New Learning Boxes at Barnsley Museums thanks to Grant Funding  

Emmy Gratton-Rayson is both a Trustee of Barnsley Museums and Heritage Trust and a Visitor Services Assistant working at both Experience Barnsley and the Cooper Gallery which gives a great perspective of both organisations and how we can work together to achieve brilliant things. Here, Emmy talks about how some of the funding secured by the Trust has been put to good use. 

‘Barnsley Museums and Heritage Trust (BMHT) recently secured grant funding from both Tesco Stronger Starts and Cash for Kids which gave Experience Barnsley the opportunity to purchase some new toys. Yes, you read correctly and “easy” you may say, however incorporating safe, interactive items into the museum, that will be engaging, educational and fun can be a challenge. 

We decided that as well as buying some more traditional toys for our existing children’s offer, we would also create a series of handling boxes, so that families could access history through touch, sound and storytelling. 

I can’t deny how much we enjoyed being able to compile these mini gateways into the past……four handling boxes have been created, spanning over two thousand years, consisting of Roman, Egyptian, Viking and Victorian. 

Each box contains a veritable feast of exciting objects from an Egyptian mini excavation pit, Roman Personal hygiene set to a Viking ear scoop and Victorian finger stocks, there is also a colourful, accessible booklet within each box containing information on individual objects. 

The objective is to make these handling boxes available to all, so that visitors can participate in planned handling sessions or ask to book a time to explore one of the boxes with a member of the museum team. 

To date we have run several successful handling sessions within the museum, we have been met with an abundance of excitement, questions, gasps of ore and wonder when retelling stories of truth and folklore, we have received lots of lovely feedback from these new additions to what is already a spectacular museum. 

I think by allowing our visitors to have a hands-on experience of history and storytelling has created a valuable resource for both children and adults alike. 

Thank you to BMHT for your continued support, and to Tesco Stronger Starts and Cash for Kids for helping to make this happen.’ 

If you would like to help us do more in the future, please donate at www.bmht.org