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Seasonal Shindig at the Geffrye

We are the Geffrye Young Producers - Kira, Rania, Hanzla, Lucy and Abundance. Six weeks ago we sat down and held our first meeting planning the Geffrye’s first Seasonal Shindig. This past Saturday, on the front lawns of the Geffrye Museum of the Home, we saw our ideas become a reality.

During our meetings, we received expert advice from teams across the museum; including the Curatorial Team, Commercial Team and Learning & Engagement Team. We met great people and learned interesting stories regarding the Geffrye’s past. We also became designers, creating a flyer that was shared across London promoting the event. Our skills in marketing, event planning and communications were tested - ultimately leading to the final event of our Autumnal Celebration.

The event itself saw a traditional Celtic Ceilidh, Artisanal and Youth led market stalls, interactive craft stations, a Vietnamese food truck and Waffle stand. The event was a great success and we would like to thank Schools and Youth Coordinator Matilde - who painstakingly assisted us in realising our ideas and Schools and Youth Manager Nicki - who checked in on us despite the constant rain that seemed to haunt the project.

Make sure to check in and join our new Young Producers project beginning in January!

- Geffrye Young Producers

#museums #youth #Youth project #halloween #hackney #autumn #shindig #pumpkins #oppurtunity

Unlocking the Geffrye

Hello everyone,

It’s been a busy month as the Youth Producers (YPs) have been planning a fun and exciting Digital Workshop: Fable Makers for the Easter Holiday Activities. Children creating their own digital storybook based on the theme ‘Sharing is Caring’ to read with their families.

The Digital Workshop will be on 11th and 12th April 2019 from 2pm – 4pm. Free event and everyone is welcome to get involved and enjoy!

So, take care everyone and I’ll catch up with you all in my next blog!

Unlocking the Geffrye

Hello Everyone,

How is everyone doing?! Hope you are all well.

New Year, more new updates and full of exciting things to see!

Here are the top 3 discoveries;

Here is a stoneware bottle, engraved ‘Glessen Blue’, created by Bourne of Denby. It contained blue, which was mixed with the wash to whiten the linen in Victorian times:

Here is a screw-top bottle from Batey & co. that manufactured mineral water:

Here is the structure of the Learning Pavilion completed:

So, take care everyone and I’ll let you know the next updates in my next blog!

Unlocking the Geffrye

Heyyy everybody!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas and having a great time with their family and friends!

In the Museum, the updates so far are:

One of the builders found a shoe in the chimney of almshouse 8 (south of the chapel)!

Also, we had staff site tours, so the staff saw the works and construction that have been going on.

The stone slabs in the Branson Coates nose has been removed to start the hydro cutting through the slab. This will form the new staircase to the lower ground floor and Home Gallery.

Other works that have been completed are pouring of the concrete slab underneath the stairs in Branson Coates; more east wing basements have been poured and first floor steels have arrived. Also, Period Room 2 has been partially dismantled, all of the walls in the old café kitchen have been demolished and more openings have been formed in the basement.

Excavations for the Learning Pavilion footings were created and when the digger bucket tipped out its load… We found this! We are not certain what this is… current thinking is that it could have been inset in the gable end of the row of terraces that ran along Geffrye Street, but we are still doing further investigations.

There appears to be a crest in the middle and carved at the bottom is 1830.

In the basement there used to be a fully enclosed stair enclosure. This has now been removed and the debris cleared to reveal the original stone slabs and cobbles. These will be carefully recorded and removed.

The Branson Coates wall has been completely removed.

The second layer of concrete in the crypt has been broken up and full excavations will continue next week.

Stay safe everyone and Happy New Year, hope everyone has a lovely break and I’ll update you all in my next blog!

Unlocking the Geffrye

Heyyy everyone!

Hope you are all well.

Here’s a quick update on what the learning and curatorial team have been doing in the last few weeks:

In the Learning department:

· Matilde the Youth and Schools Coordinator has been working on a series of 3 sessions working with a group of 5 pupils with additional needs from Hackney City Farm. The sessions focus on the theme of Home entertainment and they built Bluetooth speakers, baked a game cake and modelled our TV characters out of clay.

· Fran the Volunteers and Communities Coordinator is co-ordinating a project working with Lien Viet, a group of 1st generation Vietnamese immigrants who live locally. The project will develop computer and craft skills and will culminate in a Lunar New Year celebration and a Takeover Day at the Museum.

· Over the last 2 ½ months members of the team, including a number of freelancers, have led 10 Older Peoples’ Outreach Sessions. All sessions have been based around themes relating to the new Home Gallery and have taken place in a range of settings, including hospitals and residential homes.

In the Curatorial department:

· New Acquisition: Six posters from the See Red Women’s Workshop.

The See Red Women’s Workshop was set up by three ex-art students in 1974. They met after they saw an ad placed in Red Rag (a radical feminist magazine) that asked for women interested in forming a group to look at and combat the negative images of women in advertising and the media. See Red grew out of that meeting and a collective was formed producing silk screened posters for the women’s liberation movement as well as for community groups and others on request.

This is the game cake that the group of 5 pupils baked:

Stay safe everyone and I’ll keep you all updated in my next blog!

Unlocking the Geffrye

Heyyy everyone,

So much has happened in the last month! It’s been really busy here at the Geffrye Museum with all the changes and work going on.

The changes in the Museum were:

Sample bricks have been delivered, the colour described as ‘Dragface’. This brick will be used for the new entrance sequence and parts of the Studio and Learning Pavilion.

The opening from the lower ground floor to the Period Gardens has been formed.

The new reception space has been cleared to create a staircase.

The new canopy over the entrance has been formed and new openings formed in the basement.

Fixtures and fittings from café kitchen has been disposed and all of the walls in the old café have now been removed.

The old stair enclosure in the east wing basement has been removed, revealing the original cobbles and York stone floor.

There have been excavations taking place in 5 almshouses and the studio being almost completed.

Also, the outreach projects have been taking place at different primary schools where children learn about the objects and the past of how people lived. With original and replica objects to see and handle. Check out the Geffrye Museum website to find out more about the Outreach Project.

We also have almshouse tours available for everyone to visit and see the lives of London’s poor and elderly in former times as well as themed object handling tours a great chance to see the objects. Check out the website to book a tour!

So, take care everyone and I’ll catch up with you all in my next blog!

Unlocking the Geffrye

Heyyy everyone,

Finally, here is the first post of the Youth blog since the Museum closed, so we can start our work on transformation unlocking the Geffrye Project! My name is Shamsi and I will keep you updated of the changes of the Geffrye Museum.

So this is one of our builders sealing our objects to keep them safe:

Take care everyone and I’ll let you know at my next blog!

Geffrye Open House Families- 9 June 2018

Today’s post is written by Nura.

On Tuesday 24th, the Young producers went to the Endpoint offices to discuss our collaboration of the takeover event happening in June. Based in Tower Bridge, Endpoint is a communications company which helps brands to perform better in their fields. They have previously worked with companies like Sainsbury’s and Apple, so we were very excited to be working with them.

In previous meetings, we did discuss possible themes and activities for the event, but nothing was concrete. Hence, this indicated the importance of this meeting. Everything had to be decided today.

When we arrived, we were greeted by Endpoint representatives and then escorted to the meeting room. Along with refreshments, they showed us the example of an event they hosted last year (which was quite entertaining) to give us a clearer idea of what goes on at their big family events. Then, we were told to make ‘mock-up’ wallpapers. We were given endless amounts of materials including: ribbons, pom poms, tissue paper etc. to create our sensational one-of-a-kind wallpapers. A flurry of designs were made, each displayed different techniques and used different materials. My favourite one was drawn by one of the endpoint employees. It was an abstract drawing describing what was going on in his head at that moment. It was pretty chaotic if you asked me but nonetheless very interesting.

As the meeting progressed, we got through a lot from confirming activities taking place on the day, to settling the food options. We even had time to talk about possible designs for banners and our social media pages to raise awareness about the event.

Not only did I enjoy the refreshments, but I also really enjoyed our meeting at Endpoint. They were very welcoming and helped us decide what to do on the takeover day.

#youth families creative design

Forever Young!

Today we hear from our Youth Panel member Michael about what he got up to at the Geffrye’s Forever Young event as part of Silver Sunday and Celebrating age.

In the morning, I was in charge of object handling. We had lots of people come to talk to us. We had some radios, a tinder box and candlesticks. I also got some time to dance to the old songs. It was fun.

I helped people to come up and dance and have fun!

I learnt to communicate with older people and talk to them.

I really enjoyed talking to new people and telling people about my knowledge of the museum.

#silversunday #geffryeyouth #celebratingage

Day in the life of a Youth Advisory Panel member

Today we hear from Alice and what she got up to at the YAP meeting in July:

Today I got involved in thinking about all the opportunities the museum has to offer. I thought about all the wellbeing opportunities that the Geffrye Museum and gardens have.

I discovered that the museum has chronological gardens from the 1600’s to the present day.

My favourite part of today’s meeting was discussing with people their mental wellbeing and awareness checklist. I need to do more things for myself!

#healthy #geffryemuseum #yap #dayinthelife

Day in the life of a Youth Advisory Panel member

Today we hear from Isabel and what she got up to at the YAP meeting in July:

Today we met someone from Kids in Museums to talk about promoting the Geffrye Museum on social media.

I learned more about the Geffrye Museum gardens and about activities that visitors can do at the museum.

I enjoyed thinking of ideas for things that people could do in the Geffrye Museum to improve health and wellbeing.

#kidsinmuseums #geffryemuseum #health #wellbeing #yap #dayinthelife

Day in the life of a Youth Advisory Panel member

Today we hear from Alina and what she got up to at the YAP meeting in July:

Today I got involved with helping and advising the Kids in Museums on how they can be more appealing to the young people.

Also, I discovered that the museum has a herb garden.

My favourite part of today’s meeting was discussing how the Geffrye can promote wellbeing.

#improveyourhealth #geffryegardens #kidsinmuseums #dayinthelife #yap

Day in the life of a Youth Advisory Panel Member

Today we hear from Amaara and what she got up to at the YAP meeting in July:

Today I got involved in discussing the ways in how to make children of our age group more aware of the Geffrye Museum. E.g. discussing word of mouth through social media.

Also, I discovered that the Geffrye Museum is about displaying how homes have changed from the 1600’s to the present day.

Today I enjoyed sharing my ideas with the rest of the group on the topics we discussed today.

#dayinthelife #yap

Day in the life of a Youth Advisory Panel member

Today we hear from Michael and what he got up to at the YAP meeting in June.

Today I got involved in looking at the objects potentially for the new exhibition.

I discovered different kinds of hoovers and some I had never seen before. There was one with a pump that looked like the Fire Brigade. I also liked the space hoover from the 1960′s.

Today I learned how to analyse and investigate new objects.

My favourite part of today’s meeting was finding out about objects that I’ve not seen before.

#dayinthelife #yap #geffryeyouth #geffryehoovers

In our June meeting our YAP members thought about how we can be better at creativity and wellbeing in our everyday life and at home. Here are some examples:

- Late night walk;

- Late night cinema;

- Sixth form shopping;

- Morning yoga;

- Relax on front lawn;

- Walk around museum – draw favourite room;

- Walk through gardens;

- Take a break from a long day and have a stroll through the gardens;

- Swim;

- Buy a blender;

- Spend time on the beach;

- Watch the new Spider-man movie;

- Buy stuff for sixth form.

#yap #creativity #wellbeing #everydaylife #geffryemuseum #health

In our June meeting our YAP members thought about how we can be better at health and wellbeing in our everyday life and at home. Here are some examples:

- Walk in the garden during lunch;

- Yoga front lawn;

- Picnic in the front Garden;

- Tea Club (including herbal / healthy teas)

- Sketching in the museum;

- Outdoor singing / storytelling;

- Bringing puppies into work.