Seat of earning for school pupils

The A-level girls of Lady Lumley’s School in Pickering are combining fun with a practical form of study this weekend.

They will take over the running of the Ryedale Folk Museum and from here will host the first Hutton-le-Hole and North York Moors Tractor Run, plus they have devised a day’s family activities to go with it.

One of the pupils is Sammy Stenton, a farmer’s daughter from Thornton-le-Dale. “This has coincided with our A-level travel and tourism qualification and one of the units is events management,” said Sammy.

“When we were thinking of what we could do the idea of a tractor run came about because myself and another girl are very much into our Young Farmers activities.

“I’m a member of Rillington YFC and I’m used to organising things like ploughing matches and ‘muck chucks’.

“So so we thought we could bring other Young Farmers along to participate.

“It’s a target market that we felt would guarantee people coming along, especially with it being so scenic here.

“We’ve had promises from 30 tractor drivers and so long as others are okay with their lambing, we should get to 50.

“We have had a lot of help from people who organise similar events and the man who organises the big Nawton-Beadlam tractor run is coming along too.

“We’ve got people coming from Kirkbymoorside, Snainton, Helmsley and Scarborough.”

Money is raised through the entry fee the tractor runners pay. Visitors can also look forward to a pie and peas lunch and a family fun day in the museum, including face painting, displays and crafts for children.

The schoolgirls have a budget of £500 to work to and Luci Cook has taken on the job of accountant for the day.

“As well as the budget we have also received some sponsorship,” she says and adds confidently, “I think we will make a good profit.

“We have tried to keep spending to a minimum while also providing a good day out for everyone.”

The museum’s director, Mike Benson, who has temporarily handed over the reins, is confident that the girls will make a success of their day in charge.

“We all have to work really hard here and we wouldn’t get anywhere without the support of volunteers and people like the girls coming in to help raise money,” he said.

“Our core funding is only slight. We get just over £6,000 a year to run the place, after that we have to make our own money.

“It makes me laugh when you hear all those people crying in their beer about cuts in the public sector.

“One of the things we do is to give a budget to young people who are studying about putting on events and then it’s up to them to turn it into a profit for us.

They have budgeted at £500 for their day and it will kick off this year’s fund raising.

“We have been raising money for a while now towards a new building we hope to start work on this summer to house a fantastic collection we have been given by the Harrison brothers of Pickering.

“It includes everything from a 15th century French comb to agricultural machinery and it will be a terrific addition to our site.

“Young people getting involved here is a fantastic thing. We will learn as much if not more from them as they will ever learn from us.’

Mike is not your old style dry-as-dust museum man and academic.

In fact he’s just the sort of passionate chap you want in charge of an operation like this and he is contantly coming up with eye-catching new ideas.

He is from a Teesside steel working background and his keen and amiable approach clearly inspires youngsters who sometimes may regard an invitation to visit a museum with the same enthusiasm as a request to go upstairs and tidy their bedrooms.

Sammy is definitely one of his converts. “Coming here and organising this event has definitely changed my view on museums. I think we have all learned a lot about how the museum runs.

“The museum is a gem that you never notice until you come here and Mike’s a real people person.”

Mike says he learned a big lesson about putting over a message that would have an impact on young imaginations when he spent some time abroad.

“I was in British Columbia, as part of a fellowship award I received a few years ago and I listened to a young girl who was about the age of the girls here.

“She said, ‘If we stop listening to these stories about people who have gone before us, then we as people will cease to exist’. I thought ‘wow’ wouldn’t it be great if every young person thought that’s what museums were for, to make sure that we exist.

“That’s what I think museums are all about.”

The 47-year-old Ryedale Folk Museum covers more than three acres, attracts 70,000 visitors a year and is the North York Moors’ leading visitor centre, set in a chocolate box village, now with added daffodils.

The tractor run starts at 11am tomorrow, but remember clocks go forward an hour tonight.

The girls fear this is one thing that might just upset the best-laid plans.