Congratulations to everyone who entered the AQUILA Young Reporter competition 2008. The standard of entries was very high this year and it was hard to choose a winner!
Winning entry by Sonya Bushell (pictured to the right).
My favourite museum is Ryedale Folk Museum.
Run nearly entirely by volunteers, it’s a rare breed smallholding, a memorial to past generations, and a wild flower conservation project, as well as a museum. The moorland village is wonderful in itself, with old houses and sheep grazing (some villagers still own rights to turn sheep out on the verges). But the museum is brilliant. You can walk round village shops from different eras, peep in 19th–17th century cottages, play a game of Merrills in a manor house, beware witchcraft, walk inside an Edwardian photographic studio, and look at tractors and in gypsy wagons. The terrifying Iron Age roundhouse has skulls! There is something for everyone. But here are a few reasons why I love this museum.
It focuses on the Ryedale people, so that by learning about their jobs, worries, superstitions, daily life and education, you get an insight into the history.
Seeking a new life
The museum also follows people who emigrated to Canada. Farmhands losing jobs, younger sons of farmers, families hoping for better lives, and a poet who inspired others to follow, all left. A moving film has been made by sixth-form students, starring local primary children.
The museum as a reserve
The museum’s comical pigs, shy sheep, broody hens, and flocks of geese, are mostly traditional breeds which capture the atmosphere of past times. Nowadays, these breeds are dying out because they’re rejected by intensive farming, taking longer to mature.
In the tiny, marshy Nature reserve, folklore is shown about the plants. With the Cornflower Project, they are growing meadow flowers in nurseries, preserving them.
Biscuit the cat also lives here, distracting all the schoolchildren! In summer, when hay is made, the volunteers have a barbecue using meat from their animals.
Origins of recipes and phrases
‘Good night, sleep tight,’ came about because, long ago, to be comfortable, you would have to tighten the strings that held your mattress up, so it didn’t sag. You had many blankets to keep away the cold.
Having sweet Yorkshire puddings came about because on Mondays (washdays) you were too busy to cook, but had leftovers of your Sunday dinner.
The museum has several recipes from different eras. The medieval sweetmeats would have been for the wealthy, because spices from overseas trade were rare, but when I tried them at home I didn’t like them!
Founders of the museum
When Raymond Hayes was three, his family moved to Ryedale from York with their daylight photo-studio hut. Raymond developed an interest in archaeology which earned him an MBE for his work, and a room is devoted to his findings. He started the museum with Alfred Crossland and Bert Frank in 1964. It’s moved on a lot, building a maze in 2000 and a refreshment area now. Its major difficulty was the 2001 Foot and Mouth scare: for a year no visitors came and it nearly closed. Nowadays, 8,000 schoolchildren and 35,000 ticket-buyers per year visit, but it still retains a friendly atmosphere. ‘The museum strives to include everyone in history,’ a friendly volunteer told me. ‘Its funding comes from Councils, school visits, ticket-buyers, sponsors, Lottery Funds and charities. Our next project is to develop exhibitions by local artists.’
There are 90 volunteers, some travelling from miles away, and it looked such an exciting place that I wanted to join them. Events happen all year round, such as the evacuee fortnight, the cooking weekend (from medieval to Victorian), and the dance around the maypole.
Why not persuade someone to take you?
Seeking a new life
Origins of recipes and phrases