Horrible Histories, the Magna Carta song

If you haven't seen it yet, you MUST pop over to YouTube to see this delightful Horrible Histories take on Magna Carta and its importance through history.

Lego King John, on display as part of Trowbridge Museum's Magna Carta-Game of Barons exhibition

Magna Carta song

How Magna Carta- Game of Barons came into being

There's a lot of paperwork to do before you can knock things into shape. This can range from snippets of Henry de Bohun information coming from his biographer Andy Milroy, to forms to fill out asking permission from the Houses of Parliament to use an image of Trowbridge's medieval hero. By which I mean Henry de Bohun. Of course.

Late 2014 and Assistant Curator Katherine White is on the hunt for people to borrow things from. Trowbridge Museum does have 13th century material but it's all archaeological, and mostly in rather small pieces...

Gathering together a folder of images which can be used in the exhibition, and other reference material. Fortunately the Assistant Curator has her own library, containing many Victorian books with medieval engravings in.

Producing an initial flyer on Photoshop. The poster was yet to come- it's quite hard to produce publicity material when you don't yet know what's going to be in your exhibition and whether or not you will be in receipt of any funding.

At this stage, we were not yet sure of the success of the Curator's hunt for money. But ultimately both the Consortium and the Heritage Lottery Fund provided generous donations, meaning we can continue to add to the exhibition.

The design stage of planning. One has to decide on colours (easy- Henry de Bohun's are gold and blue). It's not that easy to find the right kind of backing board, however. One also needs to choose appropriate fonts for headings and text for the exhibition.

The Museum's Caretaker John Woodford, preparing the walls in the exhibition gallery. This has earned him the nickname of "Rembrandt".

Assistant Curator Katherine White working out how to show off the Henry de Bohun maquette to best advantage. He's on display in a Victorian factory owner's office. Some concealment is definitely required!

The maquette of Henry de Bohun, surveying his new (temporary) home at Trowbridge Museum. He will be sent back in the summer, so make sure to come and see him before he returns to Canterbury.

Serving wenches Goodwives Ritson and Lyddy. Otherwise known as Museum Manager Hannah Lyddy and Education and Collections Assistant Nikki Ritson. The serving-man is long-term volunteer Terry Smith. New costume was acquired and old costume adapted to give a medieval look to the Grand Opening feast.

It's a precise art, working out how to create a medieval scene in Lego to fit into a specific case. This is an early trial run.

The Great Day arrives. The Curator Clare Lyall has introduced the Lord Lieutenant for Wiltshire, Mrs Sarah Troughton and Exhibition Curator Katherine White has changed her name to Lady Katherine de Blanche and donned a not-totally authentic costume for the event. More costumes will follow to be displayed in the exhibition, and they will be made by authentic methods using authentic fabrics. Watch this space!

Curators do rather more than dust the cases in their museums...

The Museum's new Magna Carta- Game of Barons exhibition is a case in point. The earliest stages of planning began in August last year, and the completion of the first phase of the exhibition was only just completed in time for the opening. And what an opening it was! A medieval feast,

 a visit from Her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant for Wiltshire, Mrs Sarah Troughton, to open the display,

the Mayor of Trowbridge, Councillor Glyn Bridges, looking very pretty in his robes,

but up against stiff competition from the Assistant Curator in her flowing golden gown (which threatened to trip quite a lot of people),

and a completely unexpected King Richard the Lionheart, just back from having a lovely time on Crusade.

Can you not see the resemblance between him and the Lego version of his brother John in the Lego Runnymede and Castle?

There is much more to add to this splendid exhibition, so why not follow our blog to make sure you don't miss out!