And Did Those Feet

Interesting web site about participation for children and young people - might be useful for Museums setting up their policies. Participation Works - About Participation

Online events listing of some use for Museums? remotegoat.co.uk | events & shows from across the uk

The open source movement is now working on a brokerage system for promoting innovation. Open Innovation | Innovation Management

A very rare neolithic house has been found in Berkshire: Stone Age House Found at Wessex Archaeology News

Interesting study which suggests reasons why lower status people have worst health than higher status people. Suggests a more equal britain would be a more healthy britain. Social status is hard-wired into our brains - Telegraph

Southwark Cathedral held a tribute to John Gower whose tomb in in the Church. Andrew Motion’s tribute to Southwark’s John Gower [15 July 2008]

Now that Google has swept all before it and has given away its soul to China, is it inevitable that we all continue googling - or are there alternatives out there? Is Google an ally of the Open Source industry in taking on Microsoft or is it the new enemy? The following article looks at some alternative search engines - my own favourite is Quintura It uses Tag clouds to give a sense of the various options that lurk in the results from any search enquiry - it works a little like the visual thesaurus. I have just started using it but it seems on the face of it to be a nicer experience than google . The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines - ReadWriteWeb

The re plastering and painting of the theatre (emergency room) at the Old Operating Theatre Museum are about to completed - it should be reopened next week (July 24 th or thereabouts). This is such a relief for the staff - we have been trying to keep going with our prize attraction closed - trying hard not to disappoint the public, (reducing entry prices, providing tours of the building etc) but it has been hard work. One positive has been that working in the Garret with the public has made us closer to the public and it has been interesting to sit in a listen to each others talks - a good learning experience.

Mark Taylor of the Museums Association expresses some concern at the impact of the MLA cuts and the new regional strategy. To me the cuts are a consequence of the Renaissance strategy - having HUBS and MLA regions can be seen by simple minded funders as being duplication so one can cut one and hope the other takes up the slack. I see this as a direct result of a wrong headed and muddled strategy that Mark Taylor was a strong advocate for. On the otherhand he is a least making his voice heard. From a museums perspective, what we wanted was the continuation of the good work done by the Area Museum Councils - which were membership organisations, close to the Museums they served. Renaissance , has seen, the abolition of the Area Museum Councils and replaced them with an increasingly austere MLA regime, now devoid of a coherent regional strategy, and the HUB system which, has been up to now, a bureaucratic nightmare. In London, MLA has done a superb job keeping and developing the...

Our building - St Thomas Church is now off the Buildings at Risk register thanks to new landlords the Cathedral Group. 17 examples of ‘heritage at risk’ in SE1 says English Heritage [8 July 2008]

Archaeologists at UCL are using ancient bones from Jericho to study ways of combating modern TB. TB was rife in Jericho and bones dug up by Kathleen Kenyon provide a source of DNA which may give insights into why they were so susceptible and therefore may help understand the disease with hopes that this may help fight the disease in modern times. Archaeology: Ancient bones could help combat TB | Science | The Observer

I have just discovered that the founder of Scientology has his own house museum - which you can see at: Fitzroy House :: Home

I could not have done all my guided walks without this book - a new edition is now to be published. The London Encyclopaedia (3rd Edition)

Leeches, Lancets and Toothpulling Long Before the NHS by Richard Kennedy Saturday 12th July & Sunday 13th July at 2pm Richard Kennedy is an author and historian who will speak from the perspective of a colonial American barber-surgeon. He will demonstrate the use of scarificators, cupping and leeches to bleed, techniques for the use of knives and chisels for amputation without anesthesia, and the "latest" devices used for rotted teeth - the toothkey, pelican and lancet. Richard makes his home in California and is the author of an historical fiction "Leeches and Liberty." -- If you do not want to receive any more newsletters, http://chr.org.uk/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=3e05edbffb985b71c6b062af1654a444 To update your preferences and to unsubscribe visit http://chr.org.uk/lists/?p=preferences&uid=3e05edbffb985b71c6b062af1654a444 -- Powered by PHPlist, www.phplist.com --

Click here to give your feedback to the Renaissance in the Region Museums review. http://research.mla.gov.uk/input/review/ My opinion is that they should abandon the Hubs and replace them with a regional organisation based in the centre of the region in offices at the large regional museum, but run by a trust elected by the museums and authorities in the area. A proportion of Hub money should be in a fund of grants which are only available to museums which, by virtue of their special collections, take on a responsibilty unreasonable for their managing body to fund

The Old Operating Theatre Museum needs Volunteers and is also seeking weekend Workers and an Education Assistant. Volunteers We are looking for volunteers who would be interested in, for example, giving an afternoon a month, where they would help visitors enjoy their visits by demonstrating pill making techniques and giving short talks on the Old Operating Theatre. No prior knowledge necessary but you should enjoy talking to groups. If you are interested please contact the Museum's Director Kevin Flude at kpflude@chr.org.uk Weekend Workers We are also seeking one or two people who would be willing to work at the Museum one day each weekend from 10.30 - 5pm. For more information contact the Museum's Director Kevin Flude at kpflude@chr.org.uk Education Assistant We are seeking a member of staff to work with groups both schools and adults. The post would be 3 days a week and would have varied duties as Museum Duty Officer as well as Education Assistant. Experience of educatio...

The Panorama Effect: A Mass Medium is Born

At the Old Operating Theatre Museum today I gave a talk to a group of bright young children on the Black Death followed by a walk on the Cholera. The danger is to make the entire talk gloomy and to make the kids think the past was a terrible place full of stupid people, so I try to explain the difficulty of working out cause and effect, and determining efficacy of treatment - I end up exhorting them to study maths.

SE1 reports on the enquiry into the plan to turn this most beautiful of schools into a boutique hotel. The building is by EW Mountford, who also built the Old Bailey. Public inquiry into hotel plan for St Olave’s School [23 June 2008]

The claim is that the Trojan Horse was used in 1188BC according to an eclipse mentioned by Homer. Scientists calculate the exact date of the Trojan horse using eclipse in Homer - Telegraph