Consideration was given to the report of the Curator of Eastleigh Museum which advised that the Museum continued to have a good autumn period following a successful summer with two excellent local exhibitions and a great Halloween event and fantastic grotto event during this period which both really helped boost numbers. In addition One Community had continued to welcome a variety of groups and organisations into the museum and run a variety of drop-in sessions which continued to attract people to the museum who might not otherwise visit. The Peter Green exhibition was installed, designed and curated by Peter’s daughter Wendy the exhibition was a fantastic mix of photo/story boards, memorabilia and artwork all telling the story of this local firm and their involvement in the Eastleigh community over the last 60 years.

Halloween and half term provided the opportunity to prepare a spooky mask-making activity for children that the volunteers at the museum ran on the day and once again One Community ran the Santa’s grotto for the light switch on event in November. The team did an amazing job of transforming the temporary exhibition space into a magical grotto and welcomed over 800 people to the museum that day.

Eastleigh Museum recently received a Food Hygiene Standards rating of the maximum 5 stars following a routine inspection and had been awarded approved work experience provider status due to their partnership working with Eastleigh College. One Community continued to have their regular stall in the market which promoted their activities and those of the museum encouraging visitors and advertising events.

120 pupils took part in museum led workshop programmes from October-December 2016, visiting from Awbridge Primary School and Shakespeare Infant School.  A number of enquiries for school workshops had already been received and there was a confirmed booking from The Crescent Primary School who would be bringing all of their Year R pupils for a self-led visit to the museum. Self-led visits for many schools were seen as a more flexible and cost effective option, so a self-led school resource pack was going to be developed to further encourage visits to Eastleigh museum.

50 people with dementia and carers took part in poetry making sessions at Age Concern day care centres in and around Gosport, Eastleigh and Fareham. These sessions were led by award winning, Portsmouth poet, Maggie Sawkins. The poems had been brought together into an anthology of 20 new poems. Through the evaluation of the project it was recorded participants had an increased sense of happiness and wellbeing. The project was funded by Healthwatch Hampshire who had also offered further funding to create a short film showcasing several of the poems.

An application had been submitted to the Fawcett Society for a community led research project exploring the gendered history of care. The project would be delivered in partnership with One community and would involve young and older carers sharing and recording their stories and researching Hampshire Cultural Trust collection with an artist to create a new exhibition.

A new edition of What’s On covering the period October – December and featuring Eastleigh (Heads and Tales, Peter Green, Spooky Family Fun, Christmas in Eastleigh and Fleming Art Group) was delivered at the beginning of October. 12,500 copies were printed and it was now in circulation via new distributors, Culture Calling, to TICs, libraries, museums, accommodation providers, educational establishments, attractions, arts centres and theatres. “What’s On for Families” had also been created for the half term period which featured Half Term and Halloween activities.

The e-newsletter Museums Monthly, featuring exhibitions and events from Bursledon, had been sent to sign ups on a new database. There were now over 3500 subscribers.  Hampshire Cultural Trust Facebook now had over 2900 “likes” and twitter nearly 4,500 followers. Events at Eastleigh were promoted on both social media sites on an ongoing basis. 

Work toward the 2017 big theme Jane Austen was now ongoing, which will see supporting activity at those venues which will receive the exhibition.