Behind the scenes

It’s time to open window number 10 on your advent calendar….

Oh look, it’s a bell! The bell from Haddington’s grammar school, which closed in 1879,  to be more exact. Ding-dong merrily on high.

Thanks to everyone who left comments on my last blog. It’s great to know there are people out there who read this!

So back to museum news….as part of the development of the John Gray Centre, a few of us visited Callendar House in Falkirk on Monday. It contains a Museum and Archives and we discussed with Peter Stott, Head of Heritage and Learning, and Elspeth Reid, Archivist, the benefits and pitfalls of having two services within the one building. The working kitchen within Callendar House is amazing and we were given the opportunity to taste some old-fashioned Christmas Pudding! We also visited the Print Maker’s shop, which was based on Johnston and Son’s shop from Falkirk Town Centre - now Johnston Press who produce East Lothian News!

North Berwick High School held a Slave Trade exhibition in their library, supported by the Museums Service, over the first week in December. Georgina Brownlee, from the school’s History Department, organised the exhibition with her classes. The exhibition included objects, panels and images from the recent ‘Ports, Prisoners and Pirates’ exhibition at John Muir’s Birthplace alongside pupil’s work. Pupils wore ‘Happy to Help’ sashes at breaks and lunchtimes to answer visitor’s questions and a comments book reflected the enthusiasm of the school towards the topic. The pupils created a wonderful display. Photos should be available soon on Flickr!

And finally, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at the Museums Service. Speak to you again in 2009!