After returning to GMMM in September from Maternity Leave, Louise has had her work cut out remembering what her job was, but thankfully it all came back fairly quickly (sadly, it did not involve taking the rare book’s pillow to a dark corner of the museum and catching up on her sleep…).
Since September we’ve had just shy of 300 people attending our events (which isn’t bad in a few months) including:
Five school workshops
Talk to Lyppard Five-0 community group
Visit from a Medieval Apothecary and their ‘potions’
Happy Café for staff and volunteers at Worcestershire Royal Hospital (WITH THERAPY DOGS!)
Arts Workshop with local artists Sarah Millin and Andy Round
Poetry workshop with Worcestershire’s poet laureate
Lecture with Dr. Frank Crompton on the superintendents at Powick Hospital
Living autopsy with Dr Suzy Lishman CBE
After a year without a Curator in-house, people have been keen to donate their items, and we’ve now accepted a number of objects including a beautiful ophthalmic refraction kit from Kidderminster Treatment Centre; objects from the medical career of Lt. Col. G H Goddard DSO KGStJ RAMC; archive material relating to the Covid-19 pandemic; and photographs from the Castle Street Branch of the former Worcester Royal Infirmary, among many others!
It’s wonderful to have a Curator in place at The Infirmary Museum, too, and we have been busy at various volunteer fairs and working together to ensure we can shout loud and proud about the history of medicine in Worcester (and beyond). This, of course, includes a joint Christmas tree at Worcester Cathedral’s Christmas Tree Festival in the cloisters.
If you would like to get involved with the museums, there are a number of ways you can do so including volunteering your time and helping to conserve a rare book. Just get in touch if you’d like to find out more. Speaking of which, Louise P would like to thank Louise, Ken and Muriel for their brilliant work on the Reception desk on Fridays in her absence. What a great thing for our visitors to be greeted with upon arrival.
All that’s left is to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We’re planning another event with Worcestershire’s current poet laureate, more Happy Cafés (happier cafés?), and half-term events for the Spring, so watch this space and we’ll see you soon.
Happy Christmas!
