Sunday, June 05, 2005

June Begins

Thanks to those of you who have left comments on the site. It's great to know we can keep people up to date who are unable to make it here personally. We're hearing from those of you from elsewhere in the UK and from as far away as Australia (where I'm from) who obviously care a lot about the museum. Here's the latest news.

After a fairly slow month in May, June has started well with a couple of extremely busy days. Many tourists are coming to check on Boscastle's progress and support the regeneration of the village by visiting us, eating in the local restaurants and buying goodies from the local shops. Most seem to be day visitors which is causing a bit of a problem for B & Bs and some of the hotels but we're hoping this will change soon when word gets around that the village is getting (somewhat) back to normal.

Our second hand books (duplicates form the library) are selling well so if you are coming to visit make sure you check them out. We have some real gems.

Our main focus at present is environmental control i.e. controlling humidity and sorting our walls out. Graham is about to install new humidity and temperature monitors, the recordings of which can be uploaded on to the computer so we can keep an ongoing tally of the readings for each part of the museum.

We have tried to disguise the dehumidifiers by boxing them in but this has impeded air flow so we are trying new locations for them. The modern look of the machines does not look fabulous against the old world ambience we are trying to create but we need to keep the damp under control. Currently readings are sitting around 59 to 62% which is pretty good.

Some walls are extremely damp which is causing the paint to flake off. We need to let the walls breathe so it is not a good idea to paint them with sealants. It all takes time but we'll get there in the end!!

By the way, for the person who suggested the web cam, one is in development stages and should be up and running this year. I'll keep you posted.

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