AGM 2.45pm – 3.00pm followed by Seminar, 3.00pm - 4.15pm. The Rural Museums Network AGM is inclusive within the Speaker session and is open to all.
Bob Powell is a specialist in historic farming and vernacular buildings, but primarily heavy horses. He is a former Curator of the Weald & Downland Living Museum, and retired in 2014 as High Life Highland’s Principal Museums Officer (where he preferred to be called the Curator of the 90-acre Highland Folk Museum).
He is a past board member of the Association for Living History, Farm, and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM) and is on the executive committee of the Association for International Museums of Agriculture (AIMA).
Bob’s presentation on Herefordshire 'Cart Horse' History was initially created for the Herefordshire Family History Society, as his paternal family were Herefordshire farmers and ‘halliers’ in the 1800s. With his lifelong “obsession” with heavy horses and farming, married with his professional interests in related material and non-material culture, it was a ‘no brainer’ to bring his specialist subjects together.
We were delighted when he suggested he develop this presentation for the Rural Museums Network – this topic is literally in Bob’s DNA.
Furthermore, he was keen to encourage Rural Museums Network members, and those working in related fields, to develop a personal interest, a specialism within our intended careers. He feels that this is maybe an outdated approach in some museums, but that there is an ongoing need for specialists to be tradition and knowledge bearers.
In his own words, Bob recommends that we “engage with, listen and learn from the ‘old folks’ – there are fewer of us left!”
Image credit: Ploughing on Aylestone Hill, Hereford, c.1920s (Basil Butcher / Derek Foxton)
