In my previous incarnation I learnt a lot.  Not only about museum digital learning, but also a great deal about Tin Mining, Industrial heritage, community organisation as well as the pros and cons of being involved in a World Heritage Site.  But it wasn’t all work. I learnt a lot from the people around me.

Geevor was full of absolutely amazing people. Some experts in their field, some hard workers, knowledgeable, funny, others were gracious, kind hearted, gentle, and some were plain strange. Don’t get me wrong there were disagreements, and politics, there’s always politics. But two people in particular, there are others Jo, Nick T, Joby, Claire, Kay and Fiona all brilliant, but the two who I shared an office with day in day out, made Geevor an absolutely wonderful place to be. Firstly Cyril (there is not enough words in the world to describe how wonderful, wise and kind Cyril is so I’m not even going to attempt it), and secondly Rebecca.

Rebecca is the most lovely person. Never a bad word to say about anyone, she puts her best into everything she does, a brilliant museum learning professional and boy she is a very good conscience when I was trying to avoid eating too much cake.

A bit about Geevor: since 2001, Geevor Tin Mine in Cornwall has been managed by Pendeen Community Heritage (PCH), a village based registered charity. The local community has driven and shaped the development Geevor. The local community and ex-miners create exhibitions, act as guides, complete project work to conserve the significant site archive, as well as community involvement in the governance of the charity. It is this living history which has helped to develop Geevor into the internationally respected example of hard rock mining which it has become.

And for a place that not a lot of people had heard of outside of Cornwall until recently, the people down at Geevor have done an amazing job.  However, on 13th July 2006 , the rest of the world took notice and select mining landscapes across Cornwall and west Devon were inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, of which Geevor is a major part of.  This gave PCH and Geevor the responsibility to make the history of Geevor available to the broadest possible audience.  But no-one had clearly thought how becoming a WHS would affect the short, medium and long term plans of running an awesome site.

Now this is where Rebecca comes in. Rebecca is now working towards her MA in Museum Studies at Leicester (as well as being an excellent learning team manager at Geevor) and is undertaking research into the role of museums within the ‘world heritage’ agenda. In particular, museums potential role in advocating both the value heritage and the importance of preserving it, at the local and national level.

So I graciously ask; would you mind filling in a survey for her research, which is not only a cracking dissertation topic but is also really going to help Geevor in the future.

If you are willing to help, the link to complete the survey is as follows: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YTH3RPF

(N.B. Rebecca will be collecting responses until 20th June 2010)

Thanky you!