Double the enjoyment at the Farm
1 Jun 11
On Sunday 15th May the Pioneer Museum Open Day, held a double celebration: the Re-opening of the Forge and Bails and the Biggest Morning Tea. What a wonderful community day it was.
Willing workers had, over a period of months, restored the forge and bails. Werner Bayer, Phil Scott, Trevor Ball, Peter Robertson, Vinnie Winch, BrianPovey, Bruce Ramsay and
other helpers had removed the old chicken pen and created a new viewing room for visitors to watch the blacksmith at work.
School children are now completely safe from flying sparks – a common danger in the old blacksmith forges – as they are protected behind reinforced glass. There has also been a complete electrical rewiring and all the tools rehung. Mark Hill demonstrated how old methods of blacksmithing could create new and interesting ironwork.
Joanna Gash officially opened the new buildings in the early afternoon.
She took time out of her busy schedule that day to wander around the Museum and observe the community working on the old machinery and commented on how much the Museum has improved over the years she has been visiting
During the day there were demonstrations of the old methods of doing things: Denise Kidd and Di Dorrington spun on the old spinning machine; Joyce Whatman worked the old fashioned sock making machine; John Walker donated a working separator and Garth Chittick and Logan Apperley could be found in the old dairy showing how this was used; Karen Cruickshank churned butter; Kathy Harrington made both cheese and candles and Anthony Warren hot-shod a horse.
If you need shoes for your horses ph: 0401 556 201 and Anthony will solve your problems.
Thanks to Jeff from Man from Kangaroo Riding School for his help in organising this special event.
All the eating places in the village had donated delicious food for the Biggest Morning Tea and because it was International Museums Week, entry on the day was free, however, visitors were asked to donate the normal fee for Breast Cancer Research and this resulted in $520 being sent to them .
Paul Smith (see article above), sang from his CD throughout the afternoon and his young grandson Jack entertained the crowd with his dance routine.
To top off the Community Involvement Libby and Paul Turnock and Oscar Scherl used the opportunity to collect video footage and this will be used in the Museum on a regular basis, which along with the already popular sound system installed in 2005, will enhance and improve the quality of the Museum for our visitors.
The whole day was a display of community co-operation and is a perfect example of our Valley spirit.
Elaine Apperley