Friday 26th April 2024 at 2pm
Free talk (admission prices still apply to anyone who wants to look around The Devil’s Porridge Museum).
We are delighted to welcome Bruce Keith back to The Devil’s Porridge Museum for another free talk.
This time Bruce Keith will present his third book “Scotland Beneath the Surface.” It’s a subterranean odyssey, exploring the natural and man-made heritage under our feet.
To book your place please email: education@devilsporridge.org.uk
In this talk, Bruce Keith will present his book “Bridgescapes” in The Devil’s Porridge Museum.
Bruce Keith’s first book, “Bridgescapes” explores Scotland’s bridges across seven centuries of history, from the 14th century’s Brig o’ Balgownie and the Auld Brig at Dumfries, to the largest three tower cable-stayed bridge in the world, the iconic Queensferry Crossing, which opened in 2017.
Along the way Bruce finds inspiration in the suspension bridges, arched viaducts and aqueducts which carry our roads, railways and canals and have witnessed key moments from our nation’s history. Amongst the characters we encounter are Thomas Telford, John Rennie, John Smeaton, Louis Harper and Sir William Arrol, whose engineering feats both at home and abroad have left a proud heritage of engineering prowess.
Book your place on Eventbrite here>
The Devil’s Porridge Museum is pleased to continue it’s popular programme of online talks and events for 2022. These online talks are all about a subject which links to local history or the themes of the Museum. All events are free.
Tickets are now avalible for the following online talks.
Book on Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/from-the-western-front-to-the-scottish-national-war-memorial-tickets-308135971987?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
The story of illustrator Morris Meredith Williams and his wife and creative collaborator, sculptor Alice Meredith Williams ARBS.
In the run-up to the First World War, artists Morris and Alice Meredith Williams were leading a quiet life in Edinburgh. He was illustrating books and teaching drawing at Fettes College. She was making small, often whimsical, sculptures in clay and bronze, and designing stained glass windows.
The outbreak of war changed everything. Morris spent four years in the army, three of them in France – first in the infantry, then the artillery and finally, in a camouflage unit. When not on duty, he filled pocket-sized sketchbooks with detailed pencil drawings of his fellow soldiers and their surroundings. Alice’s work slowed down until, in 1917, she was asked by the Women’s Work Sub Committee of the Imperial War Museum to model a collection of 3D plaster panoramas of the roles played by women during the war. The Scottish architect Sir Robert Lorimer was impressed by them and invited her to collaborate on a war memorial for a town in South Africa. It was Alice’s first large-scale work and led to commissions for the Paisley War Memorial and for the Scottish National War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle. Here, the marriage of Morris’s painstaking draughtsmanship and Alice’s brilliance as a sculptor produced the remarkable the frieze around at the centre of the memorial.
This talk will be delivered by Phyllida Shaw.
Phyllida Shaw studied history and French at Lancaster University and has worked for 35 years as a researcher, writer and facilitator in the arts and voluntary sector. She inherited the First World War sketchbooks and letters of Morris Meredith Williams from her great aunt (Williams’ second wife). She is the author of An Artist’s War. The art and letters of Morris and Alice Meredith Williams (The History Press, 2017) and Undaunted Spirit. The art and craft of Gertrude Alice Meredith Williams (Independent Publishing Network, 2018). She has given talks on these two extraordinary artists for the National Archives, the Royal Society of Sculptors, the National Galleries of Scotland, the Public Statues and Sculpture Association, the Western Front Association and literature festivals in Henley, Lichfield and Taunton.
This event will be held via Zoom and a joining link will be sent on the day.
Before the pandemic hit, the Devil’s Porridge Museum used to have a lively and varied programme of events and talks. We’re now really pleased to be offering these online. We aim to have a talk once a month on a subject which links to local history or the themes of the Museum. All events are free.
Tickets now available for the following.
Book online on Eventbrite here:
Our presentation begins in October 1915 with the builders discussing fire insurance with HM Government and then we travel through to September 1925 with a large fire at Gretna just a few days after the brigade had been disbanded. Our journey will include looking at the men and women who fought fires, took part in competitions and ensured the safety of H M Factory, Gretna. We’ll see the vehicles, stations and uniforms used. Likewise details and photographs will show the diversity of incidents including travelling miles to assist local communities in areas where proper fire fighting apparatus and crews did not exist or were rudimentary.
Gretna had different levels of fire teams ranging from the professional brigade through to the assistance offered by police officers, both male and female, military guards and officer workers. Within the factory area, all workers received basic training whilst others more in depth instruction. Some of these workers showed exceptional bravery and quite correctly were presented with awards and we’ll look at these.
Unfortunately any explosive factory was a place of danger and accidents fatal and causing injury were common place. However that the workforce and residents in the purpose built townships and other accommodation also suffered from house fires and accidents including those caused on the railway and road. Ambulances based at fire stations attended to the injured, taking casualties to hospitals in Dumfries and Carlisle if the medical facilities within the factory could not cope.
Lasting about 50 minutes, Nigel Crompton, MA’s presentation includes photographs, copies of maps and other documents relating to the fire brigade and fire fighting at HM Factory, Gretna.
This event will be held via Zoom and a joining link will be sent on the day.
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