Category Archives: exhibitions

battlefields, commemoration, exhibitions, film and TV, industrial, military

Jutland – preparing for the centenary

May 27, 2016 User deactivated Leave a comment

The centenary of the Battle of Jutland, the most important naval battle of World War One, will be commemorated over the next few days. Major events will take place in Orkney and on the Firth of Forth, near to the major bases for the British fleets of 1916 around Scapa Flow and Rosyth. For events in Orkney, go to the VisitOrkney website.

On the Forth, an exciting addition to local events will be Scotland’s Dazzle Ship – a vessel repainted to the design of artist Ciara Phillips, as part of the 14-18 Now cultural programme.

A Daily Telegraph article give some background to the battle. BBC produced a timeline of the battle, and also an iWonder resource “Did anyone win the Battle of Jutland“, that probes the issue of which side in the conflict gained most from the fight.

In the lead up to these events there has been a lot of media coverage online, often focused on the personal stories of individual servicemen and sailors. Examples: the letters of a teenage sailor; another Scottish sailor who had a premonition of death; and a BBC piece about boy sailor Jack Cornwell who won the Victoria Cross for his bravery during the fighting.

Several TV channels ran special documentary programmes about this clash of two great navies, its impact and importance. BBC 2 broadcast “Battle of Jutland: the Navy’s bloodiest day“, which is available to watch on the iPlayer catch-up service for one month.

In Invergordon, where many dead sailors were buried after the battle, a ceremony of remembrance has already been held at a local war memorial.

Special exhibitions are also attracting public interest. For example, ‘The Forth at War’ at the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther, Fife.

The image of HMS New Zealand, one of the ships involved in the battle and built on the Clyde, was kindly provided by Fairfield Heritage. The heritage centre at this Govan shipyard actively promotes the role of shipbuilding as a war industry, and works with local schools.

commemoration, exhibitions, industrial

Women, Industry, and the Rent Strikes

March 29, 2016 User deactivated Leave a comment

World War One brought many changes to the cities and rural areas of Scotland, and one of the most significant was the change in the industrial workforce. With many thousands of men leaving Scotland for armed service overseas, thousands of women moved into jobs in factories and manufacturing to contribute to the war effort and keep up industrial productivity.

Fairfields in Glasgow was one of the most important shipbuilding yards on the Clyde, and took on many female workers alongside its remaining male staff. The warships it built include several that fought at the battle of Jutland in June 1916.

The Heritage centre at Fairfields in Govan is now staging an exhibition titled “Rent, Rivets and Rotten Tatties“, created with the assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund. The exhibition and accompanying programme of activities focus on the role of women in Govan in the war years, in the shipyards and on the ‘domestic front’, including coverage of the Rent Strikes and the role of local women such as Mary Barbour.

The centre is also offering workshop sessions for Primary 7 children.

Contact Fairfield Heritage for more details. 0141-445-5866

arts and music, exhibitions, museums and archives

Next of Kin exhibition touring Scotland

September 7, 2015 User deactivated Leave a comment

The ‘Next of Kin’ exhibition developed by National Museums of Scotland and presented at the National War Museum in Edinburgh is touring venues in Scottish towns and cities. The touring programme includes learning activities at each museum, using a object handling resource aimed at school and community groups.

A recent blog post describes the activities that took place during the exhibition’s stay in Dumfries, and its new residency at Rozelle House in Ayr. The website has been updated; a new resource section provides links to online resources created for the project, and the learning programme section provides information about associated learning activities at each museum, and will be updated for each venue.

commemoration, competitions, exhibitions, film and TV, military, museums and archives, schools

Gallipoli and Scotland

June 19, 2015 User deactivated Leave a comment

On the 4th June 1915 Scottish troops of the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division were landed on beaches on the Gallipoli peninsula to join the land campaign against the Turkish defenders. Further landings brought thousands of Scots into action over the coming months, alongside soldiers from France, Australia, New Zealand, and the other parts of Britain, with high levels of loss through injury and disease. In 2015 the contribution by Scottish units to actions in Gallipoli and the impacts back at home are commemorated through a series of events in Stirling, the Scottish Borders, and elsewhere.

Stirling University was the focus of commemorative events around the 4th-6th June 2015. A public lecture by historian Professor Sir Hew Strachan was hosted by Stirling University, and a video recording of his presentation is available online. Local school pupils created an outdoor installation of poppies made from recycled materials. A screening of the cinema drama ‘Tell England’, and a workshop with university academics from Scotland and Turkey, completed events over the weekend.

The University also launched ‘Creating Gallipoli’, a creative writing competition for secondary schools. “The aim of the project is for school students to engage imaginatively with the experience of Gallipoli from a variety of perspectives by writing a poem of up to 40 lines or a short story, in the form of a letter, of up to 750 words. The letter may be addressed to a family member, a friend, a lover, a newspaper etc”. Poems and stories should evoke the human side of the conflict, giving a sense of what it felt like to be a participant at Gallipoli in 1915. Workshop sessions for pupils and teachers will be run in Autumn 2015, to help students engage with the topic and enhance their writing skills. Full details of the competition are available on the web.

Over the next few months there will also be local commemorative events and exhibitions in parts of Scotland where there is a strong community connection to the Gallipoli fighting. For example, at Hawick in the Scottish Borders the local Museums service will stage an exhibition titled ‘Hawick to Gallipoli’, about the stories of young men from the area who served with the King’s Own Scottish Borderers regiment.

arts and music, commemoration, exhibitions, museums and archives

Families and the Great War

May 21, 2015 User deactivated Leave a comment

The ‘Next of Kin’ exhibition developed by National Museums of Scotland and presented at the National War Museum in Edinburgh has now embarked on a tour of Scottish venues which continues until May 2017. The touring programme includes learning activities at each museum, using a object handling resource aimed at school and community groups.

Its materials, objects and images give a powerful insight into the lives of some of the individuals and familes who felt the impact of the war. Personal stories are used by many educators as a means of illuminating the realities of the war and also helping to make sense of the huge numbers involved as combatants and casualties.

A blog post describes the contents of the object handling resource, and gives examples of how it has been used to engage groups of pupils.

arts and music, exhibitions, libraries, museums and archives

World War One exhibitions

September 10, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

Many Scottish museums, archives and libraries are already staging exhibitions that relate to the Scottish experience of World War One. National and local collections hold an extraordinary range of photos, documents, and artworks which relate to aspects of the war. Here’s a selection of some of the powerful and informative shows that are on offer to the public now, and which would enhance the learning of young people studying the history of the war.

Glasgow City’s People Palace museum has an exhibition of the work of Fred Farrell, Glasgow’s own official war artist who was commissioned by the City Council to record images from the Western Front. His sketches and drawings are well presented with background material to give extra context.

At the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh is an exhibition called ‘Behind the Lines’ which uses personal stories and documents to illuminate key aspects of the war through individual lives. The richness of the exhibition’s assets and presentation provides a powerful introduction to the subject.

At the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh the ‘Common Cause’ exhibition tells the story of the experiences of combatants of Scots ancestry who came back to fight for Britain in the campaigns in France, Belgium, Turkey and elsewhere. The Scottish diaspora responded strongly to the declaration of war, and soldiers and regiments from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, Canada and the Indian subcontinent made a big contribution to the war effort.

arts and music, exhibitions, libraries, museums and archives

Exhibitions

February 14, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

Many Scottish organisations at national and local level are planning to run exhibitions as part of their commemoration activity. These exhibitions and associated events such as public lectures will focus on particular aspects of World War One and increase public understanding of the conflict and its impacts. Such exhibitions will form very useful assets for learning about WW1, and some will be accompanied by new educational activities and workshops designed to enhance the learning of pupils and/or adults. Details of forthcoming exhibitions are now becoming public, as organisers announce their programmes for the years ahead. We will use this blog to publicise exhibitions and encourage teachers and students to engage with the material on offer. Now, two examples:

At the Scottish National Portrait Gallery an exhibition titled ‘Remembering the Great War’ will display paintings, photographs, sculpture and media relating to Scots who played some kind of role in the War in service or at home. These individuals will include Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Elsie Inglis, James Maxton, and Harry Lauder. The work of Scottish artists will also form a key part of the assets on show.

The National Museums of Scotland have published their programme for the First World War Centenary, with two major shows opening this year. At the National War Museum in Edinburgh Castle, the ‘Next of Kin’ exhibition will focus on family life and personal loss. The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh will feature an exhibition titled ‘Common Cause: Commonwealth Scots and the Great War’, which will explore the contribution made by the Scottish diaspora and the impacts in Commonwealth nations such as Canada and Australia.