News
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum 10 October 2006
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum has been participating actively in the ‘Brunel 200’ bicentenary project, with a wide variety of projects and events funded by HLF. These have included family-focused additions to the museum’s exhibition ’Brunel’s Great Eastern’ and a project partnership with a local Penzance secondary school.
Students investigated the link between Porthcurno and India, established in 1870 by the laying of a telegraph cable by Brunel’s enormous ship the Great Eastern. The week culminated in a performance of Bollywood dancing in the museum’s garden. During August three days of ‘Bridge Building with Brunel’ activities were also held, proving hugely popular with all ages.
The museum’s HLF-funded local history project is also progressing well. Material is being gathered by local history officer Alison Weeks for new booklets on aspects of the history of St Levan Parish and excitingly, a film of the history of the Parish is in production. This will see its ‘premiere’ at the end of 2006 and will feature the notable people and places of the Parish in which the museum is situated.
The museums has also been awarded a substantial grant of £78,000 by NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) to create a science sculpture garden. This is a long-term project which will open in Science Week 2008. Work has already started on recruiting artists to create sculptural works which will help visitors to visualise and understand the principles of electro-magnetism. The project is entitled ‘Waves’ and is being led by the museum’s education officer Lesley Allen. The museum is hoping to expand the remit of the project to create an exhibition to accompany the opening on the subject of the generation of wave power, linking in to the ‘wave hub’ project at Hayle. Lesley is also working with the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro on a project to develop science in small museums across Cornwall.
This autumn the museum will be featuring on the new series of the BBC’s ‘Coast’ Programme which will serve to tell many more people about the history of Porthcurno.
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum has been participating actively in the ‘Brunel 200’ bicentenary project, with a wide variety of projects and events funded by HLF. These have included family-focused additions to the museum’s exhibition ’Brunel’s Great Eastern’ and a project partnership with a local Penzance secondary school.
Students investigated the link between Porthcurno and India, established in 1870 by the laying of a telegraph cable by Brunel’s enormous ship the Great Eastern. The week culminated in a performance of Bollywood dancing in the museum’s garden. During August three days of ‘Bridge Building with Brunel’ activities were also held, proving hugely popular with all ages.
The museum’s HLF-funded local history project is also progressing well. Material is being gathered by local history officer Alison Weeks for new booklets on aspects of the history of St Levan Parish and excitingly, a film of the history of the Parish is in production. This will see its ‘premiere’ at the end of 2006 and will feature the notable people and places of the Parish in which the museum is situated.
The museums has also been awarded a substantial grant of £78,000 by NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) to create a science sculpture garden. This is a long-term project which will open in Science Week 2008. Work has already started on recruiting artists to create sculptural works which will help visitors to visualise and understand the principles of electro-magnetism. The project is entitled ‘Waves’ and is being led by the museum’s education officer Lesley Allen. The museum is hoping to expand the remit of the project to create an exhibition to accompany the opening on the subject of the generation of wave power, linking in to the ‘wave hub’ project at Hayle. Lesley is also working with the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro on a project to develop science in small museums across Cornwall.
This autumn the museum will be featuring on the new series of the BBC’s ‘Coast’ Programme which will serve to tell many more people about the history of Porthcurno.
