Culture therapy at Burgh Castle and Time and Tide Museum
by Jeannette Beynon
I came across Culture Therapy when doing an online Genealogy course which helped me look into more of my family history My father went into hospital during WW2 while in the RAF after having a tooth out and experiencing neuralgia. While investigating this I found out about another hospital in Edinburgh, the Craiglockhart Hospital in WW1 for traumatised military personnel. Their treatment was changed from very strict discipline that disregarded any sort of illness in 1916 because it just didn’t help the traumatised men. A more therapeutic approach encouraged the men to get back into everyday life, and they were supported into a type of work experience, helping out on farms and even in schools. Coincidentally this was called Culture Therapy in 1916.
Our Burgh Castle Almanac project is helping us to visit places of historical interest and to look into the history of our area. The project includes us using art forms to record our experiences and perceptions when we go to Burgh Castle Roman Fort. This session we were at Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth, with artist Ian Brownlie.
Manipulating our photographs with the gimp2 software is both challenging for me (being older and not brought up with technology) and exciting. A few years ago I made an animation of one of my own short stories about my cat in a media class, and today will help me return to doing more photography and art, which I’ve enjoyed since school.
Looking round Time & Tide Museum today was brilliant. Museums are so much more hands-on and interesting now than I remember them being back in the 1950s. It was fascinating to hear Malcolm’s experiences of working on the herring boats and his travels all over the world back in the 1960s and 70s. He knew exactly what the fishing relics were at the museum and had even owned some of them himself. Others in the group have so much knowledge of the area too and they gave personal social accounts of the history of Great Yarmouth. Adrian talked about developing his interest in archaeology when young and finding artefacts which he didn’t realise then could have been quite valuable. Other members spoke of their expertise in photography and different art forms and their different ideas and personal stories of the
area.
The best part for me of the Time and Tide Museum was going down the reconstructed lane of 1900 in Great Yarmouth. The tiny houses with all the different occupants, the chemist shop, the sail maker, the more affluent home, the child’s room with the mother and child in it; so many different types of houses, so closely packed together. It gave me a glimpse into their world in the 1900’s and the close sense of community there must have been.
My added interest included taking along today my father’s photos of his “house parties” in Great Yarmouth in 1927, when he and “the gang” from London went on holiday there.
My own first holiday photos were of Great Yarmouth in June 1947 when I was a baby. I’m playing on the beach with my 2 older siblings and we are wearing out our poor parents with our excitement of being at the seaside, as children do.
I look forward to getting back into my art and photography and creating my own record of this area which will include the history right up to the present day. Many thanks for including me on this really interesting project.
