The exhibition approaches...

Things are in full swing here as the exhibition gets closer, so I thought I would share an update on what we are up to!

As things come close to completion we are busier than ever...

Mel and Morgan, our fantastic artists, are in the final stages of uploading the exhibition on to Google Arts and Culture. They have worked tirelessly to create stunning illustrations, moving audios and resonating animations.

The Workhouse Network are in the thick of forward planning for the future of the organisation, with upcoming meetings to create our five-year plan.

We are also evaluating the More Than Oliver Twist project as we go; interviewing staff and volunteers involved in the project, creating reports and surveys to take what we can from this incredible learning curve.

The six sites included in the project are still researching biographies; some have started on other censuses, having completed the 1881 research. We have had a number of new family history research volunteers join us since we were published in "Who Do You Think You Are?" magazine and can't thank our fantastic volunteers enough. We are now in the process of reformatting all of the completed PDF biographies (over 170 so far) into JPEG files in order to upload them on to Google Arts and Culture, where they will be available to read as part of the exhibition.

I am also about to start a small, separate, creative project to increase awareness of ethnic minority lives in the workhouse, focusing at first on Dr Allan Minns, with the hope that this will lead on to a series of projects to share untold stories from both workhouse inmates and staff. The project will tell the story of Dr Minns and encourage creative responses from all involved, in any media, from paintings to songs, poems or photographs or even single words! 

We can't wait to share the exhibition with you, a long with all of the other things happening behind closed doors! I hope this gives some idea of what we are up to this month!

Wednesday Batchelor
Project Support Officer
​More Than Oliver Twist