York Museums Trust Blog

The first time I met Prince Philip he wished me a very Merry Christmas. It was a hot day in mid summer. Fast forward a few years and I see him in the flesh again, also in mid summer but much less hot and decidedly muddier. He was at the Yorkshire Show with his wife, The Queen. They had come to celebrate the show’s 150^th anniversary – a century and a half of showing agriculture at its best.  And, just like the Queen, York Museums Trust decided to mark this occasion as well, only without the blue hat. For three days a team of enthusiastic (very enthusiastic seeing as though we were up at 6am) staff members and volunteers manned a variety of activities, crafts and artefacts looking at the history of farming. More than 6,000 people came to learn things such as what the Roman’s brought to Yorkshire and how to squash a rat Victorian style. A map of where the women in the Land Army were based in Yorkshire created many nostalgic trips back to a time when they looked after land. Many city girls had never seen a cow before, but a lot stayed after the war, some as newly weds.  Gaby’s psychedelic horses caught the eye of passers by, and a life-sized milkable cow with milk bottle ears provided ample entertainment for children while their parents chewed the cud. For many the big draw was the incredible model of a steam engine and thresher. With its attention to detail and intricate design it was a labour of love for its creator. It was no surprise that it literally stopped people in their tracks, especially those who had worked on life sized versions in the past. And it was the object where most often roles were reversed, with the visitor very politely informing staff what did what.  Although I didn’t get to meet the Queen and Prince Philip, some of the Trust’s staff did. Amy, Lucy, dressed as a milk maid, Christine, dressed as a land girl and Jim dressed as a Monk/Obi Wan Kenobi, were all invited to meet her majesty, and very nice she was too apparently. But not a mention of festive tidings from Philip.

Naked women, autopsies, Dick Turpin and strange stone heads – quite a random selection of words really. In fact if you got those words in a pub quiz and had to find the common link it could take you a while to come up with an answer, although a pint or two may speed up the process. However I can pretty much guess that York Museums Trust would not be the first thing most people would think of. The reality is all these things have been filmed at one of our venues in the last month or so. Film crews seem to like the place. The above are just some of the more bizarre, but they are all true. 
How to Look Good Naked took over the Castle Museum, causing a few eyebrows to be raised as the underwear fell. The History Channel carried out a fake autopsy in The Lab, using big knives and animal innards to show how a young Egyptian girl died before she was mummified. Channel Five came to the Castle’s cells while filming a Dick Turpin documentary and the BBC came to speak to Andrew Morrison, curator of archaeology, about mysterious stone heads which were appearing and then disappearing in the wilds of rural Yorkshire. Poor folk in places like Bishop Wilton, Goathland and Kilburn were apparently scared to death by the strange rocks which were placed under the cover of darkness.
The film crews, like the rocks, also appear, cause a stir and then vanish into the night. Some come with space age technology, others have a camcorder. Some forget their camcorder. Most have at least one member of staff who wears thick rimmed glasses and has a clipboard.
The Trust’s benefits a lot from the crews and their cameras. There is the obvious financial benefits and then there is that all important mention. Of course any show that has millions of viewers is brilliant publicity.
I just hope that visitors to the Castle Museum don’t expect to see quite so much as they do the next time its on the telly.