News
01/04/2008
Explorer Scouts toy with being curators
A museum and art gallery is celebrating the culmination of a special project with displays created by local Explorer Scouts. The Royal Tunbridge Wells Black Sheep Explorer Scout Unit Unit joined forces with Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery to take part in their Inside Out project, which aims to involve local teenagers with the museum.
The Unit’s Members used past and modern toys for the displays that they researched, designed and created themselves. The first task they were given was to identify modern toys that they felt would be interesting in 50 years time.
Then they collected the toys and spent several sessions with museum staff, finding historic objects to pair up with their modern counterparts. The Explorer Scouts then prepared labels and decided on a design theme for the cases.
Examples of past and modern toys paired for the displays include a Playmobil ambulance with a tin-plate ambulance of the First World War, a Duplo zoo with Victorian Noah’s Ark animals, and a Supersoaker with its 1920s counterpart - a metal bucket.
This is the first time a group of people have been given the opportunity to select and show objects on behalf of the museum, and is the first display of its kind. The Unit’s involvement went beyond the display, as one of the Explorer Scouts created a poster to promote the displays and designed an invitation to the official opening.
Cllr James Scholes, Portfolio Holder for Safer and Stronger Communities, said:
‘The display cases that have been put together by the Explorer Scouts are brilliant. The hard work and thought that went into creating and developing the concept is reflected in the finished product, of which they should be very proud.
‘Thank you to all the members of the Royal Tunbridge Wells Black Sheep Scouts who worked towards making the Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery Inside Out project a success.’
The display cases can be found on the landing at Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery, and at the entrance to the Council Chamber in the Town Hall in Royal Tunbridge Wells.
The project was made possible with funding from Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, and Renaissance in the Regions.
