The Month of July!

Right, this month I have not been very good at updating the blog mainly because there has been so much to do! The HBI Project has taken off in ways I could not have predicted and it hasn't even launched yet!

Scott Grenney the creator of two Plymouth 'Whats on' Websites has kindly featured us on those websites if you would like to take a look see the below link:

http://www.barbicanwaterfront.com/2012/07/17/swib-heritage-business-initiative%E2%80%8F/

We are also up and running on Facebook and Twitter so if any of my blog readers haven't liked the page or followed us please feel free to do so!

https://www.facebook.com/TheSWIBHBI

https://twitter.com/HBIHeritage

Last Friday Colette Hobbs, the outreach officer at SWiB and myself had a meeting with Sarah O'Leary manager of the Plymouth Waterfront Partnership where has very kindly offered us some advertising and networking opportunities for September - There will also be a lot more future collaborations between the SWiB HBI and the PWP, please check out their website for a bit more information about what they do. I will publish any events and or media coverage in next weeks post as details are still being put together.

http://www.waterfrontbid.co.uk/

I am also currently actively approaching a couple of companies which having done some research I feel may benefit from the HBI Scheme - if you know of any businesses then please don't hesitate to leave a comment!

Finally the SWiB website now features the project on its page so feel free to have a look at that too, although the photo of me used is probably the worst one I have ever seen!

http://www.southwestimagebank.com/HBI%20project.html

Keep watching this space and at the rate this project is moving by this time next week I shall have lots more to update you with, Thank you for your continued support :)

All set up for Fridays meeting with the finished Brochures and Business Cards

HBI Business Cards

I thought I would share with you the finished HBI Business card design, these will be printed and ready for the projects launch in September and I am currently working on the Brochures. Thank you to many of my facebook followers who took the time to help choose the design 

This weeks work at Cotehele - 3rd July 2012

This weeks session at Cotehele was another quiet one owing to the horrendous rain and mist we have been having, visitor numbers are down and the general consensus amongst staff and volunteers is that those visitors we do have coming in are becoming steadily more ill tempered as the wet miserable summer progresses... I don't blame them.

Therefore I have taken the opportunity to use this weeks post to discuss one of the smaller exhibitions in the house, yet one of the most important and informative in terms of preventing the deterioration of the historic artefact's at Cotehele and indeed in all Heritage establishments.

 

I often have visitors to the Victorian Library question me about the small plastic shapes positioned on the left of my desk. It being such a hands on room with so many bright and beautiful displays, all complete with detailed write ups and reviews, I think these small inconspicuous pieces trigger a certain curiosity.

As you can see each plastic case is comprised of two sections of the same type of five different materials from copper to suede to cotton, paper and velvet. One section of the material is covered by a thin protective plastic covering, the other is left exposed. Visitors are drawn to touch and rub the exposed material thus demonstrating the detrimental effect that this has upon each one. These plastic shapes are used to show visitors to Cotehele the reasons why certain areas and collection are roped off or concealed from public viewing, even from this photograph you will be able to see the difference between the exposed material on the bottom section and the covered material on the top, this is especially clear in the red Velvet and the faun suede. This exhibit has only been on display for the past 3 months so obviously we can determine from this the amount of damage that would be done to soft furnishings over a prolonged period of many years where thousands of visitors are handling these objects. Therefore I say to you bad tempered visitors, soggy from the rain and shivering from our 12 degree July temperatures - We are not trying to be mean or to ruin your experience of Cotehele or indeed any other Heritage attraction by restricting access to our collections, this is a necessary and important part of preservation and if we take these measures then these beautiful tapestries, paintings and furniture will be intact for further generations of history geeks (like myself to enjoy)

This weeks work at SwiB - July 2nd 2012

Unfortunately I was unable to attend this weeks volunteer session due to a flat tyre however I have been able to do a lot more work to my Exhibition Project with SWiB and a post regarding progress will be going up shortly.