The Friends of Beamish Museum.Volunteer in the 1900s Miners' Cottages.
Example of what Volunteers in costume can do at Beamish Museum to assist the permanent staff in interpreting the past for visitors.
Hooky, Proggy or Is It a Clippy Mat?
Photograph: Working on a cloth mat for use in the miners cottages at Beamish.
With alternative description for non graphics or blind users.
Here you see a volunteer working in period costume on a clippy mat in one of the miner's cottages in the colliery village at Beamish museum. A hundred years ago these hand made mats were seen in many northern homes. They were everyday household items made from recycled cloth.
Nowadays they are re-emerging as art work and being valued for their designs and the time taken to make them ie. expensive.
If you live locally you may be interested in volunteering at Beamish. The work is unpaid but valuable and you should really enjoy dressing up in period costume and helping the Museum staff interpret the past for visitors.
You may get the do a bit of progging or clipping.
Please
Contact Beamish for an introductory chat about what's involved.
End of Page.
Text Equivalent of the Photograph on This Page.
Screen Reader version for people who cannot see the image for what ever reason.
Proggies in the Cottage.
The entire picture has golden brown background. It shows a dimly lit room with a small amount of light coming from the right. A woman is working on a proggy mat whilst seated at a table.
The back wall is hardly discernable but shows a high standing clock and a picture. Against the wall can be seem a hand operated washing wringer.
A lamp with a candle in its bowl hanging from the ceiling is not giving much light.
The bottom of the scene shows the woman whose head is at the centre of the picture. She has short red hair and wears a dark brown shawl over a dress that has a large brilliant white collar showing above the shawl. The long sleeves of the dress can also be seen and are remarkably white.
Her lower body shows a very dark brown skirt of great bulk.
On the lower right of the picture is a kitchen work table on top of which a piece of material lies. It is a light brown colour with some lines of green and others of dark brown. The woman seems to be working on this material.
On the left edge centre the curved back and vertical spindles of the chair can be seen but not clearly.
The whole picture is darkly coloured but has a rich glow to it. TEXT