OOT & Aboot – Talking Coquetdale exhibition
Submitted by: Sally Brewis - 17th February 2023
Look out! The Out of Town Museum (OOT) will be touring Coquetdale in April and May visiting Elsdon (01/04), Rothbury (15/04), Hepple (22/04), Thropton (29/4), Alnham (3/5)m Netherton (13/5) and Harbottle (18/5).
The OOT Museum is a National Lottery Heritage funded project which celebrates the rural heritage of Coquetdale; capturing the stories of people who live in this beautiful, remote part of Northumberland through oral history interviews, photographs, songs and objects. Since 2019, we have been recording memories and stories from residents showing what life was like in the valley within living memory. We found reoccurring themes around schools, work and social life, shopping, travelling, farming, the weather and learnt quite a bit about dancing!
We have gathered together the recorded stories alongside music, films, photos, documents, and artefacts and our exhibition will give a trip down memory lane as well as encouraging people to find out more about their own families and how they lived.
OOT have partnered with the Northumberland National Park to run free “Walk in their Shoes” walks, using the stories we have collected along the route. We will be running these in five different locations from April up until September – watch out for more details coming soon.
Our main objective is to celebrate the rural heritage of Coquetdale and create a permanent record of a former way of life before the memories have gone forever. The stories we have collected are being lodged in the Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn, at Bailiffgate Museum in Alnwick and online on the OOT Museum website, leaving a lasting legacy of life in Coquetdale, told by local people featuring their daily lives
We would love to see you at one of our exhibitions in the valley but if you can’t make any of the dates, the exhibition will be hosted at Baillffgate Museum between 23rd May and 2nd July and then at the National Park Discovery Centre at the Sill on Hadrian’s Wall from 5th July until 3rd September.
For more details, contact Sally Brewis on 07876 636856 or by email sally.brewis@bailiffgatemuseum.co.uk