IT’S PLAY time for a Reading museum, thanks to a display that has just gone on show.
The Museum of English Rural Life in Redlands Road has been donated an amazing collection of more than 2,500 farming-based toys, and 150 of the best of them are now available to view in the new Model Farming gallery, the first of its kind in the UK.
Peter Wade-Martins collection also feastures scale models and other artefacts, photos, and imagery to reveal the fascinating story of agricultural mechanisation.
The gallery was officially opened earlier this month by the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Robert Van de Noort who met Mr Wade-Martins and see the display at first hand.
He was delighted with the collaboration.
“It is wonderful to see The MERL continuing to develop its displays, providing new opportunities for visitors of all ages to learn about farming and the countryside, from children learning through play to academic researchers,” he said.
“We are very grateful to Peter for making this possible through his wonderful collection.”
And Mr Wade-Martins was thrilled that his collection will be useful for years to come.
“I can’t think a better place for the collection to be than in this University museum where it can now be seen as a teaching and a research collection,” he said.
“Putting the collection together over 20 years was partly re-living my childhood. My favourite toy was the red Dinky Massey Harris tractor with a muck spreader.
“I remember playing with one for hours, but I don’t remember what I used in the muck spreader in place of muck on my mother’s carpets.
“For it to be recognised as a national reference collection is the best possible outcome.”
MERL is dedicated to unpacking rural life and is an essential resource. However, its urban location – part of the university’s London Road campus – does have some limitations.
Dr Ollie Douglas, curator of MERL Collections said, “No museum would ever be able to tell this complex story of agricultural mechanisation through full-sized objects.
“Modern tractors are very expensive and there is no way we could even fit a contemporary combine harvester in our building.
“We are incredibly lucky to have this unique resource to illustrate processes of change and the ways in which they were shared through play, through such detailed and engaging artefacts.”
He continued: “The Peter Wade-Martins Collection has been carefully catalogued with the support of our brilliant conservation team, and meticulously photographed by a dedicated volunteer, so it is now also available to explore online.”
For more details, or to read a blog by Dr Douglas on the new collection, log on to: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/galleries/model-farming/
