Radstock Museum began the 2017 season last week, re-opening its doors after the winter break. Thanks to a major grant awarded for £12,000, a new programme, ‘Somerset Coalfield Life at Radstock Museum’, is now full steam ahead!

The money has helped to employ Midsomer Norton graduate, Miranda Litchfield, who studied Contemporary Art at Bath Spa University.

Behind her is an amazing band of over 100 enthusiastic volunteers, all giving up their time freely and headed by curator, Nick Turner, to make sure this is a resource that is set to stay in the town – but it needs not just the support of the tourism industry, but that of locals, too.

The award was a real coup for the Museum as there was just £72,000 available to fund projects across England.

Miranda has only been in her post a matter of weeks, but is already making changes, cleaning and enhancing displays, opening up unused alcoves and painstakingly sorting through archives. As well as this, she has designed the new logo for the museum using her artistic talents and is helping with the rebrand of ‘Somerset Coalfield Life at Radstock Museum’, in tribute to our local heritage. The museum pays homage to those who worked in the mines, the working conditions and their lives outside of the pit, whilst also looking at the other local trades in our area, such as print. Until 31st May there is an exhibition that looks at hand tools from twelve of the trades from our area and until the end of February, work by Paulton Junior School is also on display.

As part of its rebrand, the Museum has big plans for the future, with Miranda hoping to bring exhibits to life, with more information and interactive displays, one of which will be the touring ‘Know Your Place’ project, which will see a large, interactive cube with touchscreens to allow access to archives, museums and heritage collections across the whole of the West of England.

Visitors can also now meet and learn more about James McMurtrie, who has been brought to life by Miranda using a Co-op mannequin, transforming an unused space into his living room, so that visitors can sit and read his letters, study his drawings and immerse themselves in the history of the man who ran the local pits on behalf of the Waldegrave estate, but was also an exceptional engineer, geologist and keen archeologist.

Miranda, who remembers visiting the Museum on school trips as a child herself and taking part in the Fossil Hunts run by volunteers, says: “This role for me is so rewarding, I feel very privileged to be taking it on. We want to pay tribute to our local heritage and keep the narrative going, but our main call is to local people. Many will think there is no urgency in visiting – some may have never been. We hope that those who come will want to come again and again, and our main aim will be for there to always be something different each time they do visit.

“As well as our regular visitors, we’d like to attract more young families and people in their twenties and thirties so that they in turn bring their families – and the museum is already well supported by the local schools. We have also managed to secure a good working relationship with Centurion Travel, who are bringing the schoolchildren, so we are hoping that we can work more closely with local companies to mutually benefit and also tie in with other local projects who might be holding events, such as Midsomer Norton South Station.

“Already we are working on a partnership with Bath College to help with displays and electrics, and hopefully we will be able to do something similar with UWE, too. We want the Museum to act as more of a hub and community space.

“We’d love to hear from anyone who had coal mining experience or others in local trades such as print, or who worked at Clarks, who might be willing to come and talk to visitors about their trade and what it was like. We have a wealth of talent in our volunteers – from researchers, scientists and teachers, and everyone gives however much or little of their time as they can manage.

Volunteer, Lucy Tudor, who, amongst other tasks, is helping to promote the museum via social media, is the daughter of one of the founding members of the museum, Tom Randall. She said: “I’ve always been interested in history, due to my father’s love of collecting, but I was also fascinated by the heritage, literally in our back garden, with the local weigh bridge at Welton. My father orignally came from the Nottingham coalmining community and was fascinated by another mining town which became our home.

“We have masses of new ideas for the Museum and future developments, and feel like this grant is the start of a new era.”

If anyone would like to get in touch with Miranda, either as a volunteer, sharing their stories, offering any expertise, or would like to fundraise for the Museum, please contact: 01761 437722 or email: [email protected]

In preparation for its new name launch, the Museum now has a photographic tribute on its main entrance doors, which is pictured above. Lucy says: “According to John Cornwell, from Collieries of Somerset and Bristol, this shows Miners at pit bottom, Norton Hill Colliery, in the mid-1950s. From left to right we know of Jack Haggett, (Unknown), Arthur Davidson, Maurice the Pole, Alb Taylor, Cliff Hitchens and John Paget. We know John Paget is alive and well – (pictured above, right), but would love to trace the others.”

An entry ticket to the museum lasts a whole year, so locals can return as many times as they like within that period to see what is new or to explore some more.