Latest news with #AndrewSpooner
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Chatteris Museum closes for a day due to a lack of volunteers
A town's museum has had to close temporarily due to a lack of Museum in Cambridgeshire, which is usually open for three days a week, is desperate to attract more volunteers – particularly those who can work front of museum has 23 volunteers, but not all of them want to work as "meet and greeters".The situation meant it was unable to open on Friday last week. Andrew Spooner, part of the museum's management team, said that without more volunteers, its future could be in Spooner's wife Sue, 68, who is also part of the management team, said: "Last week was a unique situation for us in that we didn't have any volunteers to open the museum to the public in the role we call 'front of house', where they meet and greet visitors."I think it is difficult for people [to volunteer], particularly on Friday mornings and Saturday afternoons, with [their] other commitments."Mrs Spooner said volunteers needed to give the museum only two or three hours a youngest volunteer is 16 and the oldest is in their mid-80s. Mr Spooner, 70, said: "One thing that is talked about a lot today is mental wellness, anxiety, loneliness and isolation. Volunteering at the museum gives people a chance to meet and engage with others."It is a chance to do something worthwhile [and] give something back to the community... You don't need to be an expert on local history – you just need to able to engage with visitors and be enthusiastic."He added that the museum was "an important pivot for the community, not just for looking back into the past but [for] looking to the future as the town grows". Visitors to the museum can see a wealth of unusual objects, including mobile stocks from 1774 and an early "boneshaker" exhibits illustrate traditional aspects of Fenland life and the waterways, the railway boom and the wealth of a prosperous 19th Century market museum is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Giant mammal's bone from quarry donated to museum
An ancient animal bone discovered in a quarry about 20 years ago has been donated to a museum. The bone from a palaeoloxodon - an extinct animal also known as a straight-tusked elephant which is believed to be the largest ever land mammal – is now on display in Chatteris Museum, Cambridgeshire. The football-size specimen is thought to be 20,000-40,000 years old and was part of the upper front leg of the animal. Andrew Spooner, museum collections manager, said: "It arrived in a cardboard box wrapped in bubble wrap; it'd been in a shed for about 20 years." The bone was discovered by a maintenance worker at a gravel pit between Chatteris and Somersham. He noticed an unusual object on the conveyor belt and realised it was a bone, the museum said. "It has a fine, quite dense, bone structure," said Mr Spooner. "It is remarkably light." Straight-tusked elephants were four metres high, bigger than woolly mammoths, and were present in what is now Cambridgeshire in the last two ice ages. Amalia Robertson, a resident palaeontologist, said she was "very happy and excited" by the donation. She said the elephants lived until the last Ice Age. Modern African elephants can grow up to 3.3m (11ft) tall at the shoulder, whereas the palaeoloxodon could reach up to 4.5m (15ft). "This elephant would've lived in a very mild wooded habitat in this area. "The final cold snap of the Ice Age about 10,000 years ago would've wiped them all out." Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Road workers dig up woolly mammoth bones Six-year-old boy finds giant megalodon shark tooth Project reveals 'forgotten' WW2 US Red Cross women Millwright kit is returned after 70-year absence Museum celebrates 'oddness' in exhibition Chatteris Museum Natural History Museum: Straight-tusked elephants
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Giant mammal's bone from quarry donated to museum
An ancient animal bone discovered in a quarry about 20 years ago has been donated to a museum. The bone from a palaeoloxodon - an extinct animal also known as a straight-tusked elephant which is believed to be the largest ever land mammal – is now on display in Chatteris Museum, Cambridgeshire. The football-size specimen is thought to be 20,000-40,000 years old and was part of the upper front leg of the animal. Andrew Spooner, museum collections manager, said: "It arrived in a cardboard box wrapped in bubble wrap; it'd been in a shed for about 20 years." The bone was discovered by a maintenance worker at a gravel pit between Chatteris and Somersham. He noticed an unusual object on the conveyor belt and realised it was a bone, the museum said. "It has a fine, quite dense, bone structure," said Mr Spooner. "It is remarkably light." Straight-tusked elephants were four metres high, bigger than woolly mammoths, and were present in what is now Cambridgeshire in the last two ice ages. Amalia Robertson, a resident palaeontologist, said she was "very happy and excited" by the donation. She said the elephants lived until the last Ice Age. Modern African elephants can grow up to 3.3m (11ft) tall at the shoulder, whereas the palaeoloxodon could reach up to 4.5m (15ft). "This elephant would've lived in a very mild wooded habitat in this area. "The final cold snap of the Ice Age about 10,000 years ago would've wiped them all out." Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Road workers dig up woolly mammoth bones Six-year-old boy finds giant megalodon shark tooth Project reveals 'forgotten' WW2 US Red Cross women Millwright kit is returned after 70-year absence Museum celebrates 'oddness' in exhibition Chatteris Museum Natural History Museum: Straight-tusked elephants
