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The Kickstart Scheme so far

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  In September 2020 I lost my job due to cutbacks resulting from Covid 19, in the following months I applied for various jobs with no success. This led me to apply for Universal Credit so that I would get some sort of an income. I knew that because of the virus situation lots of people my age (19) would be in the same boat as me. It’s not really where I wanted to be at this age, and it made what was already a pretty rubbish year even worse. Being on Universal Credit lowered my self-esteem as I wanted a job to gain more experience and confidence but there was no jobs available. After a while of being on Universal Credit I was placed on a scheme called Kickstart, this provided job opportunities that I could apply for. When I first went on Kickstart, I didn’t really know much about it, but I was fed up with having no success in getting a job, and tired of being on Universal Credit. I have an interest in both history and digital/social media, so after seeing the job and getting a job...
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Museum Online Quizzing from the Comfort of Your Own Home

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We have not found it easy to move our inhouse activity online during lockdowns. Staff capacity through furlough and pandemic related tasks, has not enabled us to explore engaging with our online audiences as much as we would have liked too. However, one activity we have managed to move online is our regular quiz. And on Friday 14th we will be hosting our third online quiz night.  Last year, staff discussions led us to explore the idea of moving our quiz night online. Tentatively, we discussed how we would host this, who would write the questions, how we would market the event, how to ensure it would go as smoothly as possible. We knew that many places were providing online quizzes to engage folk with uptodate online experiences to ensure their quiz was first class. Because we were unsure how our quiz would pan out we decided to take the 'laid back and relaxed' approach. However, the team worked hard to provide a light-hearted approach to our initial quiz. We were lucky to be a...
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ANZAC Day and the Border Regiment at Gallipoli

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Today is a very important day in the calendar of both New Zealand and Australia. Today is ANZAC day, their national day of remembrance commemorating all those from both nations who died in conflict. It was on this day in 1915 the Armed Forces from both of these nations were part of the Allied landings on the Gallipoli peninsular. This date has become a  day of national focus in the southern hemisphere. ANZAC day. But it was not just Australians and New Zealanders involved in the infamous Gallipoli campaign. The Allied Forces comprised of British, French, Indians and Newfoundlanders. The landings on the 25 April also consisted of the 1st Battalion the Border Regiment who landed on X beach. They were joined later in the campaign by the 6th Battalion who landed in early August at Suvla. Both their contribution to the campaign is remembered in the publication Glory is No Compensation. There is also another local connection with Gallipoli as Carlisle-born Commander Edward Boyle was awar...
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Ceremonial and Tradition

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None of us cannot but have been impressed by the pomp and ceremony at the funeral of the late Duke of Edinburgh yesterday. Despite the restrictions, the military presence at Windsor Castle was spectacular and highlighted the strong connection the Duke had with the Armed Forces. We are all aware of his naval career but his connection to the Army was very evident at yesterday's service. Of course, tradition and ceremonial play an important part within army life. From Remembrance parades, laying up of Colours, freedom of a Borough, or Regimental weekends at a more local level to Changing of the Guard and Trooping of the Colour at a more national level, the more ceremonial role of a soldier may be slightly different but plays an important part of any military career. Planning, practice, practice and more practice is the order of the day to get the precision and accuracy of any ceremony. I cannot imagine how much practice went into yesterday's funeral to get everything exactly right...
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Gallantry and Bravery

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  Today’s post fittingly ties into the 103 rd anniversary of the Victoria Cross action by Acting Lieutenant-Colonel James Forbes Robertson, a set of medals that we hold at the Museum. When pondering on today’s blog post, I began to think of all the medals that we hold in the Museum. Many donated by family members for us to take care of and look after. Ranging from Victoria Crosses to ‘Pip, Squeak & Wilfred’ the medals are safely and securely stored in a selection of cabinets within the Museum for visitors to view when they visit. Precious items that connect directly to the individuals who they belonged to. The Victoria Cross (VC) has an almost mythical status, awarded for acts of conspicuous bravery in the presence of the enemy. The VC is Britain's joint-highest award for gallantry, only equalled in status in 1940, when the George Cross (GC) was introduced for acts of conspicuous bravery not in the enemy's presence. Legend has it that the initial crosses awarded ...
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The Return of the Rabbits

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It doesn't seem five minutes since our knitted friends made an appearance on one of my blog posts. But then in April last year who would have thought that we would be in a lockdown 12 months later?   Our wee bunnies have once again become the theme of our social media over the Easter weekend. A little bit of fun both for staff and our virtual audience.  Several weeks ago we realised that we were in the same position as last year and would not be able to host an Easter trail for visitors in the Museum. However, last year we realised just before lockdown1, managed to photograph rabbits and put together a family-friendly trail before we retreated to our own homes. This year, it was not so easy and photographing the rabbits had to be undertaken during a weekly check of the Museum. So thanks to Angela who took on the challenge of photographing the bunnies round the gallery and then came up with the 'Elf on the Shelf' idea, pulling together a week of cheeky bunny posts. Working...
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Time Marches On - Springing Forward

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  How many of us have woken this morning in a slight confusion about the actual time? How many times during the day will we say 'well last week it would have been dark at this time!'  Once again we have undertaken our bi-yearly ritual and adjusted our clocks. ('spring forward' - thank goodness for a trusty saying to help me remember which way the clocks move!) No doubt I will spend the next 24 hours out of sorts, then slightly downhearted when I feel someone has taken an hour of today from me. But come next week with the lighter evenings, I will have adjusted my body clock and will be looking forward to summer. This made me start thinking about how over the last year 'time' has become so important to all of us. With lockdowns and restrictions, we have counted the days until we can get back to some sort of normality. It is now only 7 weeks until we can welcome back visitors to the Museum, for instance. Of course, the main part of our collections charts the histor...
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