By Emily Moseley
In this blog post, Emily Moseley shares her very engaging account of our second student placement visit to the Carnegie Museum in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. 15 placement students and 2 staff members based in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Nottingham participated in the visit which took place on Wednesday 20 November 2024. Funded by the Heritage Lottery, supported by Melton Borough Council, and managed by Leicestershire County Council, the Melton Carnegie Museum documents the cultural, economic, and historic lives and developments of Melton Mowbray as a distinctive market town.
Emily Moseley is currently in her second year studying Classical Civilisation in the School of Humanities.
- During her time at University, she has previously volunteered in the Learning Leader’s programme where she delivered lessons on Classics to primary school students.
- Alongside this, she is also currently working as a tutor to help students of all ages pass their GCSE’s.
- These experiences have greatly enhanced her skills in communication and making information accessible for a wide range of audiences.
- Additionally, she has recently taken a module focusing on reception artefacts involving Greek myth, which has given her insight into methods of presenting history in different lights.
- This is a skill she wishes to further in this placement with Leicestershire Museum Collections.
Our visit to Melton Carnegie Museum was exciting and insightful, as we not only got to attend the grand opening of the George Villiers exhibition, but also learnt more about the museum itself and received valuable training. When we first arrived, we were given a tour around the museum, and it was fascinating to see how a site presents so many centuries of heritage together under one roof. We then got a first look at the George Villiers museum exhibition, ‘Villiers Revealed - Darling of the Stuart Court’, and were given a talk by its co-curator Jon Sleigh, who passionately explained the importance of LGBTQ+ representation in history.
Richard Knox (Access and Interpretation Manager, LCC, far left) introduces Melton Carnegie Museum, its history, and offerings to students.
Students explore the wide range of artefacts on display at the Melton Carnegie Museum.
Jon Sleigh talks passionately about George Villiers with the Mayor of Melton listening with interest.
Jon Sleigh 'wows' students and members of the public alike with his impassioned presentation.
Professional experiences and career trajectories in the heritage sector being shared by Jon Sleigh and LCC staff.
After this, we went up to the room where our training began, where we used Post-it notes to represent different artefacts, and were split into groups to decide how each object would be presented in an exhibition of our own, including the position it would be placed in, how it would stand, and if anything would accompany it. We additionally had a further talk on the museum’s levels of participation, and went on to LGBTQ+ training. This was very insightful into learning about gender diversity, policy support, intersectionality and more.
Amanda Hanton (Cultural Participation Team Manager, LCC, at the far front) introducing students to the museum's levels of participation.
A different view of Amanda Hanton's presentation on the museum's levels of participation.
Eventually, the time came for the grand reveal to start, and we first got given a presentation by Jon Sleigh, with even the town’s mayor in attendance! We watched the ribbon to the exhibition being cut and the mayor himself gave a speech, and then the event ended with a fantastic performance from a drag queen in one of the other areas of the museum.
Villiers Revealed - Darling of the Stuart Court Exhibition launched by the Mayor of Melton. The exhibition will be on display for members of the public until June 2025.
Placement students posing with Melton's Mayor and LCC staff in the George Villiers Exhibition room.
A drag queen putting on an entertaining performance following the launch.