The little museum of Bede’s World, up on the south bank of the
Tyne, has closed unless funds can be found to save it. If this was a London museum, it would be sad,
but on Tyneside it is tragic. It
honoured the history of an area which often feels forgotten and where aspirations
are sometimes low. That Tyneside was a
centre of learning and culture needs to be remembered and celebrated.
It was a small museum, but one which punched well above its
weight. Visitors learned about the
Romans, and a bit about what happened when the Romans went home, and lots about Anglo-Saxon life. They picked up some
history of culture, religion and science, and there was art and design to
appreciate and Celtic colouring sheets to take home. That was the indoor bit, which also had
decent toilets, a little shop with coasters and pens and a nice little café
next door with a glorious herb garden for sunny days. All in all, it was a decent
day out.
It was the outside that brought the past to vivid life. Real animals, real wattle and daub replica
buildings, and you got just about as good a sense of what life might have been
like over a thousand years ago as a twenty-first century visitor could hope to
achieve. If you were little, you could
run in and out of the buildings, sweep the floor with a besom, talk to the
goats and marvel at the enormity of the pigs.
Older people read about the exhibits and chatted to the volunteers who
actually got on with the work of farming, Anglo-Saxon style, right in front of
you. We experienced things directly with all our senses, including some rich
Anglo-Saxon smells. It was short on
electronics and long on joy.
From our many visits, it’s the freedom I remember. We weren’t kept in neat lines to view
objects, we were encouraged to get our feet wet and to poke our noses into
everything. We learned about history,
and about the history of history, but not without having fun. The animals were essential to the experience
and we learned that they would have their picture taken, or not, as they chose.
We realised how people lived cheek by jowl with their pigs and goats and how
they were dependent on their animals and plants for survival. Respect for the
natural world and for agriculture was instilled without preaching.
Years after our many visits, long after we moved away from
the North East, I still remember Bede’s World and I wept when I saw it had
closed. In September my daughter is
likely to start History A’Level. I am sure our experiences at Bede’s World
helped to awaken in her the idea that history is not a dead subject, but the
process of bringing the past to life.
Bede was a great scholar, allowed to study and to write his
history and theology because, in the eighth century, a high premium was placed
on learning and scholarship. He is a towering
figure in our culture and deserves to be celebrated. Thirteen hundred years later, his memory
should be celebrated and honoured, and Bede’s World did this in style. If it does not reopen, the children of
Tyneside will, shamefully, be denied a part of of their rich and beautiful heritage.
#SaveBedesWorld
