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Contact: info@bellingham-heritage.org.uk

Some recent press reports about the Heritage Centre - not comprehensive

19 Mar 2012 Hexham Courant -New Carriages open

30 Nov 2011 Hexham Courant-CEREMONY HONOURS VOLUNTEERS AT HERITAGE CENTRE

03 Oct 2011 Hexham Courant-VISIT BY PILGRIMS FROM BELLINGHAM , THATS BELLINGHAM USA

09 Aug 2011The Journal (Newcastle)- BELLINGHAM FLOOD IN PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION

06 May 2011 Hexham Courant - A SHOCK TO SEE TWO RAILWAY CARRIAGES

18 Apr 2011 Hexham Courant - RAILWAY TRUNDLES INTO BELLINGHAM

15 Apr 2011The Journal (Newcastle) - HERITAGE CENTRE HOPES TRAIN WILL BOOST TOURISM

21 Mar 2011 Hexham Courant - HERITAGE CENTRE AIMS TO DRAW IN THE CROWDS

18 Mar 2011The Journal (Newcastle) - BOOST FOR HERITAGE CENTRE

07 Mar 2011 Hexham Courant - GROWING APPEAL OF CENTRE

31 Jan 2011 Hexham Courant - HERITAGE CENTRE GETS LOTTERY CASH

18 Jan 2011The Journal (Newcastle) - CASH BOOST TO HERITAGE CENTRE

17 Jan 2011 Hexham Courant - EXHIBITION DISCOVERS NEW HORIZONS

17 Jan 2011 Hexham Courant - STUDENTS DRAW UP 10-YEAR PLAN

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE COMMAND ATTENTION AT THE HERITAGE CENTRE AT BELLINGHAM
Posted on Tuesday, 17th May, 2011
Press & Media >> Press Releases

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Catherine Watson and David Walmsley, the newly appointed curator and education officer at the Heritage Centre at Bellingham, are to focus on children and young people as their first priority. The ‘loan boxes’ containing items from its collections which the Heritage Centre makes available to schools are to be redeveloped as the first step in a new project to improve the service provided to schools and youth projects. The Heritage Centre has recently acquired two old Mark 1 railway coaches which are currently being refurbished for education and exhibition space and a tea-room. The entire project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Northumberland Uplands LEADER Programme, comes at a time when more and more schools are visiting the Heritage Centre. Both the curator and education officer posts are on a three year part-time consultancy basis.

David Walmsley’s interest in heritage and history was ignited by his first school visit to Hadrian’s Wall at the age of eleven. He went on to become a secondary school teacher in Teesside where he worked for 15 years before becoming an education officer for English Heritage in the north east. After ten years working with teachers on using the historic environment for cross-curricular learning, he developed a number of family learning resources for historic sites across the region. During the last five years he has been working freelance and his clients include Edinburgh World Heritage, the Council for British Archaeology, the Churches Conservation Trust, Cadw (the historic environment service of the Welsh Assembly government) and Tyneside Cinema. David knows the Tynedale area well from his days as a teacher when he used to bring school groups to the Dukeswood House Activity Centre. He lives in Washington.

Catherine Watson, originally from Edinburgh, lives in Barrasford and has developed a great love for the north east. She developed the ‘museum habit’ early by accompanying family and friends to museums and art galleries. Catherine gained her first curatorial experience as a volunteer at National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh, and she has also worked part-time at Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery in Carlisle. Catherine completed studies in photography at Sunderland University and went on to teach the subject at Gateshead College. In 2002 she became Creative Arts Coordinator at Adapt in Hexham.

She holds a Masters degree in Cultural Management from Northumbria University and is currently undertaking further museum studies at Newcastle University. On her appointment Catherine said: ‘I am delighted to be able to help the Heritage Centre in its work to inspire others to learn about the North Tyne and Redewater area’s incredibly rich past.’

David Walmsley says: ‘I am eager to hear from teachers about what the Heritage Centre at Bellingham can provide for them. Thanks to the HLF and LEADER funding the Centre has a unique opportunity to provide long-term resources for use by local teachers, but we really need their help to ensure we get it right. I have already contacted many local schools and their head teachers to ask for their advice and will be glad to hear from them. I am also very keen to work with young people and youth groups to explore and present the area’s rich heritage in a variety of ways. I can be contacted by email: info@bellingham-heritage.org.uk or via the website: www.bellingham-heritage.org.uk’

The Heritage Centre welcomes school visits by prior arrangement. These visits are free and the Heritage Centre volunteers provide free refreshments to children, teachers and coach drivers. It also has loan boxes of artefacts from its collections for loan to local schools.

NOTES TO EDITORS / PICTURE EDITORS
David Walmsley’s spectacles are prescription and not sun glasses. He is shown without spectacles in Photograph 3.

Photograph 1: David Walmsley and Catherine Watson; May 2011;
Photograph 2: Catherine Watson, Curator (consultant, part-time); May 2011;
Photograph 3: David Walmsley, Education Officer (consultant, part-time); May 2011.
Photograph 4: Children from Richardson Dees Primary School, Wallsend arrive at the Heritage Centre at Bellingham (February 2010);
Photograph 5: Children from Greenhaugh First School, Northumberland, emerge from the ‘mine tunnel’ at the Heritage Centre at Bellingham (February 2010).

Further information:
Seán Mac Nialluis (01434) 609 320 Mob: 07807 798 395
info@bellingham-heritage.org.uk www.bellingham-heritage.org.uk

Last changed: Tuesday, 17th May, 2011

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