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Twenty-two young people took the reins at Poole Museum in November 2021 as curators, social media specialists and front of house staff.
Their focus for the day was using the museum to explore ideas about climate change. They contributed lots of ideas and engaged the staff in conversations about climate change through their interactions with the museum’s collections. The event was part of the Kids in Museums national Takeover Day programme.
The Takeover Day group was made up of members of the museum’s Young Archaeology Club, the local Fil-Brit community and the Youth Empowerment Platform, supported by Dorset Race Equality Council.
Joining them was Dawood Qureshi, a young journalist, writer, wildlife film-maker, marine biology graduate and climate change activist. Dawood led discussions and gave the group advice on using social media for climate change activism.
During Takeover Day, the museum asked the young people to choose objects from the collection that they felt declared a climate emergency. Two of the objects they chose are described below.
They also wrote their own warning labels for a wide range of objects and stuck them to display cases across the galleries.
These shop fittings and display items came from the Norrish Brothers’ Grocery, Upper Parkstone.
The participants noticed that the products didn’t come in plastic containers, wraps or bags. Instead, things often came in glass bottles or metal tins, and there were paper bags costing 1d (one penny) each, like today’s ‘bags for life’. They talked about how they were often frustrated by how much packaging there is on food or online orders.
The group talked about small shops that now let people bring their own containers, and how big supermarkets are slowly starting to make changes, such as Waitrose’s refill stations, Tesco’s reusable containers, Morrisons offering wrap-free fruit and vegetables, and ALDI pledging to cut plastic packaging to zero by 2025.
The smoke density indicator is one of the few surviving pieces of equipment from Poole Power Station, built after the Second World War to meet rising demand for electricity. Burning coal, and later oil, the indicator would have measured the density of the smoke emerging from the chimney.
The young people discussed renewable ways of generating electricity and how much electricity they used at home. Wind farms and tidal generators came up as good alternatives for coastal places like Poole.
The group also discussed the extraction of fossil fuels in the Poole area, including oil shale from Kimmeridge, and Wytch Farm in Poole Harbour (the largest onshore oilfield in Europe). A major concern was about fossil fuels and whether we would be able to cut out their use.
Another task was for the participants to look at objects from the museum’s natural history collection – a seahorse, ray, shark’s jaw and coral. Each represented a species that will be affected across the globe by changing water temperatures, acidity and pollution levels. They were particularly moved by the plight of the seahorse – they partner for life and if one partner dies, it is unlikely the other will reproduce again. So this has a detrimental impact on seahorse populations.
The fragility of the marine ecosystem was of huge concern to the young people. Once they had learned about the objects, they gave presentations about them to the public.
The final activity during Takeover Day was for the group to design t-shirts to promote messages about climate change. It gave them a tangible item to take away from the day – and help them spread the message to their families and friends.
Males great bustards perform spectacular courtship displays, gathering at a ‘lek’ or small display ground to try to impress the females.
The great bustard has a dignified slow walk but tends to run when disturbed, rather than fly.
The hen-bird on display at The Salisbury Museum was one of the last great bustards to be eaten in the town!