A look back at 2010 by the Museum's Facilitators

Wow, I can’t believe 2010 is nearly over! We’ve had such a busy and exciting year. 2010 saw us really get going with our themed weekend events. Throughout the year we’ve had many varied activities for all our visitors to take part in over the weekends. In January we kicked off with our Storytelling weekend, to tie in with National Storytelling week – and had Lady Godiva (the lovely Pru Poretta) come in and tell her story to the little ones.

In March Coventry Women’s Festival was once again held at the Museum, and we put together a Women’s History trail around the museum to go with it, as well as focusing on all the wonderful work women did during the Second World War in our Blitz area.

In July we had our first ever Land Speed Record weekend, which was a massive hit! We saw the competitive side of our visitors as they built and raced balloon powered cars! It went so well in fact that we had another Land Speed Record weekend in October, and this time the Bloodhound SSC team came in and brought Thrust SSC Driver Andy Green with them!

Throughout the summer holidays, visitors may have spotted us in the Ice Cream Dream Machines exhibition. Sadly we weren’t selling actual ice creams (although we looked as though we might be!), but we did have fun showing people how Ice cream was made in Victorian times, and challenging people to our fun Ice Cream quiz!

Drawing the year to a close we had a spooky Halloween in October, our Road Safety weekend in November, and we’ve just rounded off our Wartime Christmas weekends!

As well as all the weekend events we’ve put together this year we also developed our new Tactile Tour. We developed the tour for blind and partially sighted visitors and worked with some students from Hereward College, who gave us some excellent ideas. We were very pleased when we heard we’d been awarded funding from the CultureLink project to develop our tour and help improve access for blind and visually impaired visitors to the museum. As part of this exciting project we held a workshop where blind and partially sighted participants used cameras to photograph their experiences of the Tactile Tour. In December we showcased an amazing exhibition called My Mind’s Eye, which displayed some of their photos. It was a privilege to work with these people, their enthusiasm and open mindedness was incredible, and the photos they produced were amazing!

Looking forward now to 2011 and things won’t get any less busy! We’re stepping up the program of weekend events, repeating many of the popular ones from this year and adding in a new series of weekends which will take our visitors ‘Through The Decades’! Starting in January we will be taking visitors on a time travelling adventure that will visit a different decade each month throughout the year!

We also hope to develop the work we have begun with the Tactile Tour and photography workshop, and hope to continue improving access for all at the museum.

Thanks so much to everyone who came and took part in any of our activities this year! It’s been really fantastic and we hope to see many of you back again in 2011!

See what's on on 2011

Are you a Maths, Science or Technology teacher?

Coventry Transport Museum houses lots of exciting technical innovations, and whilst we already run an excellent education programme for schools, we feel we could be doing more to support the teaching of Science, Technology, Maths and Engineering.

We would love to work with local teachers to develop a range of new learning sessions using our fantastic collections.

If you feel you could support us in this project please contact Julia Gandy, Life Long learning Officer on 02476 234270

Surprise Visit

There was a nice reunion on Wednesday the 17th of November at the Museum. We had a visit from a Mr. Ian Williamson aged 80 of Followfield, Manchester who had just experienced one of the ‘Store Tours’ guided by Chris van Schaardenburgh our Curator of Vehicles. Mr. Williamson, was employed from 1943 by his Uncle Hubert Hackett (b. 1908) who ran a the largest fleet of coaches in Manchester during the War, one of which was our very own 1948 Maudslay Marathon as seen our Commercial Gallery.

Mr Williams, who drove the bus regularly told us some fascinating stories in relation to the Maudslay. He recalls that is was purchased by the company in 1948 from Oswald Tillotson’s of Salford, but had to be recalled because of engine trouble, but this was soon put right. It was part of the fleet booked to take Manchester United fans to the FA Cup final at Wembley in 1948, and returned to Lancashire triumphant – the team beating Blackpool 4-2. Early on it had a collision with a land-mark water fountain in Cheadle Village due to unpredictable steering issues – the fountain never spouted water again. And in 1952, whilst the bus was parked up in Moss Side, it was stolen by an opportunist, but only briefly and returned safely to the fleet.

Whilst visiting Mr. Williamson also presented us with the Maudslay's original starter handle shaft, of which we very gratefully have accepted as a gift. He also very kindly assisted us with our label on the Maudslay, informing us that the all-over colour was originally post-office red, with the aluminium strips brightly polished. He also told us that our estimated top-speed of 50mph was well off the mark, and should be in excess of 75mph! He should know, he drove it!!!

Coventry Memories Website

Coventry Memories is a joint project between Coventry Transport Museum and the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, and aims to be a unique website where you will be able to browse through hundreds of stories and photographs of real Coventrians through the ages, as well as adding your own memories of anything relating to Coventry.

Craig Joy, Head of IT at Coventry Transport Museum said:

“Coventry has a wonderfully rich and varied history, and we recognise that the story of our great City is made up of millions of personal stories and histories, which are in danger of being lost as time moves on. We wanted to create a place where those individual tales can be told and preserved, so we came up with the idea of the Coventry Memories website.

As we approach the commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Coventry Blitz, we have collected a series of memories from Blitz survivors, and these will form an important part of the website. But as well as landmark events from our City’s past, we’re also fascinated by the smaller events that have been important in peoples’ lives.

Whether your favourite Coventry memory is watching the Sky Blues winning the FA Cup in a local pub, learning to ride a bike at the War Memorial Park, enjoying the Godiva Festival in the sunshine or meeting a future husband or wife ‘under the elephant’, we want to read it.”

Festival of Motoring 2010

It was a good day at Coventry’s Memorial Park last Sunday – lots of people and plenty of cars to be admired. The biggest worry as always was our unpredictable weather – the forecast was good but as luck would have it the heavens opened up just as the cars set of on their runs. It didn’t last all day though fortunately and it turned out nice in the end.

As well as showcasing some of the vehicles in our collection, we also had a tent promoting our archive service – what we do as archivists/curators and what we have to offer as a service. It created quite a bit of interest and we met and spoke to a number of people who had various stories to tell about either themselves or members of their families who had once worked in Coventry’s cycle and motor industries.
One man told of his grandfather who was a Turner at the Singer Company at Canterbury Street, before transferring to the Triumph Cycle Co. in 1898 at Priory Street.

Another recalled his days working at the Humber Company in the 1950s whilst they had departments still at Humber Road – now all gone sadly.

But the best for me was being introduced to a 92-years old gentleman who was formerly Chief Designer at Francis-Barnett at Ford Street in the 1950s. He had prior to that worked as a Designer at Coventry Victor at Cox Street and he had so many interesting things to say. So much so that we decided that it was too good an opportunity to pass up, and have arranged to interview him fully next week as these firsthand accounts are fast disappearing.

We’ll let you know how it went.

Damien
Curator Research and Information

The World's Most Travelled Motorcycle

Peter and Kay Forwood started on a ‘round the world’ trip 14 years ago. This amazing adventure began in Australia on the 3rd of February 1996.

In October 2008, this Harley-Davidson motorcycle, carrying all the
luggage, became the first and only vehicle to have been ridden in every
internationally recognised country of the world. Since then Peter and Kay have continued travelling, visiting places they previously missed or
returning to places they enjoyed.

This motorcycle was purchased new in 1994 and has been ridden over 580,000 kms. By August 2009 the motorcycle's original engine required substantial repair after completing 540,080kms.

It was replaced with a brand new engine so it could continue travelling. The original engine will be rebuilt and placed back into the motorcycle, should any new countries be created.

To date, the motorcycle has visited over 414 countries, states, territories, isolated parcels, atolls and disputed territories as identified in the ‘Most Travelled Persons’ list. This is more than any other vehicle, hence the claim
"The World's Most Travelled Motorcycle"

Morris Engines - Handover of Standard to CTM

At lunchtime today over 20 standard bearers came to the museum to officially hand over a Morris Engines standard (or flag). The museum was contacted a few months ago by the Vice Chairman of Coventry Branch No.1 of The Royal British Legion as they believed that Coventry Transport Museum would be a good permanent home for the standard.

Local press and our in–house photographer were there to capture the handover, as were quite a few visitors to the museum. We don’t have a definite date for the standard yet but as I type research is being undertaken by members of the organization to try and find it out. Soon the standard will go on display in the museum – a new home has been allocated in our Boomtown gallery, on the wall above a Morris engine already on display.

Lizzie Hazlehurst
Curator - Archive & Small Objects

CTM has over the last few months delivered several vehicles to Museum of Museums in Manchester. The museum is located next to the Trafford Centre. The Museum of Museums is bringing objects and displays together from other museum and/or private collections. It officially opens on the 9th September.

Click here for more information

We have taken the following vehicles to Manchester:

1910 Humber Landaulette EH 225

1923 Humber Chummy XN 2972

1936 Armstrong Siddeley 14HP BKV 552

1955 Standard 10 PKV 81

1960 Sunbeam Rapier 7523 IJ

1977 Jaguar XJ-S VGW 777S

Premier Safety Cycle c1920

1929 Triumph CSD Combination 550cc motorcycle

56” High Wheeler Cycle

Dursley Pederson Safety Cycle

Velocipede with Phantom Wheels

Sinclair C5

CTM Workshop Restoration Updates

Plenty of Workshop restoration activity as usual here at CTM. Read the updates by clicking here

Bookmark the page to check for regular updates

Coventry Blitz Commemoration Event - 13th November 2010

Open publication - Free publishing - More blitz

Coventry Transport Museum is always looking to improve its collection with significant vehicles built in Coventry. The following is a list of items the museum would like to acquire to make the collection even more representative of vehicles built in and around the city.

• Daimler SP 250 (Dart)
• Triumph TR3
• Triumph TR4
• Triumph TR5
• Pre WW2 Triumph Dolomite

Please contact the Museum via email collection@transport-museum.co.uk if you have information on the list above.

Research is Expanding

Over recent years, research has (and quite rightly so) progressed here at the Museum. Material held in our archive is so varied and rich that looking far more closely at such material enables us to better understand our collection and those who were behind many of hundreds of cycle and motor companies to have existed in Coventry.

Last year, Coventry’s Motorcycle Heritage (The History Press ISBN 978-0-7509-5125-8) – a book detailing all known motorcycle makers in Coventry was released. Click here to buy the book - A High percentage of the historical information, sales material and photographs were extracted from what we have stored in our archive. This book is a great example of previously untold information.
Two further publications are planned for release over the next few years. The first will detail Coventry’s motorcar manufacturers, and the latter (the biggest project to date) covers the cycle manufacturers, which so far lists over 400 separate companies known to have existed in the City from 1868.

Outside the three confirmed, there is so much more information obtainable that can be researched, compiled and made available to the public. Many sometimes forget that it was not just cycles and motors that were made in Coventry. There were hundreds of other businesses that existed to support the trades including coach builders, engine builders, enamellers, platers, stampers etc. There were also makers of chains, saddles, radiators, magnetos, ball bearings, mud-guards, dress-guards, machine tools, hubs, to mention but a few – but it gives an insight as to what went on here in Coventry and also as to what we have in our archives.
It can be quite taxing at times getting too far absorbed in research – the eyes begin to sting, the neck hurts and others think you are ignoring them, but it’s all worth it in the end.

Little major break-throughs are made here every day regarding research, but often it’s difficult to share as no-one else knows who or what you are talking about! However, we will continue, and over the coming months we’ll begin to share some of these break-throughs as it’s always good to learn something new isn’t it?

Damien,
Curator Research and Information

Classic archive images to view & buy

CTM are proud to lauch a new online facility - www.ctmimages.co.uk

This site demonstrates images from our huge archive, also allowing you to purchase the items as Prints, Canvases or Gifts. The store will continue to grow as we demonstrate the huge array of items from Coventry's long heritage in the transport history.

The site also offers links to our archive enquiry service - here you can make enquiries on various aspects on the archive and collection to our experienced team.

A Collection of a Million items!

Busy working away in our archive and small object store with our group of dedicated volunteers. We are re-organizing the collection held in there – over 1 million items and it is a massive job.

It’s a bit like trying to work out a big, complicated puzzle! Some days it seems like a never ending task but we have a much better understanding of what we have in there now and we can find things much more easily than we could two years ago so it must be working! Priorities at the moment are sorting out duplicate magazines (we have counted, listed and boxed over 10,000 of these now) and clearing space in our holding bay ready for new material coming in.

Still finding boxes of weird and wonderful things I have never seen before. I found a small box of gold leaf that had been used by a former coach builder yesterday, lots of old driving licences and some receipts for bikes dating from the turn of the last century. It’s a very dusty but interesting job right now!

Blitz Exhibition - Joint Project

We have been working on a joint exhibition with London Transport Museum and Dresden Transport Museum all about the blitz / firestorm in each city with the focus on public transport. It’s called ‘Under Attack’ and will initially be held in London from early September until the end of March – check out London Transport Museum’s website for further details.

Spent a few days last week getting images ready so they can be blown up and added to big graphic panels for the exhibition. It took a long time to scan them in and save them as the designers need them to be really huge.

Really excited about seeing the exhibition when it’s all completed - should be really interesting and thought provoking!