Friends Of Discovery Museum

FRIENDS OF DISCOVERY MUSEUM; WHAT WE DID IN 2018
We are a group of people who meet every Tuesday to repair, clean and refurbish the artefacts, exhibits and interactives in the various galleries. We also assist the keepers with applications for grants to enhance the exhibitions. We hope to motorise and illuminate more exhibits this coming year now that the pressure of the Rocket exhibition is removed. Over the past few years our focus has changed from being a group who tried t...o raise money for museum funds, to a group who actively participate in the repair, restoration and cleaning of exhibits and artefact’s.
We welcome anyone who would like to join us, no specialist skills are required apart from enthusiasm, but we hope to share our skills and learn new ones; all ages are welcome !
This year we have concentrated on AV equipment and have worked on the displays in the Story of the Tyne gallery; we have also successfully reinstated 2 of the touch screen units associated with the Tyne map and the boat display case; the hoist exhibit has been repaired. The “Power from Poo” exhibit is now fully repaired and operational again.
In the working lives gallery we are still working on the Armstrong car display. The motor and gearbox are very badly worn and a replacement would be very expensive so we are looking at manufacturing our own gearbox with the skills that are available within the group. There is still a great deal of work to be done on many other displays.
We hope to be able to restore other touch screen units, possibly reprogramming them so they can be used in other areas. One of our members has configured an old PC LCD screen so it can be run with a simple Raspberry Pi computer and displays a 6 foil PowerPoint presentation as a “moving description card”. This should be a cheap way to upgrade the information on many exhibits.
With the knowledge available in our group we have also helped support other TWAM museums on their penny presses and interactives; they also help us with materials for our projects.
We find a great lack of data on exhibits and interactives that hinder our work; we could do with a central archive and archivist for this documentation and volunteers able to set it up.
Working through the volunteers section we hope to recruit more assistance this coming year, especially with IT/ Software skills; we will also be working with young people and hope to give them training in a variety of life skills.
On the social side of things we have arranged trips to various other museums in the area including Shildon Railway Museum, Reeth Dales Museum, etc. We are hoping to run more trips this coming year to industrial heritage sites and lead mining areas in our local area.

Ed Dinning, Chair of Friends Mar 2019
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PARSONS' PROJECT APPEAL
Appeal for historic documents and artefacts from C A Parsons the company, Grubb Parsons, or anything relevant to the Parsons family who settled in Northumberland.
If your parents / grandparents worked at C A Parsons or Parsons Marine, and you have anything you don’t want any more which you think we would be interested in, please get in touch.
... Parsonsheritageproject@gmail.com
Watch on Look North Here https://vimeo.com/322787880
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Forthcoming talk on History and Technology at Discovery Museum on Tuesday 13th February 2018

RESTORING SIR CHARLES PARSONS' FINAL RESTING PLACE
There is a current crowdfunding campaign to restore the final resting place of Sir Charles and Lady Katharine Parsons at Kirkwhelpington, Northumberland which FODMs thinks we should bring to your attention.

CHAIRMAN'S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
Friends and fellow members of FODM’s, I should like to wish you warmest greetings for the coming festive season and invite you to our Christmas gathering to be held on Tue 5th Dec in the Turbinia room on the 5th floor from noon until 2pm.
There will be a short quarterly meeting at the start of the gathering before the festivities commence, where I will outline our activities in the past year.
... This has been a successful year for our group, we have completed the motorisation of the steam fan in Science Maze, for which we received a grant from the Reece foundation. We have worked with facilities staff on repairs to several exhibits and facilities; in this we have been helped by the new volunteers that have joined the group, long may this continue. Support has also been given to the “Fun of the Fair” gallery; it is surprising how much punishment the old fairground machines take from the general public.
We are now thinking to next year and how we can assist the museum further while attracting more visitors, the committee have some ideas, but I should also like to hear your views for the future. Please come - prepared to multi-task, eat mince pies and develop ideas with the museum staff!
Season’s Greetings,
Ed Dinning, Chair of FODM’s
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FODMs CHRISTMAS GATHERING
Diary date —— Christmas Gathering 2017
Hi Friends of Discovery Museum
... We will be holding our annual Christmas Gathering on Tuesday 5th December at Discovery Museum in the Turbinia Room (5th floor) from 12-00noon to 2-00pm.
I do hope you will be able to attend
Please R.S.V.P to Graham Bradshaw bradshawgraham@btinternet.com
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FODMS AGM TUESDAY 27th JUNE 12 noon
The Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Discovery Museum will take place at 12-00 noon in the Turbinia Room (4th Floor) at the Discovery Museum
AGENDA
... 1) Apologies for Absence
2) Minutes of last General Meeting
3) Chairman’s Report
4) Treasurer’s Report & Adoption of Accounts
5) Appointment of Officers
The following officers are stepping down :
President: Dr Malcolm Kennedy Chairman: Ian Burdon Admin: John Chaney
The nominations for officers for 2017 are :
President : Ian Burdon Chairman: Ed Dinning Secretary/Membership Sec: Graham Bradshaw Treasurer: Paul Atkinson Comms/Website Officer: Tony Stephenson
6) Appointment of Examiner of Accounts & bank account
7) Any Other Business
Any matters to be raised under the last item should be notified to the Secretary no later than 20th June 2017.
Graham Bradshaw (Secretary) Email bradshawgraham@btinternet.com
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ENERGISING EXHIBITS
FODMs members currently run engines and carry out repairs and maintenance of exhibits and equipment within the museum. We have recently become involved with the museum’s ENERGISING EXHIBITS project. Many exhibits are currently static and the project aim is to have more of these running to create a more interesting and dynamic experience for visitors.
... Thanks to a grant from the REECE FOUNDATION, a project to energise a B. F. Sturtevant steam driven fan located in the science maze has commenced.
The building which now houses the Discovery Museum was originally built as the CWS North East Headquarters and the fan was located in the basement of the building to provide ventilation via ductwork.
The project involves the design, supply and assembly of steel work and a drive system consisting of an electric motor and gearbox, pulley wheels and drive belts to rotate the fan at 10 revs per minute. The steelwork is supplied by Responsive Engineering, part of the Reece Group and manufactured using their specialist services including water jet, laser and plasma cutting processes.
It is anticipated that the project will be completed in June 2017.
Members of FODMs have researched the Sturtevant Company and have been in contact with the Sturtevant Historical Group in the USA. They have kindly supplied a history of the company and technical details of the fan and steam engine.
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Who are we?
We are a small group of retired, young at heart, enthusiastic individuals who use our collective engineering knowledge and experience providing support to Newcastle’s Discovery Museum.
What we do
... We repair and maintain the Museum’s electrical, electronic and mechanical exhibits, be they small, large, interactive, moving or static. Exhibits that visitors can operate (interact with) will, through constant use over time suffer wear and tear and possibly damage. Replacement of parts is therefore necessary, being mostly sourced from the Museum’s stock of spares.
However, a number of the exhibits were originally custom designed and built by specialist companies that unfortunately no longer exist. Situations like this can involve us in a lot of research work to identify alternative suppliers of suitable replacement parts.
Included in the Museum’s Science Maze are several nineteenth and early twentieth century gas and steam engines that are powered by electric motors to demonstrate how they operate, (practical limitations prevent the provision of gas or steam plant).
In addition to our role of repairing / maintaining the Museum’s exhibits, we know that some visitors may not be familiar with or understand their workings or purpose and we are happy to provide explanations wherever we can.
In carrying out this work we take pleasure in the knowledge that we are contributing to Newcastle Discovery Museum’s continuance as a valuable community resource.
What we need
We are looking for additional volunteers to help us with our work, either on a one off or on-going basis. The work will consist of cleaning, lubrication and maintenance of the operating engines as well as repairs to other exhibits.
We are particularly interested in anyone who has microcomputer experience, especially PIC's and similar devices as these were used in some exhibits that we wish to return to operation.
Interested?
If you are interested or want more information then contact Ed at ed_dinning@yahoo.co.uk
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2017 MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL
Note from The Secretary :
Dear Friend of Discovery Museum.
... I hope you are well and in good spirits. I am also hoping that you will again support FODMs by renewing your membership.
Your subscription coupled with the ingenuity and practical skills of the FODMs team has enabled us to repair a number of highly popular and educational exhibits. These have included the; "spectacularly large plasma globe", “Power to the People” interactive and the highly popular and entertaining “Shadow Wall” exhibit.
In the current financial climate these are repairs that the museum would simply not be able to afford.
This year we are looking, with your help to get more of the working exhibits back in action. These will include a small gas engine that needs a new drive motor and the Armstrong car display turntable that now needs a new motor and gearbox. Our work will also include helping to stage the annual Northumberland Young Engineer, Designer,Technologist Competition which showcases the project work of G.C.S.E and A Level students in the North East.
Please see our website www.fodms.com for more information about our activities
The membership fee for 2017 is unchanged at £15. This can be paid by any of the following:
By downloading the form here - this will also enable you to GIFT AID your subscription http://www.fodms.com/…/pdfs/FOD_new_mem ber_A5_leaflet_v6.pdf
via direct transfer to acc no 53813487 sort code 20-59-42 please reference the transfer “Your Name 2017”
or by cheque made payable to the Friends of Discovery Museum, send to Discovery Museum, Blandford Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4JA, please mark F.A.O Graham Bradshaw
I do hope you will be able to share our commitment to helping the Discovery Museum team to maintain and develop one of the North East’s great educational resources.
Graham Bradshaw Membership Secretary
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FODMs SPRING BULLETIN
Our Spring Bulletin has just been sent out to members
You can read it online here

MOTOR CYCLES - SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP?
Following the publication of my reminiscences last year on the motorcycling activities just around the corner from Discovery on Westgate Road, I am now wondering whether there would be sufficient support for the formation of a Special Interest Group on motor cycles and motorcycling – particularly old motor cycles.
There has been considerable interest in this subject nationally and internationally for some considerable time now – Classic ...Bike magazine, for example, was first published nearly forty years ago, and continues to go from strength to strength. There are now 4 or 5 UK monthly magazines devoted to the subject and a host of small firms engaged in the restoration and upkeep of old motor cycles located here in the north east. The existence of many well established ‘one make’ clubs also indicates a high level of interest by enthusiasts engaged in the restoration of such machines. There are those who participate in motor cycle sport on venerable machines and those who simply like to display their machines at the many classic bike events to show-off their pride and joy.
I am happy to help get a ‘historic motorcycling’ group going under the auspices of the Friends of Discovery and will arrange a meeting of like-minded enthusiasts at the Museum in Blandford Street if there is a sufficiently-strong level of support shown for the idea.
Please contact me on burdoni@msn.com if you feel this idea is worth pursuing and you would like to participate. A short note on the sort of activities you think such a group could organise via the Museum would be helpful. An indication of your main area of activity within the motorcycling fraternity would be helpful also, be it wallowing in nostalgia for bygone days, active participation in the sporting side or even getting your hands dirty in the shed!
I look forward to hearing from you and leave you with a picture of my P&J which I have spent the last 3 years resurrecting from boxes of bits.
Ian Burdon
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FROM DISCOVERY'S REFERENCE LIBRARY "ENGLISH WITHOUT TEARS"
The Reference library at Discovery contains some 14,000 artefacts, including engineering firms' brochures and publicity material, magazines, journals and books. The article “English without Tears” comes from "Coal" (May 1948). Although this magazine has been digitalised and is available here http://www.ncmonline.org.uk/coal_magazine there is nothing quite like holding a magazine and turning the pages.
The article desc...ribes how after World War II, with the ending of conscription into the mines, (the "Bevin Boys"), there was a requirement for labour in the mines. There were several general volunteer schemes for European workers, the first under the banner of Balt Cygnet had no provision for dependents and mainly attracted women into essential domestic work in sanatoria and hospitals. The other was Westward Ho which did accept spouses and children. Between 1946 and 1949 a total of 91,000 people were accepted on the scheme mainly from the Ukraine, Poland and Latvia with some from Balkans. Initially these volunteer workers were known as Displaced Persons, then European Volunteer Workers and finally in 1953 this was replaced by the term "Foreign Workers recruited under the Westward Ho scheme". The use of ex POW and foreign soldiers was not counted in this scheme.
It was hoped in 1948 that the scheme would attract 30,000 miners to Britain (though there was a requirement for 100,000). Those European Volunteer Workers who had no English and were destined for the mines were sent to the National Coal Board Education centres such as at Bottisham, Cambridge. Here their integration into the English way of life involved intensive course of instruction, which lasted eight weeks. In that time they had to learn to speak and write the language though with a maximum vocabulary of 850 words. This involved small conversational groups of 50-60 people talking only in English, supplemented by text books with simple line diagrams and illustrated text film strips etc. Watch Pathe clip here. http://www.britishpathe.com/…/coal-boar d-turns-teacher/query
In addition, there was physical training especially with hand hardening exercises and for this they were encouraged to garden. Understanding and integration into the British way of life meant visiting the local towns but they were expected to retain their national identity by ensuring they celebrated their national feast day. The abiding incentive was the work through which they would be able to earn and buy food (there was no mention of rationing in the article)
Although there was need for large numbers of workers, by 1956 the scheme had attracted just 12 % of the expected numbers and less than other population migrations (a total of 10,200 (3,800 European volunteer workers, 5,300 Poles, and 750 Italians;) report in Hansard 1956)
Mark Bennett
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PROJECT : HISTORU OF THE ELECTRICITY SUPPLY INDUSTRY IN NE ENGLAND
Introduction.
The North East of England led the Country in the application of electricity to motive power in industry in the early years of the 20th Century. Many important features in large-scale electricity production and distribution were conceived and introduced by, what is now regarded as, the most innovative of all the power companies extant in the UK at that time. Aided by far-sighted and technicall...
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VOLUNTEERS IN UNIFORM
Our members who help out in the Discovery Museum by repairing and cleaning exhibits, running the engines and taking our Arcs and Sparks tours now have a natty new polo shirt to wear whilst carrying out their activities.
The shirts are light blue and have "Technical Support Group" and "Engineer" around the FODMs logo on the front and "Supporting our Local Heritage" on the back.
... Some of our engineers are pictured modelling the new shirts - keep an eye out for them and say hello next time you are in Discovery!
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MEN AND SHEDS
I have been asked by our chairman, Ian Burdon, to start a series of newsletter articles on this topic as an ongoing feature, so we will be looking at contributions from you, our reader. This can simply be a picture or two, or a short article as to your shed activities and what started you along this path.
I am not seeking to be sexist in the title and we would especially welcome articles from ladies who have sheds; the word sheds is a little misleading, I am ref...
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VISIT TO DISCOVERY BY THE FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM
Back in April FODMs members visited the Locomotion Museum at Shildon, County Durham. We were warmly welcomed on a cold and foggy day and shown around by the “friends” group. We quickly realized that FODMs and the Shildon Friends have much in common. So at the end of our visit we invited the Locomotion group to come and see us at the Discovery Museum.
Several busy months passed before they were able to take up o...ur offer and come up to Newcastle. Now Shildon to Newcastle is a fair journey so the Locomotion team decided it would be easier to take the bus. However, not the standard Arriva service for them. With help from their friends at the Aycliffe and District Bus Preservation Society the group travelled to Newcastle in style in an immaculately restored Bristol LS6G single decker.
After a coffee and a brief introduction to Discovery Museum we whisked them off to the basement for a tour of the Arcs and Spark electrical collections store. FODMs members Ed Dinning and Chris Watson led the tour and regaled us with all manner of tales about the objects and the development of the electrical generation and supply industry. The Locomotion team had plenty of questions for Ed and Chris. Perhaps this was because the railway line at Shildon was one of the first to use electric locomotives.
Over a working lunch we had a good exchange of idea about how friends groups can help museums. We also had a lengthy discussion with expletives about the sensible interpretation of health and safety regulations.
The early afternoon was given over to a quick tour of the galleries, the FODMs engines team workshop and the Great Hall. Realising that we had only scratched the surface of the displays many of the Locomotion team said they would come back to Discovery Museum for a longer visit.
Whilst we operate in quite different museums it is obvious that we both share a passion for presenting history to the public and a keenness to help our institutions prosper.
All too soon the visit came to end but happily with an agreement to keep in touch and share information and expertise. So there will be another trip to Locomotion next year
Graham Bradshaw
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FROM SPARK TO FLAME - WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY IN THE NORTH EAST