It's audience participation time!  Wednesday saw the first of two days of a public engagement exercise for the Museum of Cannock Chase.  In practice this meant some first person interpretation in costume as the lamp man at the Valley Colliery - the museum being on the site of the old colliery.
The point of the days - apart from entertaining and informing - are to ask visitors what they'd like to see at the museum, what works for them, what doesn't and what improvements they would like to have made there.

It's a great idea, rather than just having a form with a suggestions box, or a visitors' book.  The interpretation and storytelling engage the visitors, draw them in, and once you have that connection you are free to ask them about the museum.  It does help to let people know that you're independent and that they are able to say anything they like. It is much more immediate, people's reactions to the facilities, interpretation, exhibits - yes, and staff - are perhaps more raw, but have more impact. They are less easy to ignore.  It will be interesting to find out how the public react on the second day - May 10th - and what results come from the exercise.

I've become one of the crowd-funding community with DigVentures.  I've yet to decide if I can make it to the dig at Leiston Abbey in Suffolk this summer, but have been asked to write a blog on "A Day in the Life of..." sort of thing.  Be good to get the trowel out again!

Now for a week of artefact imaging, policy writing and work on my AMA.

Incidentally, if anyone wants a signal box from the old Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, please contact Wigan Culture and Leisure Trust as they have one to dispose of - looking for a good home.