Hello everyone, welcome to the Arvington Museum of Work.
Let's start with some background.
Now this wonderful old building that we're in was unoccupied for many years, but the council were very keen to protect it and so decided to give it a new purpose by converting it into something that would benefit the many people who were already visiting the town each year.
The council paid for the whole renovation themselves and we've been lucky that other museums from all around the country have lent us objects from their collections which are on display here.
The main purpose of the museum really has always been to demonstrate to people that learning about the past can be enjoyable and even exciting and I hope that comes across.
I also hope this will be your first of many visits to our museum.
As you know it's free to get in which we're really proud of.
Now on your next visit you'll probably still see the same exhibitions but I always think that even when you look at something you've seen before you can always find out more about it than you did the first time.
And our exhibitions are good, believe me.
We've won awards for the region's best interactive displays.
Oh by the way, I should just mention that the cafe is closed for renovation at the moment but should hopefully be open by the next time you come and I strongly recommend trying out their cakes.
Let me tell you about some of the areas you'll walk through.
The museum is set up so that you walk through displays that take you back through different periods in Arvington's history and see how people lived.
Starting with the forge you can go back 1,000 years in time and see how skilled workers crafted everyday objects out of wood and metal.
But we don't just tell you about it, we get you to do it yourself so you'll get experience of carefully crafting a useful object like a knife.
And then in the market one of our historical interpreters will be there in person telling you what it was like to work on a farm growing produce like wheat and vegetables and then carry it all over very long distances to a market to try and sell.
You can ask the interpreters questions of course and you'll find they're very knowledgeable.
Staying with the subject of food, the next area in the museum is the bakery where we make the kinds of foods that local people would have eaten in the past using the original cooking techniques.
These are on sale there for you to try.
The recipes and cooking methods may be ancient but 21st century forms of payment are accepted.
Next on the tour is the building zone where you have the chance for a sit down to enjoy the spectacular time lapse animated movie of Arvington developing over the last 1,000 years from a tiny village into the town we have today.
It's just three minutes long but you can view it as many times as you like.
After that you'll come to the hall, a space that's devoted to the clothing industry which was a huge part of the economy of Arvington and the surrounding area in the past.
You can find out how clothing was made when everything was done by hand and you can have a go at helping one of our historical interpreters to make a piece of clothing yourself.
So if you never knew how to sew a button back onto a shirt you might find it useful.
Finally the tour ends down in the basement where there's a wide variety of merchandise available including books and toys.
A final tip, download the museum app and you get an introductory discount voucher which you can use on purchases in the basement as well as commentaries on all the exhibits in the museum.
Anyway, enjoy your visit.
