Karen Stewart , Area Heritage Officer, Museums and Castles, Wakefield Council

Wakefield Museums and Castles has a strong working relationship with both the Council’s Health Improvement team and Public Health. This has led to a number of projects focussed on improving wellbeing – from healthy eating to anti-smoking campaigns. Wakefield Museum has worked with the Mental Health Museum on projects for mental health awareness, including the current display on men’s mental health. Planned work on combatting social isolation in older people has also highlighted the health impacts of loneliness in people in middle age.

Research shows that loneliness can have a negative effect on both physical and mental health. Lonely people are more likely to indulge in behaviour that damages their health, such as over-eating and alcohol abuse¹. Statistics show that 25% of women aged forty-five to fifty-four suffer from a common mental health disorder such as depression and anxiety, and between 1993 and 2007, the rate of common mental disorders rose by a fifth among middle-aged women².

As the population is ageing and people are having fewer children, more people are living alone. At the same time, the divorce rate has almost doubled in the past 50 years. The number of lone parent households is rising. In addition, more people now live away from their families and the communities they grew up in due to career or education opportunities¹.

Mental health experts have therefore recommended the facilitation of face-to-face contact with people at risk of isolation, bringing individuals into wider social groups and environments¹.

This has led to Wakefield Museums and Castles Service re-evaluating its provision of sociable, informal adult opportunities.

Need for informal learning

Wakefield Council’s Museums and Castles Service recognises its inspirational potential for informal adult learning, but as budget pressures tighten, a previously free offer led by professional artists, could not be maintained. Charging for artist-led sessions to cover costs, led to a drastic (and unsustainable) reduction in bookings. The exception to this was the more expensive sessions with a ‘special’ element (e.g. led by a TV personality or including a themed dinner). These higher cost sessions were the only ones to generate enough bookings to cover costs, but the audience was generally not local (participants travelling from as far as Darlington and even Kent!). It was therefore felt that we were no longer serving the needs of our communities.

Changes in adult provision elsewhere in the district (including within the Council’s Adult Education Service) has shown a shift away from informal learning for pleasure, concentrating on vocational, accredited formal learning and basic employability skills. Anecdotal evidence and visitor feedback indicated a need for an informal offer, particularly for combatting loneliness.

Research was undertaken with potential audiences through a questionnaire and two free pilot sessions to identify levels of interest in informal learning, the optimal timing for these sessions and the price that people were willing to pay. 

Results showed:

• A desire for informal, craft-based sessions
• A willingness to pay no more than £5-10 per session
• A desire to try something new, rather than become an expert in something
• Sessions should take place mid-week and in the evening
• Sessions should be relaxed and sociable and not rely on former knowledge

The Challenge

• To create sociable, informal sessions but to raise them above a ‘knit and natter’ group and make them relevant to the museum and its collection
• To keep workshops cost neutral over the year.

What was done?

A series of monthly adult workshops are now provided entitled ‘Find Your Passion’, which adults can book individually rather than committing to a course. Each session explores a new craft, inspired by something in the museum collection – often using historical technique or style. They are intended as an introduction to trying something new.  Sessions are run once a month on an early Thursday evening, bookable online, and charged at £6 per head (to include all materials and light refreshments).  The income does not cover staff time, but the sessions are all run in-house, this is sustainable.

Outputs and Outcomes

‘Find Your Passion’ sessions have been running once a month since September 2016, with topics as diverse as linocuts to historical soap making – all rooted in the museum collection.  On average, the sessions run at 80-100% capacity, though the subject matter does influence the popularity. 

The majority of participants are women, aged c.35-65, and although some come with friends, the majority book on as individuals, and many have become repeat visitors.  Sessions had originally been designed to give instruction throughout the workshop, but this has evolved into a less structured activity, resulting in more relaxed conversation and sharing of ideas.  The room is set up as one large table, and the number of participants limited to fifteen to facilitate this group atmosphere.

Author: Karen Stewart, Area Heritage Officer, Museums and Castles, Wakefield Council

Contact: museums@wakefield.gov.uk

Website: www.wakefield.gov.uk/museums

1. Jo Griffin (2010) The Lonely Society? Mental Health Foundation https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/sites/default/files/the_lonely_society_report.pdf

2. Alisoun Milne and Jennie Williams (2003) Women at the Crossroads: A literature review of the mental health risks facing women in mid-life. Mental Health Foundation (https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/women-crossroads-update