Time Team star's 50p launches public appeal for museum project

TV Time Team star, Professor Mick Aston, has helped to launch a public campaign to raise £250,000 towards the Museum of Somerset project.
The well-known personality, who is a passionate supporter of the Museum of Somerset project, made his own 50p donation to the fund to kick-start it.
The overall cost of the museum work in Taunton is £6.5 million, toward which the Heritage Lottery Fund has set aside £4.8 million.
The public fund-raising campaign wants to raise £250,000 of the remaining £1.7 million to complete the project, which aims to create a 21st century visitor attraction telling the story of Somerset.
Mr Aston (pictured) said: “The wonderful collections here in Somerset deserve a first-class home, so I have firmly supported the bid to create the Museum of Somerset from the beginning.
“It is amazing to consider that, if everyone in Somerset gave 50p, we would reach the fund-raising target.
“By working together we can help to secure the future of Somerset’s important heritage.
“The current museum possesses some truly world class exhibits, however, these precious artefacts need to be presented in a more user-friendly way.
“The Museum of Somerset project will achieve this and improve the whole visitor experience.
“I am pleased that the bid is progressing well and would encourage people to find a little bit of loose change to give to this worthy cause.”
County council adult and community services portfolio holder, Councillor Justin Robinson, said: “Somerset County Council is committed to conserving the history of the county and providing opportunities for people to learn about their heritage.
“We believe that this will be best achieved through the creation of the Museum of Somerset, and over 10,000 people have publicly backed our plans.
“We hope that people will now donate to the public fund-raising appeal.”
One of the ways in which donations can be made is by calling in to the County Museum, in Taunton, and putting money into a large replica castle keep which has been designed especially for the appeal.
Photo submitted.

Maiden voyage for new form of traditional Bristol Channel boat

A NEW style of flatner has been launched by Watchet Boat Museum, only the second to be designed and built in a decade in what was the town’s Old Goods Shed.
The Somerset flatner was a traditional style of simple-constructed shallow draft boat which was once common in the Bristol Channel but which has since almost died out.
The new flatner boat is a brand new design using features found on various types of traditional flatners which can be seen in the museum
It was built single-handedly in the museum by curator John Nash and is designed to be inexpensive at around £250, using readily available materials, and easy for one person to construct.
Mr Nash said: “I did not do it this way to show off, just to prove that one person really can do it.
“I am most certainly not a boat designer, carpenter, or oarsman, so if I can do it - you can, too.”
He said the 12 ft 8 in boat was suitable for calm waters such as rivers, lakes, and ponds, and could take three people on board.
A successful maiden ‘voyage’ took place in Watchet’s harbour marina, where Mr Nash said the boat behaved ‘beautifully’.
The flatner was designed in consultation with the museum’s president, Commander G.I. Mayes, and was constructed from stock timber sizes with more than 90 per cent of the materials bought locally.
Mr Nash now intends to sell copies of the flatner plans and instructions for building one, to raise funds for the museum.
He said: “We cannot build the boat and sell it - EU regulations are very stringent - so, we hope to sell lots of the plans.
“If you follow the instructions, it really is simple to build and a joy to row.”
The new boat has been named after John Short, a renowed Watchet shantyman known as ‘Yankee Jack’, and the new class has been called ‘The Short Flatner’.
More details are available from John Nash by telephoning 01984 633117 or emailing jmn@wbm.org.uk, or by visiting http://www.wbm.org.uk/.
Watchet Boat Museum is run entirely by volunteers. Entry is free and it is open Easter to September, from 2 pm to 4 pm, but is closed on Mondays and Fridays.

• Our photograph shows John Nash preparing to launch the new flatner (top) and rowing on its maiden ‘voyage’ around the marina (below). Photos by Bruce Scott.
  

A snapshot of Victorian West Somerset

A NUMBER of West Somerset scenes are among a collection of 50 fascinating images of Victorian Somerset which has gone on display at the Somerset County Museum, in Taunton.
‘In a Good Light – Holidays in Victorian Somerset’ includes images from a collection containing more than 300 glass plate and celluloid negatives.
They were taken in the last two decades of the 19th century by the Rev John Derrick, who spent holidays with his family visiting Kilve, Porlock, Bossington, East Quantoxhead, and Tarr Steps, among other places.
The visits were all captured in his photographs, a collection of which was recently donated to Somerset County Council’s heritage service, which conserved and digitally copied them.
John Derrick was born in 1852 and grew up near Weston-super-Mare, where his family were farmers. In 1877 he became a curate in Cheltenham, where he met his wife Edith.
The couple had three children and it was through his third child, Freda, that the precious negatives were saved.
He bought his first camera in 1887 and when he took his young family on holiday to West Somerset, the camera and equipment went too.
His interests were varied, and he took images not just of his family but also scenes showing Somerset landscapes, agriculture, churches, craftsmen, villages, and local people - examples of which are contained within the exhibition.
The exhibition will also include vintage cameras from the heritage service collections and information about early photography.
The exhibition started last August at the Somerset Rural Life Museum, in Glastonbury, and was painstakingly researched by members of the Friends of the Somerset Rural Life Museum, supported by county council staff.
Research involved travelling around the places seen in the Derrick photographs and matching them to the modern landscape and buildings.
The exhibition proved so popular that it has now travelled to the County Museum in Taunton and will be there until March 17.
County Councillor Justin Robinson, portfolio holder for adult and community services said: “This is a fascinating time-capsule of late Victorian rural life in Somerset.
“The images are shown in extremely clear and rich detail and will be of considerable interest to photographic enthusiasts, local historians, Somerset residents, and visitors to the county alike.”

• The photographs above show the bridge at Allerford, near Porlock, taken by John Derrick (monochrome) and how it looks in the present day (colour). Photos submitted.