Ripon museums’ accounts reveal record attendance and rising costs£3.3 million restoration of Ripon Workhouse Museum beginsEditor’s Pick of the Week: Ghosts in Ripon and sprightly oldies in HarrogateParanormal income boosts Ripon attractionsNew Ripon museum will dig deeper into the city’s historyRipon museums awarded £2.6 millionRipon Theatre Festival event puts crime and punishment in the spotlightRipon museum artworks to tell stories of people with disabilities

Life in Ripon’s workhouse was hard enough for abled bodied people, but what was it like for those with mental or physical disabilities?

Tomorrow, between 10am and 12.30pm, people of all ages and abilities are invited to work alongside disabled artists Kate Lovell and Aisling Gallagher to produce artworks that ‘respond to the language of disability and its evolution through history’.

Taking its inspiration from the lives and experiences of people with disabilities who were inmates of the former Ripon Workhouse, the interactive event titled ‘Reclaiming Lunacy’ is free to attend and has been made possible with an £11,000 grant from Historic England’s Everyday Lottery Fund.

Saturday’s art session follows research carried out as part of the project, by the museum’s curatorial volunteers, who uncovered unseen histories of disabled people who were at the workhouse between the Victorian era and the early 1900s.

As well as being artists, Ms Lovell is a theatre-maker and writer, while Ms Gallagher is a director and creative access practitioner.

Rachael Warren, marketing manager at Ripon Museum Trust said:

“We are thrilled to be welcoming Kate and Aisling to Ripon Museums to run this open session and make a start on creating a new display which will explore the lives of disabled people at the former workhouse.

“These are important stories to tell and we are thankful to Historic England for enabling us to tell them”.

The Everyday Heritage grant scheme was launched by Historic England earlier this year to support community-led projects and further the nation’s collective understanding of the past.

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Ripon’s museums seek new director

Following the departure of its director of museums, Helen Thornton, Ripon Museum Trust has begun the search for her successor.

Ms Thornton, who was director for four covid-affected years, has left the heritage sector to take up the post of town clerk for Baildon in West Yorkshire.

The trust, which since 2020, has been awarded financial support totalling more than £500,000 from Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund said in a statement it was seeking a new director “to provide inspiring and collaborative leadership”.

It added the successful candidate would be “a transformational leader” with “proven management and leadership experience, that will enable Ripon Museum Trust to realise their potential to become a museum with a national profile”.

The new director will be involved in shaping the strategic direction and delivery of the The Workhouse, Prison & Police and Old Courthouse museums at a pivotal point in the trust’s 41-year history, amid a development phase bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Richard Taylor, chair of the board of trustees said:

“Ripon Museum Trust is a close-knit community with strong values of fairness, ambition, community, team-work and learning. We are really excited to be recruiting for this role and look forward to welcoming a new director of museums at this important part of our journey.”

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Free entry to Harrogate district attractions starts tomorrow

Several Harrogate district attractions will be offering free entry in the days ahead as part of National Lottery Open Week.

The lottery has raised more than £47 billion for good causes since it started in 1994. To thank players, it runs an annual week in which organisations it has funded are invited to provide free entry and special offers.

This year’s open week begins tomorrow (Saturday) and ends on March 26.

The following offers in the Harrogate district apply to anyone who presents a National Lottery ticket or scratchcard, digital or physical.

For the terms and conditions click here, and check the venue listings for dates, times and other terms and conditions. You can search for events here.

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