Chatting Behind the Lines - Curator's tales and musings

Like many folk, I am looking for ways to occupy my time when I am not working from home. So I was obviously interested in undertaking the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend, giving an hour of my time to sit in an armchair with a coffee and observe our feathered friends flying in and out of my garden. It's been an interesting hour observing the pecking order, watching the little arguments as they find their place on the bird feeders, admiring their queuing system that operates on the nearby trees as they wait their turn for a snack. Meanwhile, a wily wood pigeon saunters along the ground collecting the seeds that the birds have dropped. A really pleasant way to spend an hour. It did make me think of a photograph (attached) we have in the Museum collection of a tame jackdaw perching on the back of Lance Corporal Smiley, an instructor at the Regimental Depot, taken in 1935. There is a document in Carlisle Archives that mentions the Jackdaw; as a chick it fell down a chimney and wa...

On planning our social media, we noted that this weekend was the anniversary of Spion Kop. Not a battle I knew much about although  I was aware of the Border Regiment involvement in South Africa, so was no surprise when  on further investigation of our image files some photographs were located labelled 'Spion Kop.'  Of course I had heard of 'Spion Kop' or 'The Kop', and it's connection with Liverpool FC's ground at Anfield, but knew little about the battle. Time for a bit of research. To be fair, I had a little bit of knowledge about this period of history but it was all fragmented and disjointed. I was knew of the concentration camps, had heard of Mafeking and Lord Baden Powell, and, of course, Queen Victoria's Christmas box sent out to the troops. Maybe not that much of an awareness so time I found out some more. I volunteered to write the social media post and read up about Spion Kop to find out a bit more. What I found out was the battle was a se...

With  the news of panic buying (yes, ladies and gentlemen, watch  those toilet rolls!) and empty shelves, difficulties importing and exporting fresh food, and more of a fascination with cooking during lockdown3, t he theme for my blog post seemed set. Of course it was  also recently  the  anniversary of the start of food  rationing during  the Second World War. Lots of things which made me think about restrictions and limitations. Yes, blog theme sorted. Now we can blame Brexit or the Pandemic, but our shopping habits have altered over the last 10 months. Queueing has returned, we now drench ourselves in hand sanitiser and wear face coverings. Oh, and not forgetting  socially distancing  whilst cruising the aisles to purchase our food. As I write this the connection with r ationing which began  on 8th January 1940 is not lost on me. Yet, it is also very different.  Rationing was introduced to make sure that everyone got a fair share...

  As we enter another lockdown, I find myself back to working from home as the Museum, once again, closes to the public. Re-establishing a new online routine with the staff to put in place regular social media posts has once again become important, to keep connected to our remote audiences. And, of course, it's time to restart the blog. This week has been dominated by a series of Regimental anniversaries. None more so than the evacuation of the Gallipoli penninsular in 1916. One hundred and five years ago saw the successful evacuation after what had been a disastrous campaign. The Border Regiment's 1st Battalion was chosen to be the rearguard and Captain Walter Ewbank wrote to his parents sharing his experiences of deceiving the Turks with timed rifles and exploding bombs to the shooting of the horses. For service in the campaign both the 1st and 6th Battalions received eight Battle Honours with 'GALLIPOLI 1915-16' shown on the Colours of the Border Regiment. Interestin...