Archive Archives - Page 20 of 28 - The Devil's Porridge Museum

World War Two Scrapbook Donation

By Archive

Some of our young volunteers looked at a recent donation to the Museum this morning: two scrapbooks from World War Two. Someone during the War carefully cut out newspaper articles and stuck them into books. These books are now in the Museum’s care. Here, they have chosen a selection of pages that interested them.

Jake chose this page below. ” I found this page very interesting as it tells the story of a boy – roughly my age – called Ronnie Sanderson who worked for 14 hours after a lodging house was bombed and destroyed. Ronnie’s mother had died in a previous Air Raid and his brother was injured and in hospital after helping in a rescue effort. Ronnie was tasked with passing on messages and also helped with moving debris. When asked about what he had done he said he did “nothing special”. At the time he was described as one of Britain’s Bravest Boys.”

Neil chose this picture because: “This picture shows the dramatic events during the evacuation at Dunkirk, it also shows shocking pictures of civilian ships carrying many troops across the channel being escorted by military vessels which I found very interesting and quite an insane sight especially considering how many men were on that beach and how many ships arrived on the coast of France to rescue them.”

Finn chose this picture because: “This article shows the devastating events in the year of 1940 during WW2, and how it show an in depth description of the events in chronological order. An amazing donation to work with”.

Andy picked the page below and said, “I have chosen this page as it shows a time period of the War when countless people died in the War when Britain attacked Norway in the early stages of War as a strategy to obtain control of the North Sea.”

These young people are participating in our new Saturday Club: a new event each Saturday morning for young people who want to learn about how Museums work. To find out more, email: manager@devilsporridge.org.uk

Roundabout near Gretna Gateway. This photo is from the past.

Old Gretna Drop-in Session

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A chance to talk with Judith Hewitt, Manager of The Devil’s Porridge Museum about objects in the Museum collection. Judith will showcase maps, photographs and objects relating to Gretna in World War One. Come along if you’d like to take a look and discuss any aspect of local history with her.

What happened at HM Factory Gretna in November 1918? Part One.

By Archive

Armistice Day is approaching and The Devil’s Porridge Museum is very pleased to have teamed up with Gretna Gateway and Poppy Scotland to commemorate the events of 1918 in our local area. We have a display in one of the empty units at Gretna Gateway. It has two of our former exhibitions on display – one looks at Animals in War and the other dating from 2018 has the title ‘The War is Over!’ It looks at what happened in our local area on November 11th 1918 and what happened after the end of the War. This is Part One of a look at the contents of that exhibition…

Some of the war is over exhibition on display in Gretna Gateway.

As we all know, the Armistice was signed at 11am on November 11^th 1918. Word of the war’s end had reached HM Factory Gretna by 12noon and it was closed by one that day. 30,000 people (12,000 of them women) worked at the Factory mixing the ‘devil’s porridge’ (cordite which was later put in shells and bullets).

People must have experienced mixed emotions that day: joy that the War had ended, sorrow at all that had been lost but also uncertainty over their jobs, their status as working women and the future of the greatest factory in the world.

One of the Museum displays features a tuba used by a member of the Factory band,

After the Factory closed, the workers took to the streets and the Factory band led a procession from Eastriggs to Gretna. By the time they reached Gretna, the procession was over a thousand strong and they gathered at Central Hall to sing the National Anthem.

Factory Superintendent J C Burnham gave a rousing speech on Armistice Day in 1918.

The flags of the Allied Nations were then raised and cheers went up. A piano was found and people began to play and dance, bunting was hung up all around. The Superintendent of the Factory, J C Burnham, delivered a speech which included the lines, “The day of peace has come. The glorious day for which we have been striving and hoping for…It is the day for which our noble brothers have died…”

Inside the Border Hall in Gretna where the Armistice Dance took place.

Exterior of the Border Hall.

That evening, the ‘Gretna Girls’ demanded a dance and one was held in the Border Hall (despite some people insisting that a dance was too dangerous due to the ‘Spanish’ Flu).

The full ‘War is Over’ exhibition can be seen at Gretna Outlet Village for free from 1-4pm daily until November 11th. Part Two of ‘The War is Over!’ exhibition coming soon…

Poppy Scotland will also be at Gretna Gateway along with volunteers from The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

Relaxed openings at the Devil’s Porridge Museum

By Archive

Explore the story of HM Factory Gretna, the greatest factory on earth and discovery the origins of the Devil’s Porridge as part of our relaxed openings during the School October Holidays.

Our relaxed openings are designed to provide a quieter experience for SEND families and other visitors requiring additional support.

Stay late after the Museum has closed to the general public on Sunday October 11th (4pm till 6pm)

or get in early on Saturday October 17th (8am till 10am).

Booking is essential for both our Late and Early Relaxed Openings!

Bookings and arrival times will be spaced at 10 minute intervals to help with social distancing within the museum.

Arrival times for our Relaxed opening can only be book by contacting Steve Bogle our Access and Learning Officer directly either by phone on 01461 700021 or by email steven@devilsporridge.org.uk

The Devil’s Porridge Museum Story will help you become familiar with the museum before you arrive and a ZOOM introductions to meet Steve before your visit can also be arranged.

Museum Story – click here

Halloween activities at The Devil's Porridge Museum in 2020.

October Activities at the Museum

By Archive

We are now doing activities during the October holidays!

The Activities will run in a two week block with the first week being called history week with the clubs being themed around history and the second week will be themed around Halloween with the week finishing with the Halloween Haunted House (booking required) . The activities throughout the week are all drop in sessions (no need to book) which will last for 10-15 minutes which allows children time to regroup with their families going around the Museum etc. The full list fo activities is below.

If you would like any more information on the holidays activities or if you would like to book a space for the Halloween Haunted House please email: steven@devilsporridge.org.uk or phone: 01461 700021.

The Devils Porridge Museum Podcast

By Archive

Welcome to The Devils Porridge Museum Podcast!

The Devils Porridge Museum Podcast has been created as part of an inter-generational oral history project. The project is now available for you to listen to online.

Through conversations and interviews, our volunteers and others from the local community will be sharing their personal stories and memories with The Devils Porridge Podcast team.

This week on the Podcast we talk to David Ramshaw – author of ‘The Carlisle Ship Canal’. He was due to give a talk on the book in July but it was cancelled due to lockdown.

The Carlisle Ship Canal had a very short life compared to most canals. Construction work began in 1819 and the canal was closed in 1853. As a result there is probably less known about it than many other canals which still exist today.

More episodes will follow over the coming weeks, so please come back and listen to more installments throughout the summer.

If you would like to get involved in the project to share your own stories and memories or if you would like to find out more about joining our production team please contact: steven@devilsporridge.org.uk

You can listen to the podcast below:

Devils Porridge Museum Podcast

By Archive

Welcome to The Devils Porridge Museum Podcast!

The Devils Porridge Museum Podcast has been created as part of an intergenerational oral history project. The project is now available for you to listen to online.

Through conversations and interviews, our volunteers and others from the local community will be sharing their personal memories and stories with The Devils Porridge Podcast team.

This weeks Podcast is a collection of memories and stories by a group of Haaf Net Fishermen who were interviewed at the Museum earlier this year.

More episodes will follow over the coming weeks, so please come back and listen to more installments throughout the summer.

If you would like to get involved in the project to share your own stories and memories or if you would like to find out more about joining our production team please contact: Steven@devilsporridge.org.uk.

You can listen to the podcast below:

Devils Porridge Museum Podcast

By Archive

Welcome to The Devils Porridge Museum Podcast!

The Devils Porridge Museum Podcast has been created as part of an inter-generational oral history project. The project is now available for you to listen to online.

Through conversations and interviews, our volunteers and others from the local community will be sharing their personal stories and memories with The Devils Porridge Podcast team.

This week on our podcast we chat to Sybelle, who is one of our volunteers about the Annan Riding of the Marches and the history of the event.

More episodes will follow over the coming weeks, so please come back and listen to more installments throughout the summer.

If you would like to get involved in the project to share your own stories and memories or if you would like to find out more about joining our production team please contact: Steven@devilsporridge.org.uk.

You can listen to the podcast below:

The Devil’s Porridge Museum Podcast

By Archive

Welcome to the Devil’s Porridge Museum Podcast!

The Devil’s Porridge Museum Podcast has been created as part of an inter-generational oral history project. This project is now available for you to listen to online.

Through conversations and interviews, our volunteers and others from the local community will be sharing their personal stories and memories with the Devil’s Porridge Museum Podcast team.

This week on our podcast we chat with Jade and former young volunteer at the museum who recently included a dedication to the museum in her final year dissertation at the University of Stirling.

More episodes will follow over the coming weeks, so please come back and listen to more instalment throughout the summer.

If you would like to get involved with the project to share your own stories and memories or if you would like to find out more about joining our production team please contact Steven@devilsporridge.org.uk

You can listen to the Podcast below:

The Devil’s Porridge Podcast

By Archive

Welcome to the Devil’s Porridge Museum Podcast!

The Devil’s Porridge Museum Podcast has been created as part of an inter-generational oral history project. This project is now available for you to listen to online.

Through conversations and interviews, our volunteers and others from the local community will be sharing their personal stories and memories with the Devil’s Porridge Museum Podcast team.

This week our Access and Learning Officer, Steven Bogle is in the hot seat discussing his first year at the Devil’s Porridge and the digital plans for the summer ahead.

More episodes will follow over the coming weeks, so please come back and listen to more instalment throughout the summer.

If you would like to get involved with the project to share your own stories and memories or if you would like to find out more about joining our production team please contact Steven@devilsporridge.org.uk

You can listen to the Podcast below:

Archive

Finn chose this picture because: “This article shows the devastating events in the year of 1940 during WW2, and how it show an in depth description of the events in chronological order. An amazing donation to work with”.

Andy picked the page below and said, “I have chosen this page as it shows a time period of the War when countless people died in the War when Britain attacked Norway in the early stages of War as a strategy to obtain control of the North Sea.”

These young people are participating in our new Saturday Club: a new event each Saturday morning for young people who want to learn about how Museums work. To find out more, email: manager@devilsporridge.org.uk

A chance to talk with Judith Hewitt, Manager of The Devil’s Porridge Museum about objects in the Museum collection. Judith will showcase maps, photographs and objects relating to Gretna in World War One. Come along if you’d like to take a look and discuss any aspect of local history with her.

People must have experienced mixed emotions that day: joy that the War had ended, sorrow at all that had been lost but also uncertainty over their jobs, their status as working women and the future of the greatest factory in the world.

After the Factory closed, the workers took to the streets and the Factory band led a procession from Eastriggs to Gretna. By the time they reached Gretna, the procession was over a thousand strong and they gathered at Central Hall to sing the National Anthem.

That evening, the ‘Gretna Girls’ demanded a dance and one was held in the Border Hall (despite some people insisting that a dance was too dangerous due to the ‘Spanish’ Flu).

The full ‘War is Over’ exhibition can be seen at Gretna Outlet Village for free from 1-4pm daily until November 11th. Part Two of ‘The War is Over!’ exhibition coming soon…

We are now doing activities during the October holidays!

If you would like any more information on the holidays activities or if you would like to book a space for the Halloween Haunted House please email: steven@devilsporridge.org.uk or phone: 01461 700021.

Welcome to The Devils Porridge Museum Podcast!

The Devils Porridge Museum Podcast has been created as part of an inter-generational oral history project. The project is now available for you to listen to online.

Through conversations and interviews, our volunteers and others from the local community will be sharing their personal stories and memories with The Devils Porridge Podcast team.

This week on the Podcast we talk to David Ramshaw – author of ‘The Carlisle Ship Canal’. He was due to give a talk on the book in July but it was cancelled due to lockdown.

The Carlisle Ship Canal had a very short life compared to most canals. Construction work began in 1819 and the canal was closed in 1853. As a result there is probably less known about it than many other canals which still exist today.

More episodes will follow over the coming weeks, so please come back and listen to more installments throughout the summer.

If you would like to get involved in the project to share your own stories and memories or if you would like to find out more about joining our production team please contact: steven@devilsporridge.org.uk

You can listen to the podcast below:

Welcome to The Devils Porridge Museum Podcast!

The Devils Porridge Museum Podcast has been created as part of an intergenerational oral history project. The project is now available for you to listen to online.

Through conversations and interviews, our volunteers and others from the local community will be sharing their personal memories and stories with The Devils Porridge Podcast team.

This weeks Podcast is a collection of memories and stories by a group of Haaf Net Fishermen who were interviewed at the Museum earlier this year.

More episodes will follow over the coming weeks, so please come back and listen to more installments throughout the summer.

If you would like to get involved in the project to share your own stories and memories or if you would like to find out more about joining our production team please contact: Steven@devilsporridge.org.uk.

You can listen to the podcast below:

Welcome to The Devils Porridge Museum Podcast!

The Devils Porridge Museum Podcast has been created as part of an inter-generational oral history project. The project is now available for you to listen to online.

Through conversations and interviews, our volunteers and others from the local community will be sharing their personal stories and memories with The Devils Porridge Podcast team.

This week on our podcast we chat to Sybelle, who is one of our volunteers about the Annan Riding of the Marches and the history of the event.

More episodes will follow over the coming weeks, so please come back and listen to more installments throughout the summer.

If you would like to get involved in the project to share your own stories and memories or if you would like to find out more about joining our production team please contact: Steven@devilsporridge.org.uk.

You can listen to the podcast below:

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