Museum trust partners with local community groups on events
In August and September the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is partnering with local community groups to host a series of events at the Museum of the Gorge in Ironbridge. The series launched on Monday 12 August with an event hosted by the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust.
The Museum of the Gorge reopened in January 2024 following essential conservation work funded by Historic England, the National Heritage Memorial Fund and other generous benefactors. Visitors to this former warehouse used to transport goods by river during the Industrial Revolution can access information about the Ironbridge Gorge UNESCO World Heritage Site and its museums and learn about the building’s history.
In the first event, between Monday 12 and Sunday 18 August, members of the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust are at the museum talking to visitors about their ambitious plans to restore the canals from Norbury Junction to Shrewsbury back to navigation, benefiting both the community and the environment. There is also a specially curated display, ‘Wappenshall - The Unknown Connection’.
This event will be followed by two more events later in the summer.
From Wednesday 21 until Friday 23 August, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust will host a drop-in event targeting the local Caribbean community. The Trust is asking members of the Telford Caribbean community who came to the new town between the 1940s and 1980s, known as the Windrush generation, to bring original documents that are part of their personal story, such as letters, photos and passports, to the museum. The Trust’s staff will scan and log them and they will be presented on ‘Back A Yard’ boards, in a West Midlands-wide initiative developed by Doctor Pedro Cravinho at Birmingham City University.
On Sunday 1 September members of the Ironbridge Coracle Trust will lead a series of hands-on activities and talk to visitors about the history of coracles and the work of the Trust. If the weather permits visitors will even be able to try out a coracle themselves on the River Severn outside.
Nick Booth, Collections and Learning Director of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, said, “We are delighted to welcome some of our local partners into the Museum of the Gorge this summer. We are sure that local people and visitors to the Gorge alike will enjoy hearing about the work of the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust and learning more about coracles from the Ironbridge Coracle Trust. Canals are coracles are both significant in the history of the Ironbridge Gorge UNESCO World Heritage Site.”
“We are also looking forward to hearing from local people from Telford’s Caribbean community who are willing to share their stories of life in the town. As a museum our main purpose is to collect, preserve and interpret stories, artefacts and objects which capture the history of our area and to provide a space where stories can be told. This event is an opportunity to share the under-explored story of Telford’s Caribbean community.”
Bernie Jones, Chairman of the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust, said: “We’re very grateful to the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust for letting us be the first group to use the Museum of the Gorge in this way to help us raise the profile of our work.”
A further phase of conservation work at the Museum of the Gorge is currently being planned by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, a heritage conservation and education charity, and will be completed once funding has been secured.
The Trust’s intention is that the museum will be used by its local community as well as by visitors to the Ironbridge Gorge.
By Sarah Watson - Contributor
