information that I have so that they can develop interests, develop businesses, promote tourism and continue “In Search of The Border Reivers”

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