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Winsham Web Museum - a new approach to recording village history THIS PAGE IS BEING UPDATED Frequently asked questions
Why use the Web and not a traditional 'bricks & mortar' museum? The benefits of using a web site for this purpose are very considerable.
Compare this with the cost and difficulty of acquiring a building or space within an existing building, and the answer immediately becomes clear. Furthermore, there are the problems and cost of maintenance of the space and the exhibits, access, security, and the costs of heating, lighting and cleaning.
Why have a Museum, Web or otherwise? Are people really interested in the past? Of course not everybody is, but all the evidence is that a great many people are. The media are very conscious of audience numbers, and just think of the hours of coverage devoted to historical matters each week on TV & Radio, to say nothing about the BBC History and other websites, and the vast amount of books and magazines devoted to historical matters.
How do people without access to the Internet view the Winsham Web Museum? At present this is a problem, but we are confident that within the next 5-10 years nearly everybody will have access via PC or TV. We estimate that at least half the homes in Winsham have access. Among younger families this figure will be much higher. To help overcome this problem the Web Museum Committee plan to visit individuals and groups with portable equipment to enable them to see the Web Museum.
What does it cost the people of Winsham ? The cost of setting up and running the Web Museum have cost the precept less than sixty pounds, and this was donated by the Winsham Parish Council to pay for the two year rental of our Domain name, with access to unlimited Web space. Web Museum Committee members have met all other expenditures out of their own pockets, which amount to no more than a few pounds. See also here. We have been fortunate in having obtained a grant of nearly £4,000 from ‘Awards for All’ mainly for portable equipment and help in running our two-day event to gather material, but this has not been used to finance anything you currently see on the Web Museum.
Who runs the Web Museum, and whom do they answer to? At present the management committee consists of eleven people, nearly all well known in the village, who came together out of a common interest in creating a permanent record of what is known of Winsham’s past. A list of the committee members is given below. The Winsham Web Museum's Constitution allows this group to run the Museum until the end of 2002. At that time a Public Meeting will be held, for the purpose of electing a new Committee with all adult residents in the Parish eligible to vote. The Members of the Management Committee are: John Sullivan (Chairman), Christina Ballinger (Secretary), Mary Pye (Treasurer), Stella Abbey, Jim Aslett, Joan Aslett, Bob Osborn, Janet Smart, Roy Smart, Paul Smith, Jean Thompson. Many other people have contributed help and material.
Some of the events recorded are very recent, why is this? The Web Museum project is an ongoing one, which we hope will become a village ‘hobby’. Today's events will be tomorrow’s history, which is why we are recording them. They bring life and brightness to the Museum. We may be a Web Museum, but we do not want any virtual spiders creating cobwebs, sharing it with us!
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