The Local Connection

A warm welcome to families

and a cozy corner to think about Wordsworth.

Local school children introduce the exhibit

and explain the contents of the cases.

Mark Ward paints a railing and perhaps contemplates his next poem or blog.

The Wordsworth Trust is best known for its protection and preservation of Dove Cottage and of the writings of Wordsworth and other Romantic authors.  But the Trust is also active in the community of Grasmere and holds important historical records for the village.  This week has opened my eyes to the work Jeff Cowton and his staff do to make this connection with the local population a vital and meaningful one.  We came back from being away for a few weeks on personal business to find a new room in the museum—the Family Activity Room.  It’s the first room off the front door now, and it’s a warm and inviting spot for families to be introduced to life as it was in Wordsworth’s day.  But what impressed me more than the presence of the activity room was how it was constructed—with the help of local school children.  Photographs of four local schoolchildren introduce one to the museum cases, and the explanations of the items in the case are written by the children.  I haven’t seen that type of involvement in a museum before, and I can imagine that it made the children feel as if the museum is their museum, which it is really.

On Thursday, we had another example of this deep connection when our landlords invited us to come along to a meeting the Trust was holding regarding Grasmere history.  It was, hands down, the most interesting village event we’ve attended yet.  Jeff Cowton and his assistant Steven had photos and maps displayed in a PowerPoint presentation, and he invited attendees—local villagers interested in Grasmere history—to help him date the photos and identify the buildings.  The exchange was lively, friendly, and hugely informative.  Some villagers brought photos, which Steven uploaded during a break, and the gathering enjoyed chatting about those as well.  Jeff invited the group to think about next possible steps, and they discussed the possibility of an interactive map of the history of the buildings of Grasmere or a special exhibit devoted to Grasmere and World War I for next year’s anniversary.  I was so struck by his openness and his engagement with the group.  What if all museums saw the integral link they have to their communities and worked to embrace and include that community?  Such activity highlights the continuity between the distant past and the recent past of those who live here.

One person who sees such a connection is Mark Ward, who maintains the house and grounds and who leads tours of the house.  Fittingly, besides being a handyman, Mark is a poet.  I’ve been on two tours with Mark, and he adapts the information to the audience. But in every tour, he includes Wordsworth’s comment that two of the poems in Lyrical Ballads “were written with a view to shew that men who do not wear fine cloaths can feel deeply” (Early Letters 261-2).  His blog tries to do much the same; he highlights locals and includes bits of stories from them, recipes, and relevant poems from other poets.  Those interested in his poetry should check out his official website as well.

Making connections with the village is certainly a highlight of our time here.  Badminton has moved to Monday nights, and Chris continues to enjoy that social activity.  Recently, we had a very nice chat with Diana Matthews, the high sheriff of Cumbria, and learned a bit about her job greeting visiting royals and encouraging and supporting local craftspeople.  We are watching the Lakes slowly fill with tourists, and we notice that the local population is becoming much busier with the work that goes along with an active tourist trade.  We hope that they will still find time to share occasional stories with us.  They are stories we will cherish for a long time.