Episode 22 – Helen Barker

Cultural Peeps Podcast · Episode 22 – Helen Barker (Director of Collections, Programme & Interpretation – Beamish Museum)

Today’s guest is Helen Barker, the Director of Collections, Programme & Interpretation at Beamish Open Air Museum.

Beamish is a fascinating site – it’s a world famous open air museum which brings the history of North East England to life through several different time zones, including Pockerly Old Hall which is set in a Georgian Landscape from around 1820’s. There is a 1900’s town, which is set in the years before the start of the first world war, a 1900’s pit village and colliery which includes a school and a chapel, and there are a couple of farms. These different areas are all linked together by a network of period trams and buses that you can hop on an off.

The 1900's town, Beamish, April 2023 — The 1900’s town, Beamish, April 2023

As part of her current role, Helen is looking after the ‘Remaking Beamish’ Project. This is a huge undertaking which involves the construction of a 1950s town– and includes either the moving or recreation of quite a few buildings, including,

The grand cinema from Ryhope.
There is also a toyshop, an electrical shop & a hairdressers which are based around similar buildings which were originally located in Middlesborough,
A bowling green (complete with pavilion),
And the recreations of 2 semi-detached council houses and 2 police houses.

The 1950's Village under construction (including Ryhope Cinema on the left), April 2023 — The 1950’s Village under construction (including Ryhope Cinema on the left), April 2023

In our conversation, we talked about how Beamish staff consult with the public to decide which stories can be best represented through these time zones, and also how the buildings that represent these periods were chosen.

We also talk about the ‘third person’ approach to Interpretation that Beamish takes, which is where front of house staff wear costumes from the times zones they are working in and bake bread, sweets or biscuits for visitors, but are essentially still themselves, rather than acting out a designated character or viewpoint from the period in which they are working.

The 1950s Village, including a hairdressers and Fish and Chip Shop, April 2023

Helen talks about a few of the training opportunities that she has undertaken throughout her career, such as the Museums Association’s Transformers project and an Erasmus plus funded project where Helen had the opportunity to visit in Norway Sweden.

I had a great day on site interviewing Helen back in April after which I had a tour around the new 1950’s town, which was being just being readied for opening to the public.

As usual, there are links to the various projects and organisations in the podcast notes and in the list further down this page, so you can follow up on anything you want to know more about.

Thanks again to Helen and I hope you enjoy this episode!