Teignmouth&Shaldon Museum

Animated Film Wins Pupils Top Award

9th July 2008

Class Five at Shaldon Primary School has made a short animated film entitled The Mystery of the Church Rock Wreck.

The film was made as stop frame animation and was created using shadow puppets on a light box.

The idea for the film developed after the class visited the museum in Teignmouth to research the 16th century shipwreck which lies off Teignmouth beach. The shipwreck was discovered in the 1970s by Simon Burton when he was only 13 years old.

‘Pupils had a chance to think about how the ship might have been wrecked and came up with some really imaginative ideas, including violent storms and pirate attacks,' said a spokesman for the school.

Teignmouth & Shaldon Museum’s Teign Heritage Project

31 August 2007

The Museum is a successful, volunteer-run charitable organisation situated in Teignmouth. It houses an important collection of artefacts and archive material of local and regional significance. The Museum currently offers a wide range of educational activities for schoolchildren and also arranges lectures and visits, responds to research enquiries, mounts exhibitions and carries out an extensive oral history programme. However, the Museum has no modern visitor facilities and very limited space - it occupies a three-storey Georgian building, so upstairs galleries and the archives are not accessible to everyone. We have a small archive store so some of our artefacts are suffering from inadequate storage facilities and many historic items are not on display.

After considerable consultation and preparation, a company was formed, Teign Heritage (Ltd), to draw up plans to completely refurbish and extend the building onto adjacent land. This major redevelopment is being called the Teign Heritage Project. The building work is expected to start in the spring of 2009 and the new Museum to re-open in early 2010.

Not only will the new Museum safeguard the area's important heritage for future generations, but it will be of immense value to the local community and the local economy. The new Museum will provide the community and visitors to the area with a fully accessible building, offering new exhibitions and an exciting programme of events and activities. It will provide Teignmouth, Shaldon and the surrounding area with a landmark building which people will describe as a 'must visit' venue at the heart of the community; a venue that everyone in the area, as well as visitors to the town, will want to use, will be proud of and will want to be part of.

Education groups (which include local schools, pre-schools and nurseries, Special Schools, language students, adult education groups and researchers) are a major audience for the new Museum and 'Heritage Centre' and they will benefit greatly from the new facilities, services and programmes. The 'Heritage Centre' will also offer diverse opportunities for the local community to volunteer and get involved in heritage projects.

The Teign Heritage Project will cost £835,000 - £700,000 of which will need to come from external funding sources. The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the Project £400,000 in March 2007. The remainder - £300,000 - is being sought from charitable organisations, trusts and foundations, businesses, the local community and other donors during the courrse of 2007-2008.

Teign Heritage (Ltd) has drawn up a comprehensive Fundraising Strategy and has employed experienced, professional fundraisers to help in this crucial task. With your help we are confident that we will be able to raise the remaining funding.

For more information about the 'Teign Heritage Project' and to make a donation, contact Simon Pearson on 01803 290006 or email on simon@pearsonfundraising.co.uk

Heritage Lottery Fund supports Museum extension

22 March 2007

Community groups across Teignmouth and Shaldon have been celebrating at the news that the Heritage Lottery Fund [HLF] has awarded Teign Heritage [TH] a stage one pass* in its application for a building grant to refurbish and extend the current Teignmouth & Shaldon Museum premises. As long as additional development work [stage two] is completed to HLF’s satisfaction their award of £400,000 will be rolled out, comprising a substantial share of the extension and renovation costs.

The extension, built on land gifted by Devon County Council and Teignbridge District Council, already has full planning permission for the modern, iconic concept prepared by local architects, Harrison Sutton Partnership. Not only will it provide much needed display space, excellent visitor facilities – especially for the disabled – and include inter-active elements for the frequent school and youth group visits, but it will also feature a multi-purpose community meeting room, something badly needed in the town.

‘Not only is the stage one pass a great step forward’, commented TH Chairman Colin Trigger, ‘it provides real encouragement for the many volunteers involved in this project. Located opposite Teignmouth railway station, the new Teign Heritage Centre, planned to open in 2009, will be visible to all arriving in the town, and we expect the iconic building to be one which engenders pride, as well as being a major tourist attraction. Not only will it set a standard for small, volunteer run museums in the West Country, it will also serve as an excellent example of how lottery funding is helping communities to protect their heritage. We are delighted to acknowledge the support received from the HLF.

‘The work associated with stage two is basically further development of the overall project; for example more detailed architect’s plans, expanded interpretation plans for the proposed displays, and also how we intend to evaluate the project after its completion. HLF have awarded us a grant of £10,700 to carry out this development work, and given us 12 months to do it.

‘But our immediate task is to raise £300,000 - the balance of the required funding, and the agreement by well-known actor Robert Lindsay to be the patron for our project is going to be a great help in this respect. The Museum, a registered charity, incorporated last July, and the six trustees are not only aware of the challenges ahead, but are determined to meet them, to finish the job, on time and to budget.’

Nerys Watts, HLF Manager in the South West adds: ‘There is huge local support for this project and it will improve the Museum enormously. The redesign will create much more space for the collections to be displayed, and a whole range of new facilities that will make a visit to the Teign Heritage Centre a fantastic day out for everyone’.

WOW – We’ve Done It!

13 March 2007

After keeping all fingers and toes crossed for Tuesday 13th March 2007, we can now uncross them. The message came through in the early afternoon that Teignmouth and Shaldon Museum have been granted Heritage Lottery Funding.

Now the company formed by the museum - Teign Heritage (limited by guarantee) - can happily proceed with their fundraising efforts to raise the outstanding monies needed to build and furnish our extension. More details will follow - once we come down from Cloud 9.

News Item in Western Morning News

30 January 2007

In the Western Morning News of Tuesday 30 January 2007 a headline stated "Actor's new role as patron of heritage project".

The news item went on to say "Hornblower star Robert Lindsay has been named as the patron of a major project to completely redevelop a popular West-country museum.

Mr Lindsay, known for playing South Devon hero Admiral Edward Pellew in the ITV dramatisations of CS Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels, said he hoped to visit the Teignmouth and Shaldon Museum when time permits.
The South Devon-based museum, in French Street, Teignmouth, has launched the £830,000 Teign Heritage Project to redevelop the volunteer-run building.

Organisers say Mr Lindsay, whose first job was as a dialect coach with a repertory company in Exeter, will play a key role in the project, raising its profile locally and nationally helping the museum's fundraising campaign.
Mr Lindsay, who filmed the Hornblower series in Plymouth where his father was once based in the Navy, said "I am delighted to become patron of the Teign Heritage Project.

"I remember researching Pellew in great detail before the filming of Hornblower. Teignmouth, and the South Devon coast around the town, featured prominently throughout his amazing career and into his retirement."

"The redevelopment of the museum will see the redisplay of the Pellew collection and this will offer visitors an opportunity to appreciate the contribution of the great man to the Britain's naval heritage."

"I am planning a visit when things calm down a little. In the meantime, I will be keeping up-to-date with progress on the fundraising campaign and will be promoting the project whenever I can."

Sir Edward Pellew, who will form a centrepiece of the redeveloped museum, had strong links to the Westcountry throughout his life. Both Sir Edward and his brother Israel became admirals as they embarked on careers at sea. Sir Edward ...was also awarded the title of Lord Exmouth and later Viscount Exmouth.

Colin Trigger, chairman of the Teign Heritage Project, said he was delighted at Mr. Lindsay's involvement. The museum has applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund and will hear the outcome in March but need to raise £400,000 from other sources over the next year.

The small town museum will become a much larger, exciting and accessible heritage centre with much-needed community space. With Robert Lindsay's patronage over the coming months it will give the museum the profile it deserves.

Visit by Television Team to Teignmouth and Shaldon Museum

28 January 2007

On Wednesday 31 January 2007 the museum had a visit from the ITV West Country News team. Beryl King, Curator and Pat Warner, Archivist spoke to the television presenters about the museum, its artefacts and the plans for expansion, explaining that a lot will depend on the outcome of the application for Heritage Lottery Funding. The HLF will be meeting on 13 March 2007 to make a final decision about funding for the new building. The extension will enlarge the museum's capability for exhibiting the artefacts that it holds - a large number of which are held in storage of one sort or another.

Also planned, of course, is wheelchair access and lift. The museum have many disabled people visiting and at the present time it is almost impossible for them to view the top two floors.

All the volunteers associated with the museum are keeping their fingers crossed for 13 March 2007.

Museum wins lottery money!

7 March 2005

Planning for an extended museum building in French Street, Teignmouth, can now go ahead, following confirmation from the Heritage Lottery Fund of a grant worth £50,000. The grant will be used to fund a Project Officer, draw up detailed architectural drawings, building specifications, etc.

Obviously delighted, the Society’s new Chairman, Colin Trigger, commented:

"that this grant request was successful underlines the considerable amount of dedicated work by the small task force set up last October to make the application to HLF. It also proved the wisdom in emphasising the use of our proposed annexe building as a community benefit, rather than just providing additional museum display space. "

The current thinking is for a two storey building in a style that will harmonise with its surroundings, and be an attractive focal point for the town. Due to its key position, even visitors passing by will then notice it. The annexe will, of course, be connected to the existing building, and embody the latest facilities for the disabled. In addition we are looking at other possible uses: a meeting area for up to 100 people is proposed – something desperately needed and not just for the Society’s own popular lectures - many other local organisations need a suitable location. A large reception area with good retail potential, a café - perhaps even an internet café - are also being considered.

The proposed flat roof also suggests a number of open-air uses: a covered meeting/lecture space [for example ideal for the numerous school visits to the museum], an area for musical performances [folk/jazz etc] during the summer months, or just as a café or community rendez-vous area which could also display some heritage exhibits suitable for all-weather exposure [and not currently displayed].

"It is easy to let the imagination run riot" added Colin, "but we want the town to be proud of this project and for it to be a really useful facility for the community as well as housing the valuable heritage treasures of Teignmouth and Shaldon."

"Originally we wanted a three floor extension but costs were prohibitively expensive. Therefore we came up with a more modest but worthwhile project and this has obviously secured HLF’s support, and indeed positive encouragement."

The task force has an even greater challenge ahead before it can apply again to the HLF: raising financial support to the tune of some £300,000, but at least we have now been given substantial resources to tackle that.

‘Together with the existing support from the town and parish councils, plus valuable assistance from Teignbridge and also Devon County Council, we are confident of success. Exciting times are ahead.’