Attendant's View Blog and Cartoons

It's that time of year - a Halloween Throwback Thursday

29/10/2015

Originally seen here.

Most Haunted turned up and filmed at the venue. And although it did generate a lot of extra income from visitors, it also bought us some rather... special visitors.

Dead butlers rarely perform on cue.

Originally seen here.

Two of the staff used to play a game while working the galleries, amusing themselves by making up ghost stories.

One of them was overheard, and the woman thought they were placating her when they explained it was made up.

Later, it ended up in print as a real legend, in a book for sale in the gift shop.

Originally seen here

And old building will creak, crack, and have drafts in it.

One of the leaded window panes was busted, and caused quite a few people to report a cold spot in the bedroom.

It was genuinely a spot that was cold - no ghostly activity related. Really. We weren't "trying to deter ghost hunters". It was just a broken window!

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#MusGif day 2015 - Itchy Bum

21/10/2015

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Happy museum gif day!
And see the gif showing why museum staff shouldn’t be given tasers here.

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Urgent Security Notice to all Museums & Archives

19/10/2015

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Theft risk high, so Arts Council offer no-nonsense blunt advice.

Follow link, or, in brief:

The National Crime Agency are aware of an imminent threat of theft of collections across the UK. They are aware of a group who have made reconnaissance visits to a number of museums and other venues across the UK. It is thought that smaller, more portable items will be targeted rather than items like large paintings.

William Brown, National Security Adviser for the Arts Council then offered this advice via email:

All venues are asked to ensure that collections are held in facilities offering the best available defence against any attack.
Intruder and case alarms should be used correctly and any alarm trigger treated with professionalism and suspicion ensuring all causes are identified.
CCTV systems used should be purged to ensure they are at their optimum performance and good quality images recorded.
Staff are advised to be extra vigilant to visitors paying undue attention to collections and ensure all cases are maintained and frequently cleaned to ensure forensic evidence is possible.
The practice of checks on the displays of all collections at opening, lunch and closing should be carried out for the foreseeable future.
As dark evenings and nights approach rapidly it is a good time to ensure outside lighting is operating and the external aspects of museum buildings checked regularly.
In the event of any cause for alarm or an immediate suspicion of people around your venue please do not hesitate to ring 999 and advise the Police of your immediate concerns.
Please ensure any information/intelligence is shared with secure circulating and collating networks.

The advice may seem obvious, but we can get complacent in our habits and checks.

And it can happen anywhere, as a friend at the end of the working day recently spotted a carefully unbolted and propped patio window inside the venue they work at, presumably by someone planning to return later to try and carefully open it from the outside.

For many, especially smaller, local museums, theft and damage from it can be an expensive issue to put right when funds are already tight, so vigilance from the start is the biggest step.

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Here to help.

7/10/2015

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Panicky woman on phone:
"My son is visiting you today, could you please pass him a message?"

Me, expecting an emergency:
"Of course, who do we need to ask for, and what is the message?"

Panicky woman on phone:
"He's XXX and the message is - Call your dad and tell him to pick your mum up at 2.30pm, same place he dropped her off, because I'm almost done shopping and I left my mobile phone in dad's car. I can't remember their mobile phone numbers you see, but found your number and knew you'd be able to help."

Me:
".... we'll bing bong for your son, and let him know..."

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National Maritime Museum: Sing-along-a-tannoy

3/10/2015

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National Maritime Museum have staff who sing on the tannoy annoucements! It is not a good as you'd think...

At the National Maritime Museum, the folks announcing events via the tannoy all seemed to have rather... unique... ways to theme their announcement to their event. The visitors were a bit bemused and terrified by the gent attempting to start his with sea shanties.

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It's that time of year - a Halloween Throwback Thursday

#MusGif day 2015 - Itchy Bum

Urgent Security Notice to all Museums & Archives

Here to help.

National Maritime Museum: Sing-along-a-tannoy

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