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'The news we made in 2012' |
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Great Charity Quiz Night Posters go up in DartmouthDartmouth Apprentice and Dartmouth Museum are uniting for a fun and unique fundraising quiz night on October 17 2012. Part of the publicity is asking local retailers and eateries to put up a tiny poster about the quiz, and they are starting to go up all over Dartmouth.
So that's the poster. Can you spot it in the retail establishments below? You may need sharp eyes, sometimes they hide! The posters, not the establishments!
That was from a brief walk around town in the past few days. If you've put one of the posters up and would like a mention please email us ideally enclosing a picture of your business with the poster displayed. Want to come to the quiz? Tables can still be booked by calling the Dartmouth Apprentice on 01803 837820 or emailing nina@trainingforlife.org. Source: Dartmouth Museum
Dartmouth Charities Unite for Night of Fun, Fundraising QuizDartmouth Apprentice and Dartmouth Museum are uniting for a fun and unique fundraising quiz night on October 17 2012. The evening has been arranged as a great way to raise funds for both the Apprentice training programme and the Museum. It follows a impromptu conversation on the social media website twitter between Apprentice manager Nina Stanesby and Dartmouth Museum’s social media guru Tim Trent.
The pair realized they could create an event for locals and visitors alike which could bring in vital funds for both their organisations. They called in museum volunteer John Putt, and the three of them quickly got down to work organising a great evening for all. "It is wonderful that a quick chat on twitter could result in such a fun, positive night for both our organisations," said Nina. "We have enjoyed getting it together and now can’t wait for the big night! We are experienced at putting on events like this at the Apprentice, so we can all look forward to a great night." "We think this is a night which will be fun and frolic-filled night everyone can enjoy," said Tim. "The questions will range in difficulty, the food will be great, and everything will come together so that we can raise funds for two great charities." John said: "This is the best kind of local event: top quality food, a fun quiz, lots of people coming together to have a great time for a good cause. The venue is beautiful and we are all looking forward to a top-quality spread too!" Local historian and author Phil Scoble, who will also be quizmaster, will set the 24 challenging questions. Teams of four are invited to enter – with the prize for the winning team being a gorgeous bottle of wine, Museum Membership for up to four people in the winning team, and the Dartmouth Apprentice and Museum Quiz Trophy – and the winning team will be invited to come back next year and defend their trophy! Questions will draw both on local history and the best in food knowledge, and sometimes both together in a devilishly difficult way. There will be a stylish and tantalizing hot buffet on offer and a raffle with prizes including Phil’s book, The Chronicles of Dartmouth 1955-2010 published by Richard Webb. Tables can be booked by calling the Dartmouth Apprentice on 01803 837820 or emailing nina@trainingforlife.org. Source: Dartmouth Apprentice We've Been Twits for a YearYes, today, 21 July, is our Twitterversary, the day we started using Twitter. A year ago we decided to take a step into the unknown and start to use Twitter to promote our museum, not just to the cognoscenti, but to the wider world. And we've made loads of friends. Some have visited us, some have offered to help us some have joined us, and others just like us. In that year we've been amazingly active:
For a small museum in deepest South Devon, that is an amazing record. And it pays off, time and time again. We don't just promote our own museum, oh no. We see ourselves as a good ambassador not just for for ourselves, but for Dartmouth, Devon, Museums in general, and inconsequential and momentous things that catch our eye as well. We use Social Media for a reason. Source: Dartmouth Museum Dr Sarah Wollaston MP Visits Dartmouth MuseumToday we had a visit from our local MP Dr Sarah Wollaston, who popped in to see us. Afterwards she was kind enough to thank us on Twitter:
Source: Dartmouth Museum
Yes You May Take Photos in Dartmouth MuseumAs part of our Yes You May policy Dartmouth Museum has changed its policy on non commercial photography and videos in the museum. Effective immediately you may take pictures and may take videos for persoanl use. The dusty fusty era is gone for ever. We do ask that you don't use flash. Modern digital cameras can cope with low light. And we also ask you not to use a tripod, monopod or similar rest, however small. Why both of these things? Well, your flash spoils the experience for other visitors and tripods trip them over. We also ask you not to hog an exhibit. That's fair all round. If you're going to publish your work online please link to our web site and credit the fact that you took your pictures in the museum. No, it's not compulsory, but it's a nice thing to do Commercial pictures and videos can be arranged by appointment. We just ask you for an appropriate donation. Source: Dartmouth Museum
Dartmouth Museum Picture Archive Goes OnlineIt's been no end of a slog. New web projects often are. Since we went live on 29 July 2011 on our very own web site we've been "going to get our picture archive online", and we've just completed phase 1. We have put a representative sample of pictures from our five main archive boxes online. That meant choosing valid pictures that aren't just another view of a South Devon Town, working out if we knew enough about them to say something valid about them, crafting the text and also finding useful or at least interesting links to put in the articles about the pictures. More than one picture has thrown up a mystery, so we've asked for folk to hep us when we're out of information. One picture shows what is probably the start of the first ever Tall Ships Race. That isn't obvious in our archives. We found that out when we researched the picture online. Some pages have become references for items in Wikipedia articles because of the extra citable information we hold. Other pages have used Wikipedia to flesh out what is in them. Some pictures link together to make a trail around the town. We'll try to get one of our trail experts working in that. Or, maybe you would like to volunteer to do that? You'll be more than welcome. Just get in touch. The final stage of phase 1 we completed at half past midnight on 14 May! We realised that our photo archive index was unwieldy. It worked fine as a tool for us and you while we were putting stuff online, but as a finished page it was poor. So our hardworking volunteer web gurus split ot down into manageable chunks and provided navigation between the chunks. It's good fun. Come and take a look. Source: Dartmouth Museum
Angela White and Joe Fisher on Dartmouth
Joe Fisher has a brief but very informative chat with Angela White from Dartmouth museum. We learn a little about the history of this beautiful town and also take a glimpse at Dartmouth's streets, views, shopping and some fantastic things to do! Source: Joe Fisher Are social media people a load of twits?Dartmouth Museum: top tweeters "We're very worthy," says Tim Trent, volunteer at Dartmouth Museum and Devon tweeter extraordinaire. "We're a quite ordinary museum - only three rooms plus a lobby. We've been tweeting only since July last year, but for such a tiny museum we punch well above our weight in social media." Well, when they can boast of sending out 3,569 tweets - it works out at a daily average of 15-20 tweets - it's perhaps why Dartmouth Museum has 706 followers on Twitter, and growing by the minute. The Royal Albert Memorial Museum's current 3,015 tweet total looks measly by comparison "The extraordinary thing now is that we're attracting attention from a lot of heavyweights in the social media scene. It's mad really. But it's getting our museum talked about." And Dartmouth Museum was even nominated for a couple of social media awards. They didn't win, but they never expected to, either. “It's all about brand awareness,” Tim said. “We're pleased to have had folk just hear about us. Next year they may make us part of their holiday plans.” Ironically, Tim's enthusiasm for Twitter is not shared by all of his museum committee. In fact some are quite sceptical about its usefulness. And that's common to museum committees generally, he thinks. "They wonder what the benefit is of using it or Facebook." But that's a good thing, in Tim's view. "It means that we don't just play with it, we think about how we ought to use it and what it might do for us. Then we play with it, too." Tim is even happy that the Dartmouth Museum's marketing campaign which he is spearheading, largely through tweets, has not exactly had spectacular success. All that twittering has produced perhaps two extra volunteers and two extra members of the Museum. And what sort of increase in visitor numbers? "Five," he thinks. 5%? No, just five, perhaps. "But we don't care," insists Tim. As the Museum's website tells us "We use Twitter for fun! No, seriously, we use Twitter for fun! Yes, we're a museum, but who says we can't have fun?" And that, surely, is what museums should be about? Fun, combined with commitment and passion. Open for an astonishing 362 days a year, Dartmouth Museum can hardly be accused of lacking those essential qualities for a successful enterprise, whatever its size or shape. Source: Fairlynch Museum, Michael Downes Our First Ever Social Media CampaignDartmouth Museum has entered the 21st century this year! It's always a challenge to attract new visitors to a small museum even if it is housed in a glorious Merchant's House where Charles II held court, and this year Dartmouth Museum has had a stroke of genius. It hasn't the big budget of any of the London museums, so it's conducting a campaign using Social Media, and the first message about it went out, auspiciously, on Friday 13th April! The offer is for one free adult place per party when accompanied by at least one paying adult
"We're very much still learning," said Martin Nutt, the Museum's Trustee with special responsibility for marketing, "and we have very little budget. As a charity we have to make every penny count. Twitter and Facebook have opened up vistas we'd never imagined before." The museum has no idea what to expect from its campaign. Wisely, it's set an expiry date on the offer, and made sure that every person taking the offer up has at least one other person paying the full adult or concession entry fee, so it won't be swamped with hordes of visitors for no benefit. If this is a success, and Martin expects it will be, there will be other offers. The campaign links to the museum's special offer page at http://dartmouthmuseum.org/offer and can even been used by showing the reception desk that page on a smartphone "We're trying this out with our adult audience," David Lingard, the Chair of the Trustees said. "We're also very keen during the school holidays to attract children through our doors. Dartmouth Museum is absolutely family friendly. At the moment we're running a pilot scheme, and, when it's successful, the sky's the limit." Dartmouth Museum has been using Twitter and Facebook since July 2011, and has built up a list of almost 700 followers already. It really punches above its weight Source: Dartmouth Museum
Dartmouth Museum Guide Book
In order to provide a comprehensive explanation of the many artefacts, and indeed the maritime and social history displayed in the Museum a guide book has been produced. The guide takes us through each room in the Museum with detailed explanations of each exhibit; it makes a visit to the Museum even more enjoyable, it is available from the Museum at £3. In the Kings Room which details the very extensive maritime history of the Town from the Crusades to the D day landings, each model ship and item on display are fully explained. The Holdsworth Room traces the Social history of the Town from the Stone age to recent times, again with an explanation of each of the 22 exhibits. The Henley Study which evokes the atmosphere of a Victorian Study representing the life and works of a most extraordinary man, William Cumming Henley (1860-1919) In the Study will be found artefacts that will appeal to Children, such as microscopes that can be used to identify objects that used to fascinate William Henley. Grateful thanks to Editor Brian Parker and team, we are sure you will enjoy the guide for its own sake, and to enhance a visit to our very beautiful Museum Source: Dartmouth Museum The Henley Trail, our first Walking Tour of DartmouthFully road tested, properly trialled and tested by Dartmouth Academy pupils and hailed as a huge success, Dartmouth Museum's Henley Trail has been launched fully this weekend. There was no song and dance, no Town Crier, just quiet announcements on Twitter and Facebook and on our official web site that all the materials are now ready. All the hard work put in by Ali Taylor and the lovely original artwork by Angela White, plus materials from Dartmouth Museum's own picture archive have created our first walking tour of Dartmouth, following the life and times of William Henley, Son of Dartmouth, Ironmonger, self taught scientist, artist and upstanding citizen. With schools in her sights at first, Ali's hard work opens up to visitors of all ages. And she's created a formidable set of resources. There's a full Teacher's Pack (and yes, youth leaders and leaders of all sorts of visitor groups can and should use it), and individual items can also be downloaded and printed before you visit. The walking trail visits ten 'stops' in Old Dartmouth, not so very different from Dartmouth today, and gives a huge insight into Henley's life in the town and life in Victorian times in general. And there's a bonus resource, too. Can you work out what is in the picture? Not the one below! That's William Henley's shop in Dartmouth!
Source: Dartmouth Museum Dartmouth Museum Nominated for Best of the Web 2012We're very pleased to be in the nominations list for the 2012 Best of the Web awards, in the category Social Media, The awards are part of the annual Museums and the Web conference, a prestigious conference held in 2012 in San Diego, California.
Being nominated is a great thrill for us. We've no idea who will vote for us, or if anyone will think our efforts are worth voting for, but that's almost secondary to being in the list with such great names from the museum world. There seem to be a total of four nominees in our category, so it's fingers crossed. Registered users (there) will choose a site as People's Choice, by voting for their favourite, between March 25 and April 7, 2012. Source: Dartmouth Museum Dartmouth Museum, The Smithsonian, and the Shorty AwardsDartmouth Museum was nominated this year for the 2012 "Shorty Awards in the Museums category. Shorty Awards reflect excellence in the use of Twitter, and nominations happen from anyone who wants to nominate the Twit! And we were nominated by 16 people! "Sixteen! Sixteen!? So What?" we hear you ask. But, behind us came The Smithsonian! We kid you not! Look:
We linked the image, above, to a pdf file of the page we were nominated on. Click it and see. Pity the page wasn't set up to print that well. The link to the live page is likely to change over time, so, while we've included it, it will vanish at some point. Studying tha page we thought we were in with a shot at an award, but, sadly, Shorty Awards moved the museum category out of the main awards categories, within their rules, but to our great disappointment. The first six real nominees in each category get passed to a team of judges. Yes, we came 7th, but number 1 and 4 would have been discounted. We weren't selfish, either. We have a sense of community with Twitter, and we nominated loads of other museums for the award. And we came above The Smithsonian! Source: Dartmouth Museum |
Dartmouth Museum has often been described as the overlooked jewel in Dartmouth’s crown. Tucked away in a grade 1 listed building, in one of the finest rows of Merchant’s houses of the 17th Century found anywhere in England. Over the last six years the Museum has been completely refurbished, culminating in the reopening on the 7th June 2011.
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