Animating the archives
Working creatively with communities in Cambridgeshire to explore the extraordinary collection of objects and stories displayed in the Addenbrooke’s Museum
Addenbrooke’s was established thanks to a gift of £4,676 Dr John Addenbrooke left in his Will to “hire and fit up, purchase or erect a small, physical hospital in the town of Cambridge for poor people’. Originally housing just 20 beds when it opened in 1766, today’s hospital has over 1,000.
As part of their 250th birthday celebrations, the hospital opened a new museum in October 2016. In the main corridor of the hospital, it houses a collection of just some of the extraordinary objects and stories stored in the archive.
Working with CCI has given me the opportunity to bring to light some of these objects and stories that have been ‘hidden’ for so long and to use them to illustrate the past of the hospital.
Hilary Ritchie, Hospital Archivist
CCI visual artist theatre-maker Sally Todd worked with people of all ages during 2016/17 to animate the museum, inviting different groups to play creatively with ideas and provocations inspired by the collection.
Groups involved include two supported by the Carers Trust Cambridgeshire – young carers in the county and people living with dementia and their carers – and a class of children from both St Philip's and Queen Edith’s Primary Schools. Each project had a different creative focus – poetry, story-making and sculpture - and Sally was joined by poet Jane Monson, fellow theatre-maker Steve Tiplady and sculptor Jenny Goater to support these.
I will remember how thirsty the children are for more art. I always try to get it in to lessons but this project brought back to me the need to keep things creative, the different ways that can hook the children in and engage them. I really noticed that for all of them.
It was really important that they had the chance to come to the hospital. I could see how they kept reaching back and bringing knowledge from their first trip to the museum at the hospital into everything they did with you afterwards. I learned a lot about the history of Addenbroooke’s too.
Tasha Bowen, Queen Edith’s Primary School
I’m absolutely useless at making things but even being useless you can still enjoy it…it was very very relaxing. We were working together and having a laugh. I was caring for 25 years and have been coming to groups since 2003 and I enjoyed these story making sessions more than any others I’ve been do. Everybody joined in. The sessions reminded me of good things and fun days….just a few minutes where your mind isn’t thinking about the other person is better than 40 winks. You want to wash away some of those worries.
We do need useful information sessions too but you can’t lose yourself in a talk from the Citizens Advice Bureau.
Richard, Shelford Dementia Carers Group
I was with my Mum and Dad. None of us are artistic and we were all a little bit apprehensive but we all got into it. Mum was making stuff and she didn’t worry if it wasn’t brilliant. It didn’t matter what you were making … you were talking and doing what you felt like doing and everyone was laughing.
The story was great – everyone was a roaring because it was just very fun. Allowing everyone to say whatever they want, generally ridiculous things, and then being able to put it into a story and go with it bought the whole group together.
Theresa, Shelford Dementia Carers Group
Posts below share a flavour of these projects. Two exhibitions of work created during these workshops have been curated for the hospital. Importantly archivist Hilary Ritchie has kept many of the elements created by the groups, preserving them as permanent contributions to the archive.
A Stork’s Nest on Addenbrooke’s Chimney
19/07/2017
(Sally Todd) For our final session with the Shelford Dementia Support Group, everyone invented the wonderful story of Taffy and the Stork’s Nest.
We started with a clay model of Addenbrooke’s hospital and decided that a miner called Taffy got a job at Addenbrooke’s to clean the chimney. Amazingly, John, the visiting pianist had been the quantity surveyor in 1967 when the chimney was built and remembers how people who lived in Long Road came home from their holidays to find an enormous new structure behind their gardens.
In our story Taffy realised that a stork had built a nest on top of the chimney and laid some eggs. He was very hungry and wanted some breakfast so he poked the nest with his long brush and out fell an egg which he ran to catch with his frying pan that he happened to have in his back pocket. At that moment a little mouse got hold of a stretcher from A&E and by some miracle managed to catch the slow falling stork egg, lassoing it with his tail just before it crashed into Taffy’s frying pan. The mouse saved the egg and the baby stork was born and reunited with the mother stork on top of the chimney where it stayed until it learnt to fly……and Taffy went to Burger King for his breakfast instead!
After this delightful and raucous story, we invited the group to make some more creations in the clay and, as well as the mice, penguins, elephants, and sting ray there also appeared a stork’s nest, a cheese board…..and a wedding ceremony!
As Kate created her model she remembered that she had been offered clay many years ago in hospital when she lay inside a plaster cast for nearly a year and how wonderful it had been to be able to make and be creative.
Images credits: Gecko Photography
Frank and ‘Nellie’ the Elephant
20/06/2017
(by Sally Todd)
We met again with the Shelford Dementia Support Group and together with Steve’s support, everyone created a beautiful funny story with the clay. The highly sociable session involved making a clay elephant and a clay model of Frank who became the protagonist of the tale……a tale of a journey to Africa on Frank’s pension where he met a baby elephant on safari playing in the mud. Frank gave the baby elephant called Dumbo a bath to clean him up then took him back to Nellie the mother elephant and offered her a dead fly biscuit when she really wanted a bun!…so the big elephant bit him on the leg and he had to sit down and he thought, I need to go to the bunnery to buy her a bun…and see the doctor! so Dumbo flapped her big ears and flew Frank to the doctor where Frank remembered he was a good cook and made his own iced bun to give to Nellie who said sorry and they became firm friends.
After this joyful story…Well I just loved it and others would love that too said Pat…..we invited everyone to make their own creations in the clay and, amongst a few more elephants made, there were also giant peonies and imaginary gardens on lily pads and other offerings that symbolise comfort and solace like a song bird and a musical note.
Today I was trying to do a treble clef because music is a great comfort to us and Stephen has done a bird as he loves them.
Judith and Stephen
The comfort of guinea pigs
08/05/2017
(by Sally Todd) We started our next session for the Shelford Dementia Support Group with a potted history of Addenbrooke’s Hospital by Archivist Hilary Ritchie who also brought some objects in to share with the group. We looked at nurses badges, belts and bonnets and wondered about the reliability of the old blood pressure gauge. The talk prompted thoughts about care and the hospital.
I’ve been in Addenbrooke’s for three operations… they looked after me in there and every patient had their own nurse. Ray
I worked in the female wards. I looked after the patients and they were happy to employ me, I was the only male carer . Frank
The morning was full of unexpected anecdotes including pet guinea pigs being taken in to a London hospital in a bicycle basket to comfort patients and the announcement by Ray that he had installed the first telephone at the new Addenbrooke’s site in 1958!
Wonderful creations emerged from the clay; a baby bath, medicine bottles, pestle and mortars, guinea pigs and pigs too, as well as cats and elephants!
I used to enjoy carpentry and loved doing this. It made me concentrate and focus on what I was doing. It was good exercise for my fingers as well and I found it therapeutic. Frank
Using clay to animate ideas
24/04/2017
(By Sally Todd) Theatre-maker Steve Tiplady joined me to begin our sessions with the Shelford Dementia Support Group. We spent a wonderful playful morning chatting with participants and their carers as we all explored the properties of clay. In no time at all, models were made of roller coasters, dragons, castles, a barbecue with a puffer fish and even the new train station for Addenbrooke’s!
Over the next three sessions we’ll be developing stories around the theme of Addenbrooke’s Hospital museum, using clay to animate our ideas, shared memories and responses. Work from the sessions will be included in our next exhibition for the hospital later this year.
It’s very fascinating to me
24/04/2017
(by Sally Todd) Over two days in April we had the pleasure and privilege of working with a group of young carers from the Carers Trust Cambridgeshire, inviting them to engage with the Addenbrooke’s museum.
Hilary the Archivist gave an introduction to John Addenbrooke’s legacy and then, with a nod to the ancient Greek Gods of medicine and healing and thinking of young carers as modern day heroes, we drew inspiration from the collection and created some amazing and eclectic images around the theme of medicine and health.
The group spent time experimenting with different art materials and had the additional excitement of a visit downstairs to the basement archive where they tried on nurses cloaks and had a closer look at objects in the collection.
On day two we worked with wire artist Jenny Goater to develop our ideas and ambitiously produced wire sculptures including surgeon’s portraits, a 3D Addenbrooke’s Bear, a fox skeleton (thinking of old bones in ancient apothecaries) and a nurses’s delicate belt buckle.
The group shared some of their highlights:
I wanted to wear the cloak because I saw one in the museum. It reminded me of Call the midwife. We went downstairs with Hilary to try one on. It felt warm and comfy. I wanted to take it home. I was surprised by how big it was. It made me feel like a nurse……it was a good feeling.
Chloe (18)
Going downstairs to the archive where no one else gets to go was great. We put on the old nurses uniforms and we were swirling….it made us think of Call the midwife. It’s something you can’t do every day.
Lucy (12) and Chloe (16)
I’d noticed the old fashioned photo in the museum and the beard. I’d finished doing a charcoal drawing and I was ripping up the paper – browns and grey and green – to try to make the beard. It was good to be able to do something creative and what I want for once – not having to do what other people need. I started it off after we came back from lunch and kept going for two and half hours. I really like art. At times I’ve spend 6/7 hours drawing and not noticed the time.
Alice (21)
I really liked seeing everybody here and eating lunch with them. Some of us go to school together but I’ve met new people too. When I was down in the archives I saw a prosthetic arm and other bits. It looked fun and tried to make my own and then I went into the corridor and got reactions from people. I was wearing a prosthetic arm and leg. People were a bit confused and said what’s going on.
JP (12)
Wearing the cloak was a once in lifetime experience and not many people get down there (to the archive). It’s very fascinating to me – I’m a history geek. I’d like to work down there. It would be very cold though. I enjoy finding out the history of people and places….I’d like to find out more about how they helped people in the healing process.
Xanthe (14)
