Glencoe Folk Museum:
Connecting Scots to our Highland Heritage
A museum is an inspiring place.
A place where learning is made easier thanks to wild stories of terrible battles and the brave heroes of our past.
A place where we can escape for a few hours and then return to our painting, writing, storytelling or crafting to find ideas flowing into our chosen medium.
A museum is a place to remember where we came from, and why keeping our culture alive is so important.
Glencoe Folk Museum gives its local community a place to connect with its past while celebrating its present - providing opportunities to local artists and engaging with schools, care homes and community groups.
Glencoe Folk Museum gives its local community a place to connect with its past while celebrating its present - providing opportunities for local artists and engaging with schools, care homes and community groups.
The Wordplay Writings group
Image courtesy of Glencoe Folk Museum
There is an array of Jacobite relics including carved glassware, weapons discovered hidden in the thatched roofs of local cottages and a riding boot once worn by Robert Campbell, the man deemed responsible for the infamous Massacre of Glencoe.
Participants were asked to choose an object or story from the visit which inspired them and to write a tale about their chosen piece. The following month, Parris met with the group at the Duror and Kentallen Community Hall to hear their stories. She was treated to a fantastic variety of work, including poetry, short stories and even a journalistic piece. A common theme was childhood memories - it seems that the objects sparked heartwarming nostalgia in the participants.
In May 2022, the Museum ran a workshop, Wordplay Writings, for a local creative writing group. This was an opportunity for the Wordplay members to use the Museum as a source of creative inspiration.
Parris Joyce, Learning and Engagement Officer, gave the group a tour of the collection which ranges from a beautiful 1740s dress made from the famous Spitalfields silk to memorabilia from the First and Second World Wars.
"During our visit to Glencoe Folk Museum, which was guided by Parris Joyce, we were introduced to many fascinating items in the collection.
My eyes were drawn to a small, rusty tool I had never seen before, called a thrawcock. I really liked the sound of it's name! Once home, I looked it up and discovered it was used in rope-making.
In the story I wrote, however, it's used for something much more sinister!”
- Andrea McNicoll, founder of Wordplay
“I wonder what will be added to the display in years to come. Perhaps beside the old railway photos may be a photo of Glencoe Filling Station - a memory of another lost form of transportation. Perhaps beside the butter pats, menus from Chuffy’s Kitchen and Stiff Peaks, as a tribute to two local women who started to produce meals through Lockdown which lifted us all and became a cherished part of weekly life? And perhaps beside the photograph of the women who founded the museum may sit the photograph of our group at the door, and next to it, a draft manuscript of a prize-winning novel by one of us, inspired by our visit.”
- excerpt from "Then and Now": An Account of the visit to Glencoe Folk Museum by Becky Coope
Excerpt from Churning Day by Christine Ross
It was the last one. Kate sighed. She didn’t want it to go. She had always loved the shape of it, the rosy burnt umber colour of its earthenware surface and the primrose yellow creamy glaze of its inside and smoothly rounded rim. It sat solidly on the marble slabs in the dairy and the milk always looked so good in it with the white muslin draped over to keep the flies or little flecks of dust from interfering with the surface where the cream gathered.
But today she had noticed that the glaze had started to crack and in some places was beginning to flake away…
Kirsty would be home soon and with her the new churn, a small, easily portable glass one which could be plugged into a socket where the recently installed electricity would whizz the butter around without any human exertion, easier to clean and much quicker. Or so she was told.
Changes…
Tackling Isolation in Highland Communities
Wordplay is a supportive and caring group which is both a creative outlet and a social opportunity for its members. Groups like this are vital as they help tackle isolation and loneliness which is very present in Scottish Highland communities, particularly during the winter months due to a lack of indoor social facilities.
Glencoe Folk Museum is working towards becoming a central hub which local people and local groups can access all year round. They are constantly looking for local community groups to invite to the Museum, and they run a series of online talks throughout the year on subjects such as storytelling and music.
In the autumn of 2023, they will be undergoing a large-scale redevelopment. This will make the Museum more accessible and will allow them to provide weekly craft workshops, and social events year-round. They are also building a Community Gallery where local artists can display their work.
Of course, that means they will have to close for a little while… but that won’t stop them from bringing the Museum to their community! They have big plans for a pop up-museum; care home object handling and reminisce sessions, schools outreach and more. If you aren’t near Glencoe, you can access their activities online. Their work with schools is already well underway.
“I started volunteering at the Museum 7 years ago.
I find it great, it’s a way to educate people and hopefully give them an insight into life here in Glencoe, not only Glencoe, but in the Highlands”
- Jimmy, Museum Volunteer
Schools Outreach
Schools in the Highland community engage with Glencoe Folk Museum in a few different ways. Some opt for in-school sessions, where the Learning & Engagement Officer brings a selection from the Museum’s collection into the school and runs an object handling workshop. They can even keep a box full of objects within the classroom for the duration of a history project.
Others enjoy a trip to the Museum where they get free rein of the fascinating collection! In both instances, children are encouraged to put their writing and art skills to use after their Museum experience.
Hands-on, interactive learning is so vital for pre-school and primary school children. It brings historical subjects to life by helping our children connect to the information they are being given.
Not every child learns in the same way. Whiteboards and worksheets don’t work for everyone. Some children need to see, hear, smell, feel and imagine in order to grow their academic minds.
Over the next few years, the Museum will increase the number of schools and children who can take part in their learning activities. This includes creating a dedicated learning space so that children can be as loud and as messy as they like (without disturbing other visitors!) The Museum is also developing a virtual classroom so that children from all over Scotland and beyond can learn about the history and heritage of Glencoe.
Erin, Sophie, Isla, Mila and Skye thought the old Fry's chocolate bars were a good example of "give", as chocolate is a great gift to give someone to cheer them up!
“Glencoe Folk Museum is a core community asset. We are most fortunate to have Paris Joyce working with the children, connecting the rich social history of Glencoe to the present. The children have engaged in a series of educational activities led and supported by Parris.
I foresee a strong relationship going forward between my schools and the Museum, adding value to our curriculum and inspiring our children in recording their own story for future generations.”
- The Head Teacher of Glencoe, Ballachulish, St Bride's and Duror Primary Schools
Glencoe Folk Museum has been awarded £1.4 million by the National Lottery Heritage Fund for a Redevelopment Project which will commence in the Autumn of 2023.
The project will include making the Museum wheelchair accessible; building onsite toilet facilities; a learning hub; expanding their shop which sells local crafters’ produce and building a community gallery. It will also make the Museum more environmentally and financially sustainable.
The balance of funding for this £2.1m project has been met by public donations and a number of other funding bodies.