Open Museum Annual Report

Thirty-nine loan transactions were made to 25 organisations in Blaby District and a total of 222 catalogue items /displays were borrowed from the Open Museum.

Brockington College in Blaby borrowed two paintings by one of the most popular artists represented in the Artworks Collection, PJ Crook, and a sculpture by Lucy Casson.   The ‘Whale’ by PJ Crook was used in the college to inspire creative writing and critical thinking as well as providing inspiration for making and decorating ceramics.  The Lucy Casson sculpture, made from re-cycled materials was used in to enhance a project about re-cycling and the environment, while a naturalistic bronze sculpture of boxing hares by Lucy Kinsella was used for observational drawing.

Resource Box was used  by Blaby Student Support  - a unit for children throughout the county who have been removed from mainstream education.  In 2005 Natural History and African artefacts were borrowed as the basis for art projects.

Whetstone Parish Council borrowed 31 objects to contribute to a  display in the village hall about life during World War II as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations.  Schoolroom furniture and domestic items including a radio, TV, chair and laundry items were lent to the parish council and these supplemented objects belonging to people in the community.  Resource Box loans allow Environment and Heritage Services to help community groups and parish councils to access a huge range of objects according to their requirements that would be unfeasible for them to collect, care for and store in most instances.

Moving Objects displays are increasingly used by libraries as an adjunct to their own activities and service provision.  In libraries, Moving Objects displays work at two levels; for the informal and general use by all library users and to supplement library activities and educational programmes.

The Myths, Legends, Fairytales and Fables  display was borrowed by Blaby Library , “I wrote to the local schools to let them know that the [Myths, Legends, Fairytales & Fables] display would be there. They were doing myths and legends in English and came and looked at the display and used the activity sheets and support materials provided by the Open Museum”   Library Development Worker, Blaby Library