News

Welcome to our news page We look forward to seeing our regular visitors during 2008 and of course new vistors who have not yet ventured to visit the Visitor Attraction of the Year (under 50,000 visitors) for Yorkshire. A calendar of events for the year will shortly be published on this news page. Once the weather returns to spring comforts the outdoor large size chess game will be available for family fun along with other fun outdoor games. STOP PRESS The Yorkshire Waterways Museum are pleased to announce that they beat off the opposition and won the ITV and Big Lottery 'Peoples Millions' competition. The allotment project 'Roots 2 Shoots' will start very soon and will involve volunteers in the area. Please contact us if you are interested in getting involved with growing fresh produce and taking part in training courses. Allotment Open Day on Friday June 13th 12noon - 8.00pm with all day barbecue. The Yorkshire waterways Museum has been given a grant from Museum, Libraries and Archive Council for the 'Your Past, Their Future Project'. The project will be a year long celebration of World war 2 Activities culminating in a weekend re-enactment event during Summer 2008. Learning from conflict is at the heart of the five projects in our region that are to receive funding in the first year of Their Past Your Future 2. This Big Lottery Funded project, managed and delivered by the MLA Partnership, enables young people to gain a better understanding by learning from those in their community with first-hand experience. A total of £48,450 is to be awarded to: Yorkshire Waterways Museum Cannon Hall Museum Leeds Libraries Wakefield Cultural Services & Libraries North Yorkshire County Record Office. For more information go to: Their Past Your Future 2 funding Sunday 24th August - Come and celebrate the WW2 Veterans Day 'Mulberry Memories' Featuring Goole Air Cadets, Goole Museum, Homefront Friends, Static Spitfire Display, UK Homefront, 1940's Menu and much more Important Newsflash! The Yorkshire Waterways Museum has been announced the winner of the 2007 Yorkshire Toursist Board Oscars (The White Rose Awards) and is now the official Best Visitor Attraction (under 50,000) visitors in Yorkshire. Come and visit the winning venue and enjoy the boat trips, interesting collection and beautiful surroundings. A great family day out in Yorkshire! White Rose Press Release 2007 Yorkshire Waterways Museum is delighted to have won the much coveted award in the Best Visitor Attraction category (under 50,000 visitors) The competition for this is very high and entries come from all over Yorkshire and from the well known tourist hotspots. It is for this reason that The Yorkshire Waterways Museum is especially excited to bring the prestige of winning to Goole and East Yorkshire and win against such strong competition. The Yorkshire Waterways Museum is an attraction well worth visiting and offers the opportunity for people to stroll around a venue that is friendly and quite different from a typical perception of a museum. This makes it very popular with non typical audiences and encourages participation from young people who have no knowledge of the waterways history and also local history enthusiasts. Museum entry is free and is open 7 days a week. Goole docks history boat trips are always available at weekends and other special events are scheduled throughout the year. The café serves a varied menu of hot and cold meals and has a tranquil waterside seating. Conferences can be arranged on the floating art gallery. YTB reveals the finalists in the prestigious White Rose Awards for Tourism 2007. The Awards, now in their 18th year, recognise and reward excellence in tourism, Yorkshire 's largest and fastest growing industry. 2007 has seen the highest number of entries to date and the high quality of tourism product makes the judges' decisions extremely difficult. One of the new Awards introduced this year - the ‘Sustainable Tourism Award' recognises the long term contribution the tourism industry makes to its environment and local economy. Finalists range from an historic house, hotel, self-catering operator and Youth Hostel to the Forestry Commission. Initiatives evidenced such as a sustainable visitor centre encouraging visitors to learn about sustainable development in practice; supporting local food suppliers and businesses; the adoption of the Green Tourism Business Scheme; landscaping shaped by generations to England's first Eco-Hostel demonstrate that the industry is seriously considering the sustainable debate and places the environment as one of its top priorities for the future. For further information about the Yorkshire waterways Museum please call Clare Hunt on 01405 768730 Bob Watson, Clare Hunt, Marc Salter and Rachel Walker celebrate winning at the Award Ceremony at Magna. The museum has recently been assessed for the third time for the Investor in People Award and are pleased to announce that it has reached the standard again. An exciting grant offers new opportunities for young people. Heritage Lottery Fund has recently awarded a ‘Young Roots' grant to the Yorkshire Waterways Museum in Goole to support work with young people and encourage them to explore local heritage and traditions. The project is called ‘Rooting Around' and begins in August 2007 and will run for 18 months. The museum is excited to start the project and look forward to getting underway as soon as “Rooting Around” will be a project that involves and stimulates young people, particularly from low income families and who do not typically access museums or archives to explore their local heritage and culture through activities based at and coordinated by the Yorkshire Waterways Museum. The participants will be involved in running the project through taking on responsibilities and choosing different ways of achieving the project aims. This will give them project ownership, address citizenship issues and encourage inclusive participation.   Fiona Spiers, Regional Manager for Heritage Lottery Fund said “It is so important for young people to learn about their past and understand where they have come from. This project will give them a host of new skills, boost their confidence and create a sense of place in their community and with their peers.”   The nucleus of activity will be engineering and conservation projects in the waterways museum workshops and vessels, production of a local history DVD and intergenerational oral history recordings which will form part of the collection and be published to the website. Young people will be encouraged to take an interest in the former traditions and industries of the Port of Goole and help them understand how these have shaped the port and docks of today. The social and economic history of Goole has created a new landscape and changed the way people live and work. The young people will be able to understand why lives have changed so quickly and learn about the lives of their parents, grandparents and ancestors through hands on exciting projects. The grant will be spent on tutors, resources and DVD recording production.   Notes to Editors: Heritage Lottery Fund The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) enables communities to celebrate, look after and learn more about our diverse heritage. From our great museums and historic buildings to local parks and beauty spots or recording and celebrating traditions, customs and history, HLF grants open up our nation's heritage for everyone to enjoy. We have supported more than 26,000 projects, allocating over £3.97 billion across the UK . Telephone or visit the website for opening times. www.waterwaysmuseum.org.uk. The Director of The Sobriety Project, Bob Watson, has been recognised for his dedicated work since founding the project in 1973 in the 2007 New Years Honours List. He has this year received an MBE and is congratulated by the Trustees, Management Committee and Staff Team. "You really deserve this honour and we are all thrilled that you have been recognised for the many years of hard work. Long may it continue!" CH. Bob Watson has recently written a paper entitled 'Social Inclusion on the Waterways.' Please click here to read the article. For Ship Enthusiasts The Yorkshire Waterways Museum recently launched a new internet-based resource which details all 539 vessels built by the Goole Shipbuilding & Repairing Company and its successors at the Dutch River and Old Goole shipyards between 1902 and 1988. Information and Museumphotographs have come from contributors not only in Goole but worldwide. The project will be on-going as further material becomes available. The production of the Goole shipyards included trawlers for the Hull and Grimsby fleets, steam and motor coasters for British and overseas shipowners, and specialist vessels such as cable ships and the yacht BLUE BIRD for Sir Malcolm Campbell. The town supported the war efforts in both World Wars by building naval trawlers, minesweepers, boom defence and mooring vessels, salvage and harbour tugs and a long series of 'EMPIRE' coasters and 'CHANT' tankers. The essential data and history of each vessel is supported by a broad selection of photographs. The Internet address for the archive is http://riversea.tugtalk.co.uk/ Museums Month Exhibition 2008 An event will be planned to celebrate Museums month. There will be a new temporary exhibition, exhibition trips on the coal tug Wheldale and other museum activities still to be confirmed. A 2008 calendar of events will be published to the web site soon. There will be special events on Sundays to include Folk Shanties, classic car and motorcycle days, family days, guided nature walks, model boat club open days and a special Viking re-enactment weekend with living history displays and live battles in which children can participate and receive instruction. Sunday opening will commence on Easter Sunday and will run until the end of September. THE COAL TUG WHELDALE A group of committed volunteers have recently formed a working party to restore the Coal tug exhibit to working condition and original paint work. many of the volunteers worked on the boat in the days of coal transportation and are enthusiastic about returning it to its former condition. Once the work is complete there will be regular Wheldale and Tom Pudding Demonstrations. Interested volunteers would be welcome to participate in the working party which is being organised by Goff and Ernie Sherburn from Goole. The specialist paint for the restoration work has been donated by Teal and Mackrel of Hull. A series of Wheldale and Tom Pudding demonstrations will be held throughout the year and dates for this will follow. Click here to see a video of a working tug Click here to see Look North video - What children can do at The Yorkshire Waterways Museum in the school holidays.

Special Events are arranged throughout the year - See below for 2008 events Friday 13th June - Allotment Open Day and Barbecue to promote the Peoples Millions 'Roots 2 Shoots' project. Sunday 15th June Historical Motorcycle Display Sunday 13th July Family History Day July (date to follow) 'Lazy Sunday Morning' live music day featuring The Tempo Music Project. Friday 1st August Yorkshire Day - celebrating tastes and customs Sunday 3rd August Goole Model Boat Club Open Day at the Museum Sunday 24th August WW2 Display day with reactments, exhibitions and the unveiling of Mulberry Harbour model section (funded by MLA) Sunday 31st August Classic Car Show Sunday 21st September Polish Festival Sunday 26th October Pumpkin Festival Saturday 29th November Christmas Craft Fair Other News Items A new educational resource has just been developed. A working model of a lock will demonstrate water moving up hill and be used in the museum or as a part of the outreach service funded by Renaissance Partnership Initiative. Volunteers During 2008 we will be recruiting and training volunteers to help with all aspects of our work. Please contact us if you are interested particularly in Museum work, Nature Trail work and boat crewing. Vikings in Goole The York Archaeological Trust and Jorvik Centre are working on a partnership with the Yorkshire Waterways Museum. The plan is in the process of being developed for Goole to become the new home to their 19th century Norwegian rowing/sailing boat 'Todmorsen' which means proud son of Thor. The Holderness Viking group will train as a crew and participate in the Viking festival in York to compete against the Norwegians for the annual cup. The boat will be used at The Waterways Museum and also will visit other sea festivals in the north of England. Recently published Press Releases The Local and Regional press support our work and regularly attend press days and events. The Goole Courier and Goole Times are always interested in our news and recent clips are shown below.   MORE NEWS Rudder restoration project In 1988 the River Aire burst its banks and completely flooded the St Aidens opencast coalmine near Castleford. For a time parts of the riverbed were exposed. Volunteer archaeologists began excavating and found the hulls of four wooden clinker built river boats dating back to the mid 1700s. On one of these hulls was the Wheldale rudder shown above.