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The Devils Porridge

A collage of three photos. The first is of a colourful rainbow of wax art, the next is a wax art landscape and the last is a variety of rocks painted with different designs like ladybirds. Some text reads "Weekly Roundup 24to 30th July 2023."

Weekly Roundup – 24th to 30th July 2023

By Archive

We may be nearing the end of July, but there’s still a lot happening at The Devil’s Porridge Museum. This week we’ve had rock art, wax painting and even some mocktails! Thanks go as always to everyone who came along and all those which helped us with this week’s workshops! Read all about it below.

Monday 24th July 2023

Today we had rock painting! It was fantastic to see so many young people join us for this workshop and see all their creativity. Take a look at the photos below.

A huge thank you to everyone who has been volunteering to help us out with all our workshops so far. We always really appricate your help!

Wednesday 26th July 2023

This evening we had a mocktail masterclass at The Devil’s Porridge Museum. It was brilliant to see how everyone decorated their mocktails!

Thank you to a youth worker from Youth Work D & G for joining us for this event.

Thursday 27th July 2023

On Thursday morning we had a group visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum. It was great to see that they enjoyed themselves! Just a quick reminder it is essential for you to book any group visits and catering for the group in advance. Learn more about group visits to the museum here>

We also had a wax painting workshop for young people in The Devil’s Porridge Museum. Take a look at some of the beautiful artwork, created in workshop in the photos below. If you attended the workshop and have yet to collect your artwork please remember to drop by the museum and pick it up from the front desk! Thanks again to everyone who volunteered to help us with this!

Friday 28th July 2023

The Devil’s Porridge Museum was very busy today with another group visit! Learn more about group visits here>

Saturday 29th July 2023

Our gardening club were busy in the garden today, even if things did get a bit rainy!

You’d be welcome to come along and join our gardening club. Learn more about this here>

 

Thanks for joining us for this week’s Weekly Roundup! Catch up with us again next week to keep up to date with what is happening at The Devil’s Porridge Museum. In the meantime you can check out what events are coming up at The Devil’s Porridge Museum here> and find our previous Weekly Roundup here>

 

We would love to see your photos of your visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum or any activities that you came along to at the museum! Tag us on our social media platforms! Find them here>

 

A collage of three photos including a reenactor dressed as a nurse, a photo of a thistle award, which reads "we're on the shortlist!" and a flower outside the museum. Some text reads "Weekly Roundup 17th to 23rd July 2023."

Weekly Roundup – 17th to 23rd July 2023

By Archive

Catch up with all that’s been happening at The Devil’s Porridge Museum with our weekly roundup. This week we’ve had gardening, living history reenactors and we’re thrilled to have been shortlisted for the Scottish Thistle Awards!!! Read all about it below.

Monday 17th July 2023.

On Monday we were delighted to welcome another group visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum. Find out all you need to know about group visits here>

On this day in 1944 the decision was made to abandon RAF Annan. At its peak RAF Annan could boast a staff of 400 RAF personnel housed across its 200-acre site. Tragically, many pilots lost their lives while training at RAF Annan.

You can learn more about RAF Annan by visiting The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

Thursday 20th July 2023

Today we discovered that we were once again in finals for the Thistle awards!

We were thrilled to have been shortlisted for the South of Scotland Thistle Awards Regional Finals in the following categories:

  • Celebrating Thriving Communities
  •  Best Visitor Attraction.

We were delighted to find out that our chairman, Richard Brodie has also been shortlisted for Tourism Individual of the Year in the South of Scotland Thistle Awards Regional Fianals.

We are looking forward to the 5th of October 2023 to celebrate the best of South of Scotland tourism!!! Good luck to everyone who is nominated.

An photo of a metal award in the shape of a thistle with the words 'We're on the Shortlist!'. The logo for the Scottish Thistle Awards is in the top left corner and South of Scotland is writtend in the lower right corner.

 

Friday 21st July 2023

Today we had Strasbourg Youth Symphony Orchestra visiting us for a look around The Devil’s Porridge Museum! It was fantastic to have them all visit.

Saturday 22nd July 2023

Our gardening club was hard at work growing fresh food and flowers this morning. Why not come along and join them? Gardening club is ideal for children and young people aged up to 16 years old. You can learn more about this here>

Take a look at this beautiful flower they have grown below. It’s one of the many things they have grown so far!

Visitors to The Devil’s Porridge Museum  could also see two living history reenactors from On War Service as part of their visit to the museum today. They were in uniform as WW1 military nurse and her patient, a German soldier.

On War Service also had  authentic items from the World War One on display in the museum’s education room.

It was brilliant to have two members of On War Service at The Devil’s Porridge Museum. You can learn more about On War Service here>

 

That brings up to the end of our weekly roundup! Remember to join us again next week to keep up to date with what’s been happening at The Devil’s Porrridge Museum. If you want to read more about what has been happen in the meantime check out last week’s weekly roundup here>

You can also take a look at our events page to see if there’s anything coming up that you would like to get involed in here>

Planning a visit with your family? Take a look at our brand new family visits page to find out all you need to know!

An photo of a metal award in the shape of a thistle with the words 'We're on the Shortlist!'. The logo for the Scottish Thistle Awards is in the top left corner and South of Scotland is writtend in the lower right corner.

Shortlisted for Thistle Awards 2023

By Archive
The Devil’s Porridge Museum is once again in the finals for the Thistle Awards!!!
We are thrilled to have been shortlisted for the South of Scotland Thistle Awards Regional Finals in the following categories:
  • Celebrating Thriving Communities
  •  Best Visitor Attraction
We were delighted to find out that our chairman, Richard Brodie has also been shortlisted for Tourism Individual of the Year in the South of Scotland Thistle Awards Regional Fianals.
We are looking forward to the 5th of October 2023 to celebrate the best of South of Scotland tourism!!! Good luck to everyone who is nominated.
A collage of three photos including one of two bracelets worn by a child, one of a poster for the book "Cosima Unfortunate Steals a Star" with a knitted version of the book's main character and her stick and another photo of some ink art. Some text reads "Weekly Roundup 10th to 16th July 2023."

Weekly Roundup – 10th to16th July 2023

By Archive

Recently there’s been so much happening at The Devil’s Porridge Museum that we’ve decide to start a weekly roundup to keep you all up to date! This week there’s been creative writing, jewellery and more! Read the full rundown below.

Monday 10th July 2023

We started off the week with a group visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

Tuseday 11th July 2023

Today we had not one, but two Jewellery Workshops!

We had an amazing experience at the Teenagers’ Jewellery workshop. It was a pleasure to create beautiful pieces of jewellery with such talented and creative teenagers. Their skills and imagination were truly impressive. Take a look at some photos of this below!

 

We also had so much fun in the Little Girls Jewellery Workshop!!! Have a look at their beautiful creations in the photos below!

Tuseday was certianly a very busy day! We also had two diffrent group visits to The Devil’s Porridge Museum.

Wednesday 12th July 2023

Today we had a creative writting workshop, which was a huge success! The children were fully engaged and impressed us with their outstanding storytelling skills, they developed prompts, characters and writing with ease.
A big thank you to Laura for sharing her inspiring writing journey with us!
Take a look at some photos from this workshop below.
Thursday 13th July 2023
Today we had another group visit to The Devil’s Porridge Museum. You can learn more about group visits here>
Friday 14th July 2023
There was great fun to be had at our painting workshop today! The kids got creative in our painting class today! Take a look at the variety of shapes and monsters they made in the photos below.
Saturday 15th July 2023
Today we had our gardening club. The young people in our gaderning club are learning new skills and helping us to grow seasonal produce in our Dig for Victory garden that will be used in our café.
We’ve still got spaces in our gardening club if you know a young person who would like to join us! Learn more about it and how to book here>
That’s the end of our Weekly Roundup for this week! Join us next week to keep up to date with what’s been happening at The Devil’s Porridge Museum. In the meantime, check out our events page to see what’s coming up soon at The Devil’s Porridge Museum!
A poster advertising a Digital Takeover that happened at The Devil's Porridge Museum on Friday 7th July 2023.

Digital Takeover

By Archive

Join our Youth Panel and take over our digital platforms!

* TikTok videos: Write scripts, film videos or act in the videos! Your choice!
* Photography: Use your smartphone to take pictures for our social media.
* Write content for social media or blog.

All training will be provided.

To book contact: education@devilsporridge.org.uk

A poster advertising a Spanish lesson for beginners between the ages 8 to 14. This past event happened on Friday 24th February 2023.

Mid-Term Holiday workshops!

By Archive

Mid-Term Holiday workshops!📣📣📣

 

We have 4 family bonding activities for your kids:

  • Upcycling workshops learn about recycling.
  • A Spanish lesson for beginners.
  • A Board Games Club.

Free events, all materials are provided.
Book by searching The Devil’s Porridge on Eventbrite.
Due to popularity, bookings are limited to 3 kids per adult.

 

Wednesday, Feb 22, 11am-12:30pm

 

Upcycling workshop: Save that jar!

Transform your hoarded bottles from trash to high-end & fabulous jars into nice jars to treasure memories, self-care products, and more.

Best suited to ages 7 – 12.

Free.

*Due to popularity, booking is limited to 3 kids per person.

**Parents can join their children, but please only book your child’s place.

 

 

Thursday, Feb 23, 11am-12:30pm

 

Upcycling workshop

Creative boxes: Think it, make it!

Join us for a creative workshop on recycling cardboard to make beautiful boxes to store memories, self-care essentials, and more!

Best suited to ages 7 – 12.

Places are limited to 3 kids per person.

 

Friday, Feb 24, 11am-12:00pm

 

 

Hola! Spanish lesson for beginners

Join us in our Moorside Room for a fun Spanish lesson with a native speaker.

Best suited to ages 8 – 14.

Places are limited to 3 kids per person.

 

 

Saturday, Feb 24, 10am-11:00pm

 

 

Board Game Club

Come out and play games with friends and family!

Meet new people!

All ages welcome!

Places are limited to 3 kids per person.

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.

 

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.

 

 

Hannah Atherton

Hannah Atherton – Gretna Girl

By Collections blog

Hannah was a munitions worker at Gretna from 1917 to 1918. She heard about the plant from a friend, and they both signed up together, in Tudhoe, which is near Spennymoor.

 

The two travelled by train to the plant, and were initially billeted in a hut with several other girls from the North East of England. She remembers that a lot of the girls came from Sunderland. Unfortunately the hit was not wind and watertight, and many of the girls began to have serious doubts about their decision to come to the plant. However, the next day, they were moved to a complex of huts which varied in size, but which were connected by a communal dining hall. The food provided as of a very hight standard, but the constant repetition of kippers for breakfast led to a half day strike by the girls, until this was varied.

 

Hannah was given a works number, 3-11-39, and was sent to work in the gun cotton plant. There were two sections of this plant, which included a wet and dry area. Her strongest memories are of the drying out process, in which the cotton was removed from the large zinc pans and placed in bags.

 

This was a dusty job, and the workshop had to be continually hosed down. As a result, the girls were provided with rubber boots, and face masks. Due to the impregnation of this dust, on to their clothing, immediately after the shift had finished, the girls’ trousers and tunics were replaced.

 

After a while, Hannah became a chargehand, and supervised a group of girls, including some Gaelic speakers from the Islands. Her main task was to teach them how to dry the cotton. Included in this job was also a section about training in fire fighting by the local Fire Briagde, and the girls were taught to handle hoses, scale ladders etc.

 

Hannah also remebers that she was supervised in turn by a femal supervisor, who was provided with a distinctive khaki uniform, consisting of a wide brimmed hat, belted jacket, skirt and tie, with a shirt and dark stockings, and shoes.

 

Many of the girls obtained late passes, and travelled to Carlisle and Dornock, to attend dances and variety shows. Moreover the girls often entertained each other by producing their own shows, with each girl doing a turn. There were also sporting events, such as the Dornock Hockey Team.

 

Hannah worked at the plant throughout the running down period of 1919, and then returned to Spennymoor, where she went into domestic service prior to her marriage.

5 Million Marks banknote.

German Mark Note from 1923

By Collections blog

This is an example of a 5 million German Mark note from 1923 when Germany was going through hyperinflation after the First World War when trying to pay off their repatriation debts. The hyperinflation was caused by the German Government printing too much money to try and pay off their debts this caused the money to be worthless which then caused the hyper inflation.

 

To pay for the Large costs of the ongoing First World War, Germany suspended the gold standard (the convertability of its currency into gold) when the war broke out. Unlike France, who imposed its first income tax to pay for the War, German Empoer Wilhelm II and the Riechstag decided unamimously to fund the war by entirely borrowing, a decision criticized by financial experts such as Hjalmar Schacht as a dangerous risk for currency devaluation.

The government believed that it would be able to pay off the debt by winning the war and plundering the defeated allies. This was to be done by annexing resource-rich industrial territory in the west and east and imposing cash payments to Germany, similar to the cash idemnity that followed German victory over France in 1870. Thus, the exchange rate of the mark against the US Dollar steadily devalued from 4.2 to 7.9 marks per dollar, a preliminary warning to the extreme postwar inflation.

 

This strategy failed as Germany lost the war, which left the Weimar Republic saddled with massive war debts that it could not afford, a problem exacerbated by printing money without any economic resources to back it. The demand of the Treaty of Versailles for repatriations further accelerated the decline in the value of the mark, with 48 paper marks required to buy a US Dollar by late 1919.

In April 1921, the “London Payment Plan” ordered the German Government to pay repatriations in gold or foreign currency in annual installments of two billion gold marks plus 26% of the value of Germany’s imports. The first payment was made when it came due in June 1921, and marked the beginning of an increasingly rapid devaluation of the mark, which fell to approximately 330 marks per dollar.

 

By December 1922 the value of the mark fell to 7400 marks per US Dollar. The hyper inflation increased the prices of everyday items drastically, for example, a loaf of bread went from costing around 160 marks at the end of 1922 to costing 200,000,000,000 Marks by late 1923. By the end of November 1923, the US Dollar was worth 4,210,500,000,000 German Marks. This meant that very large notes had to be created which ranged from 50,000 to 50 trillion by 1923.

 

The German Government decided that the only way to solve this was to create a new currency called the Rentenmark which was backed by bonds indexed to the market price of gold. The gold bonds were indexed at the rate of 2790 gold marks per kilogram of gold, the same as pre-war gold marks. The plan was adopted in monetary reform decreaces on October 13-15, 1923. By 1924 one dollar was equivelant to 4.2 Rentenmarks.

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