The John Griff Column: Back to school for a lifetime of learning
The recent return to term time by thousands of young Northamptonshire students from the summer break has also seen a return to normality – if that is the correct term – for many parents, grandparents and carers. But is it just the younger part of the community which is continuing its educational studies? Are there not lessons from the past which we can all still learn and grow from?
Emphatically, the answer to that question has to be ‘yes’. How many times have you heard or read the phrase ‘Every day is a school day…’? I’ve used it repeatedly in these pages and with the coming of the weekend, a new offering from the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery team based in Guildhall Road is going to be ringing the school bell – loudly. It won’t be a case of sitting down and staring at textbooks before being tested by an exam though. Far from it. This’ll be fun!
On Saturday and until February next year, the doors will be opening at NMAG to welcome visitors to the new ‘A History of Northamptonshire in 100 Objects’ exhibition. There, 100 objects selected by a consortium of guest curators and museum staff will be on display, telling what is, in reality, a range of stories which contribute aspects of a multitude of different histories of the county. Each item has real stakeholder interest, chosen as it has been by real people from all walks of life and from all over Northamptonshire. It is not the trotting out of already well-known artifacts from within the museum’s already extensive collections - albeit that some crowd pleasers from precisely there will be again telling their own tales. Now, they will be joined by a host of other items from people’s homes and community groups, telling new stories of the county, from over 160 million years ago through to the present day (indeed, the paint is just about dry on one of them). There’ll be items which have been cherished and taken pride in but which have otherwise never been seen by the wider population. Want to know where the county was physically located 166 million years ago - aeons before it was identified as Northamptonshire? One object explains so and is its own, authoritative evidence (we’ve come a long way, by the way). Do you know the significance of some of the events which took place in Northampton Castle, long before the Victorians tore it down to make way for the railways? It’s in the exhibition (and you might want to take a trip to Edinburgh to boost your new-found knowledge at some point). How about the Northamptonshire businesses which helped and are continuing to help save lives from the days of the pandemic, but which are completely unrelated to medicine? Or, as in the picture here, how home-grown, cutting-edge technology continues to mark Northamptonshire out as a centre of excellence globally beyond the boot and show trade (celebrated as it is, of course, within the 100 objects). It’s all there – as is so much more besides.
How do I know this? Simply because I’ve been involved myself, both as a guest curator and someone who well over a hundred guests have told the stories of the items they’ve contributed. As well as the physical displays and as part of the overall project, there’s a brand new interactive website, a smartphone app, an accompanying book and a new, 100 episode podcast series highlighting each object, telling its story and setting out why it should have its place. Collectively, it represents a vast body of work involving hundreds of real people, voices, stories - and pride. Their passion stands as a testament to the place of importance which this county holds in the country’s – if not the world’s own history, even though few people can point to us on a map of Great Britain. For too long Northamptonshire has laboured under the misconception that it has nothing to offer the wider public, when in reality it has so much. This new project – supported by Arts Council England – turns all that on its head, proving evidentially that by bringing people together with something to show and tell, there is a wealth of value for others to learn about and celebrate. And, of course, the stories will continue to be written through the objects which illustrate them through time.
This isn’t simply an exhibition which will come and go. Instead, it is a treasure trove of objects great and small which incorporates a range of stories, each of which enriches our understanding of where we live or hail from. It is an invitation for all from near and far to come and learn from the sum of its parts that Northamptonshire really does matter – and will continue to do so.
Go and have a look – you’ll learn something.