Banksy at the NMMC?

When Graham & the lads turned up for work on Monday morning something told them that the NMMC Exhibitions Officer had been feeling unloved over the weekend.

Anne joins in

Library Volunteer Anne Pond joined a select band of 'experts' when she made a presentation to the Cornish Maritime History Conference on Saturday 16 October. Her topic, drawn from her MA (University of Exeter) studies, was Falmouth and Plymouth Docks in the 19th century. Anne dealt confidently with the formation of the two dock companies and their early successes (and failures). She was supported by her husband and some of her Thursday 'gang', ready with helpful advice and support (hmm ... who writes this stuff?).

Pictured here are Anne's MA tutor, former Museum Trustee and conference organiser Helen Doe, with Curator Sarah Riddle sporting her Hollywood smile.

Hi Ho Silver!

Sheila, Michael, Andy & Amy put their glad rags on last night & went to the Cornwall Tourism Awards.

After a bit of a false start with Sheila's car breaking down en route, they eventually arrived at the St Mellion International Hotel & Country Club just as the evening kicked off.

After winning the bronze award for Large Visitor Attraction twice (2005 & 2006) and the gold award twice (2007 & 2008), we needed a silver award to give us a full complement of colours.

And this is exactly what we got. Well done us!

Grumpy Volunteer Corner

by Keith Evans

The last of the cruise passengers who 'do' Cornwall in twelve hours have disappeared over the horizon. The most memorable couple were a young man and his mouse-like wife on their first cruise. They were very anxious about sea-sickness. Shall I tell them about my remedy, I thought. It's porridge. Well, it doesn't actually cure it but tastes the same coming up as it did going down. Better not, I thought. It will demoralise them still further. I tried to reassure them. 'Don't worry,' I said 'they have stabilisers.' To which she replied 'Oh, I'm not taking drugs.' I gave up.

Talking of liners, reminds me of George, my old sailing partner who sadly died last year. He and I have the dubious honour of making the old Queen Elizabeth change course. One summer's day we decided to plane across Spithead in a fresh breeze leaving our wives sunning themselves on the beach. After an icecream at Bembridge we started back. A mile off shore the wind dropped and the sails hung limp. There was nothing for it but to lay back and enjoy the sunshine. I glanced to the south.

'George' I said 'there's a liner rounding the Nab Tower'. George grunted and dozed off, wriggling to get comfortable. Albacores aren't the most comfortable boats to sleep in. A few minutes later I looked again. 'George, that damn thing is coming straight for us.' Within seconds we were paddling but getting nowhere. Then it seemed to change course slightly and slow down. It passed a couple of hundred yards ahead of us. After weathering its wash we breathed a sigh of relief. That was too close for comfort. A few minutes later the breeze piped up and we arrived back at East Head over an hour later than planned with the irate wives standing on the beach.

'Where have have you two been? Did you see the Q.E?' I said 'See it? We almost had to fend her off.' They didn't believe us.

Museum's best kept secret?

I thought I'd share this visitor survey form with everyone. It confirms our suspicions that few visitors actually find the Cornwall galleries.

Photo archive under way

George Hogg and Cathy Pritchard have done great work plugging data into an archive database, recording the plans and documents that we have in store.

Now, thanks to some cunning programming by Ian Wilson, we have a sophisticated (?) and searchable Archive database which can include photographs as well. All we need to do now is to scan in the photographs.

Here, Lynne Vosper dons the magic blue gloves (white are so passe, my dear), grabs the badger-hair brush, scanner and keyboard, and starts work on the labour of love. Regular reports reach the office 'We are up to 13 now ...'. Don't tell them but there are only about 1977 (and counting) to go.