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Four photos of The Devil's Porridge Museum inside and outside and working with items in the museum's collection. It reads "Heritage Careers Week 2024."

Heritage Careers Week 2024

By Archive

Heritage Careers Week is running from 28th October to 1st November 2024. It’s designed to showcase and celebrate the diverse selection of roles available in the industrial heritage sector.

There’s a variety of jobs in the heritage sector. To celebrate, Desray, one of our assistants, shares her experience of working The Devil’s Porridge Museum below.

We’re hoping to add another of our staff’s experience working in the creative and cultural industries to this blog post very soon!

When did you decide that you wanted to work within the Creative and Cultural Industries and what influenced that decision?

“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do at all when I left school and I hadn’t really thought about working in the creative and culture industries, but when I saw the role for digitisation volunteers advertised online I thought it looked interesting. When I started volunteering I found it really engaging and felt like I was learning lots, which I guess was when I started thinking about it.”

What did your career path look like?

“When I started at The Devil’s Porridge Museum, I was volunteering as one of the digitisation volunteers. This involved helping to create digital records for the objects in The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s collection. About a year later, I started on front of house at and then started working on an SVQ in Museum and Galleries Practices while I was doing this. The SVQ was fascinating and I feel I learned at lot about caring for  The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s collections and more!

I was delighted to be offered a Digital Marketing Apprenticeship at The Devil’s Porridge Museum with Museum’s Galleries Scotland. I was working on the SVQ, Apprenticeship, and front of house in the museum at the same time, which gave me hands on experience and helped to grow my confidence. You can read more about my time as a Digital Marketing Apprentice on Museum Galleries Scotland’s website by clicking here>

After I finished my apprenticeship and then, later my SVQ in 2022, I was thrilled to be offered a job at The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

Currently, I’m an Museum Assistant at The Devil’s Porridge Museum. I’m hugely grateful for the support of all those at The Devil’s Porridge Museum and everyone I’ve worked with who have hugely helped me build my confidence and learn!”

Describe a typical day in your working life?

“There’s a variety of things I do, which makes every day different and interesting! Sometimes I can be on front of house in The Devil’s Porridge Museum, welcoming visitors and taking payments or taking orders and serving tables in The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s Café (you don’t have go in our museum to visit our Café by the way). At other times I can be scheduling content for The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s social media, replying to Google reviews, creating blog posts and analysing the performance of The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s social media content – I think the latter is something people often overlook in digital marketing, but I find it vital to make sure campaigns are working and establish ways they can improve in the future! I also find digging into the data helps me come up with new ideas, which is something you need to keep social media content engaging!

I’m also proud to be on The Devil’s Porridge Museum’s Youth Council, which can be interesting.”

What advice would you give someone interested in working in the industrial heritage sector?

“Volunteer. It’s a great place to start and can hugely help to build your confidence, even if you don’t know what you want to do. It can also give you experience of different roles within the creative and culture sector; helping you find what you’re interested and what your not so interested in.”

What’s your favourite thing about your job?

“The variety and the people! It’s nice to always have something different to do and everyone is very friendly at The Devil’s Porridge Museum.”

 

If you would be interested in gaining experience in the cultural heritage sector, why not take a look at our Museum Mentorship Programme? This is for 16 to 24 years old and provides hands on experience with support, guidance and training from an mentor! Find out more about the Museum Mentorship Programme by clicking here>

A poster for an annual general meeting that happened at The Devil's Porridge Museum on Monday 25th September 2023. This has now gone past.

Annual General Meeting 2023

By Archive
We warmly invite all of our members and friends to attend our Annual General Meeting held at The Devil’s Porridge Museum on Monday 25th September 2023 at 7pm.
 
The AGM takes place once a year to elect the trustees of the Eastriggs & Gretna Heritage Group, which manages the strategic development of The Devil’s Porridge Museum.
 
If you would like to become a member of the Museum please email info@devilsporridge.org.uk to register your interest.
 
We look forward to meeting with you.
Annual General Meeting 2023 at The Devil’s Porridge Museum.
Calum in his museum uniform

A Day in the Life of a SVQ Student at The Devil’s Porridge Museum

By Archive

by Calum Boyde, SVQ Student at The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

Calum in his museum uniform

I came to volunteer at the museum due to a work placement at Annan Academy in 2019. I got offered a chance at doing an SVQ by Judith (the former museum manager). I want to work in the museums because ever since I watched Horrible Histories, I have been interested in History.  My favourite time period is the Ancient Egyptians, Roman and Greek, The Golden Age of Piracy and The Age of Revolution and all the way up to the end of the Cold War. Some of my favourite people from History are Cleopatra, Robert The Bruce, William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, Blackbeard, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Marquis de Lafayette, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. My hobbies are Gaming, Reading and watching Musicals.

The object store

One of my many experiences of working here is re-organising the object store and accessioning objects. I started by having a short meeting with Judith as she explained what needed to be done. We took boxes out to see what was in them and to see if they could be better in a different box. We had a collection of objects gifted to us last year that I had to accession all the objects. During the accessioning of the objects, I had to write a description of what it was and where it could be found in the object store and then I wrote a label for it. After we have accessioned and catalogued all the objects we got to work at reorganising the object store so everything was easer to find.

An environment monitor in the object store at The Devil’s Porridge Museum

At the museum we check pest traps and environmental control once a month. Pest traps are recorded by picking up the pest traps and seeing what bugs and insects are in and seeing if there is any pests. If there is any pests we check the trap or traps a week later to see if there is anymore in the trap because it would be a sign of an infestation. Every trap gets a number and is recorded on a report sheet. Environmental controls are recorded digitally and we collect them to put the data onto a computer so we can print it out. In this we look at the temperature and humidity to see if any places are affected by them. If there is anything above or below the lines, we would see if we can explain what it is before we do any action.

Tik Tok club was set up to bring in teenagers who use this site to the museum. I have enjoyed working on Tik Toks because it diversifies what I have done in the museum. The challenging parts of making Tik Toks are making sure everything we want is in frame and making sure we don’t make many mistakes while making them, even if they are sometimes funny.

@devilsporridgemuseum

Have you ever been so bored you’ve shot a telegraph pole? Stitch this with your most unusual object museums! We tag @lincsmuseums @sachistorymuseum

♬ original sound – The Devil’s Porridge Museum

I have enjoyed doing this SVQ and volunteering in the museum as it gave me experience of working in different parts of a museum, even though it is a small museum, The staff and volunteering here are welcoming and very polite. If I had any advice for new SVQ students it would be to do it because it’s great for CV and experience.

Illustration of HMS Temeraire.

HMS Temeraire

By Collections blog

This Postcard of HMS Temeraire is one of the many WW1 postcards we have of battleships. If you would like to know more information about other battleships check our website.

 

HMS Temeraire was one of three Bellerophon-class dreadnaught battleships built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She spent almost her whole career assigned to the Home and Grand Fleets. Aside from participating in the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 and the inconclusive Action of 19 August, her service during World War One generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea.

 

Temeraire was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in October 1918 and she supported allied forces in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea after the War ended in November. The ship was deemed obsolete and was reduced to reserve when she returned home early in 1919 and was then used as a training ship. Temeraire was sold for scrap in 1921 and broken up the following year.

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

Old Gretna Drop-in Session

By Archive

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.

A child's Mickey Mouse Gas Mask on display in The Devil's Porridge Museum.

WW2 Gas Masks

By Collections blog

One of the gas masks which we have on display within the Museum is a kids Mickey Mouse gas mask from WW2. These masks were desinged to look like Mickey Mouse to appeal more to children and to encourage them to wear them. Children were asked to keep their masks within reach at all times, which meant they had to take them to school stored in a box with string on it to go over the child’s shoulder, they also had to keep them next to their bed at night and when they were doing general activities in the event of a sudden German gas attack. Kids were sometimes told to wear the masks in class while they were at school, presumably to get the children more used to wearing them so they wouldn’t struggle or refuse to put them on in the event of a gas attack. 10 million of these masks were made and distributed in 1938 in the event of the outbreak of war.

 

On display with the Childs Mickey Mouse gas mask is a gas mask for babies which is designed to cover the top half of the child and strap around them like a nappy which allows means only their legs are exposed. These gas masks were issued to every child up to 2 years old in 1938 when all citizens were issued a gas mask in the event of an outbreak of war. These gas masks were tied securely which made it air-tight, and had a big visor so that the child could see out of it. These gas masks were fitted with an asbestos filter which absorbed poisonous gas, attached to this was a rubber tube with a handle which was used to pump air into the mask which would be used by the child’s parent or any other adult present. Many paretn doubted these masks as they were very skeptical about putting their child in a completey air tight mask. There were also reports that during demonstrations babies fell asleep and became unnaturally still inside the masks. It is likely that the pump didnt push enought air into the mask and the babies came close to suffocating, luckily this was never put to the test.

 

These two gas masks were made safe by a professional from Kadec Asbestos Management with some of the other gas masks we had kept in the Museums store cupboard. This was kindly funded by Museums Galleries Scotland and allows us to better our Museum collection by making the gas masks we have in our possession safe for public viewing and for staff who work with the objects.

 

Postcard of HMS Iron Duke and Admiral Jellicok.

HMS Iron Duke

By Collections blog

This postcard from WW1 shows HMS Iron Duke and Admiral Jellicoe. Admiral of the fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl of Jellicoe was a Royal Navy Officer. He fought in the Anglo-Egyptian War and the Boxer Rebellion and commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 during the First World War. His handling of the fleet at that battle was controversial. Jellicoe made no serious mistakes and the German High Seas Fleet retreated to port, at a time when defeat would have been catastrophic to Britain, but the public was disappointed that the Royal Navy had not won a more dramatic victory given that they outnumbered the enemy.

 

HMS Iron Duke served as the flagship of the Grand Fleet during the First World War, including at the Battle of Jutland. There, she inflicted serious damage on the German Battleship SMS König early in the main fleet action. In January 1917, she was relieved as fleet flagship. After the War, Iron Duke operated in the Mediterranean as the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet. She participated in both the Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War in the Black Sea and the Greco-Turkish War. She also assisted in the evacuation of refugees from Smyrna. In 1926, she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, where she served as a training ship.

Iron Duke remained on active duty for only a few more years; in 1930, the London Naval Treaty specified that four Iron Duke-class battleships be scrapped or otherwise demilitarised. Iron Duke was therefore converted into a gunnery training ship; her armour and much of her armament was removed to render her unfit for combat. She served in this capacity until the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, when she was moored in Scapa Flow as a harbour defence ship. In October, she was badly damaged by German bombers and was run aground to avoid sinking. She continued to serve an anti-aircraft platform for the duration of the war, and was eventually refloated and broken up for scrap in the late 1940’s.

The front cover of a manual of rifles book.

Manual of Rifles

By Collections blog

This Booklet was recently donated to the Museum and explains the different parts and the operating of different kinds of rifles. These bookelts were published from 1940 onwards and include diagrams of many World War One rifles.

 

The first rifle which is featured in the booklet is the P14 Service Rifle. The Rifle, .303 Pattern 1914 (or P14) was a British Service Rifle of the First World War period. A bolt action weapon with an integral 5-round magazine, it was principally contract manufactured by companies in the United States. It served as a sniper rifle and as second line and reserve issue until being declared obsolete in 1947. The pattern 1914 Enfield was the successor to the Pattern 1913 Enfield experimental rifle and the predecessor of the US Rifle M1917 Enfield.

 

The Short Magazine Lee Enfield Rifle is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main fiream used by the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th Century. It was the British Army’s standard rifle from its official adoption in 1895 until 1957. the WW1 versions are often referred to as the “SMLE”, which is short for the common “Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield” varient.

 

The Ross rifle is a straight-pull bolt action .303 inch-calibre rifle that was produced in Canada from 1903 until 1918. The Ross Mk.II (or “model 1905”) rifle was highly successful in target shooting before World War One, but the close chamber tolerances, lack of primary extraction and overall length made the Mk.III (or “1910”) Ross rifle unsuitable for the conditions of trench warfare, exacerbated by the often poor quality ammunition issued. By 1916, the rifle had been withdrawn from front line service, but continued to be used by many snipers of the Canadian Expiditionary Force until the end of the war due to its exceptional accuracy.

 

 

Postcard of HMS Bulwark and its vice admiral.

HMS Bulwark

By Collections blog

This postcard shows HMS Bulwark with Vice Admiral Lord Charles Beresford. Beresford was the second son of John Beresford, 4th Marquess of Waterford, thus despite his courtesy title as the younger son of a Marquess, he was still eligible to join the House of Commons. He combined the two careers of the Navy and Member of Parliament, making a reputation as a hero in battle and champion of the navy in the House of Commons. He was a well know and popular figure who courted publicity, widely known to the British public as “Charlie B”.

 

HMS Bulwark was one of five London-class pre-dreadnaught battleships built for the Royal Navy at the end of the 19th century. The Londons were a sub-class of the Formidable-class pre-dreadnaughts. Completed in 1902 she was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet as its flagship. The ship then served with the Channel and Home fleets from 1907-1910, usually as a flagship. From 1910-14, she was a reserve in the Home Fleet.

Following the start of the First World War in August 1914, Bulwark along with the rest of the squadron, was attached to the reformed Channel Fleet to protect the British Expeditionary Force as it moved across the English Channel to France. On 26 November 1914 she was destroyed by a large internal explosion with the loss of 741 men near Sheerness; only a dozen men survived the detonation. It was probably caused by the overheating of cordite charges that had been placed adjacent to a boiler-room bulkhead. Little of the ship survived to be salvaged and her remains were designated a controlled site under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

Illustration of a Sopwith Strutter plane.

Plane Postcards

By Collections blog

Nieuport 11c1

The Nieuport 11 entered service with the Aviation Militaire in the summer of 1915. A small, single-seat biplane which quickly earned the nickname of ‘Bebe’ it was also used by the RNAS and from March 1916 served with the RFC on the Western Front providing more than a match for the Fokker monoplanes. The Macchi Company built 640 in Italy where they became standard fighters and were also used in Albania. Others served in Belgium and Russia.

 

Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter

This aircraft was used extensively during the Great War by the RNAS, RFC, French, Belgian and United States air services on a range of duties whcih included fighter-reconnaissance, bombing, ground attack, coastal patrol, anti-submarine work and photo reconnaissance. It operated on the Western Front, in Macedonia, Italy, the Aegen area and Russia and was flown from aircraft carriers, battleships and battle cruisers. the 1½ Strutter was the first British service aircraft with an efficient syncronised forward-firing armament. About 1500 were built by eight British manufacturers and some 4500 completed by the French.

 

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