Writer in Residence

June 27th 2016

Beamish has welcomed its first ever writer-in-residence.

Becci Sharrock is a writer, blogger and theatre producer based in Gateshead and will be working with the Community Participation Team, focusing on the Remaking Beamish project.

Her 10-month residency, which began in April, is funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Becci will be blogging about her time at the museum and creating a series of short stories in response.

She said: “I’m so excited about the opportunity to spend time at Beamish, both out and about in the museum itself and behind the scenes. I’ve already spent some time in costume in some of the exhibits and have been out and about with the engagement team.

“Meeting the individuals, groups and communities who are helping to create, curate and inform the new exhibits that will eventually feature in the museum has definitely been a highlight and I can’t wait to find out more about how that process works.

“I’m already inspired by the wealth of knowledge and history here at Beamish and I’ve pretty much blown my book budget already to try and get up to speed – there’ll be lots of reading and researching in the next few months and I can’t wait!”

Sally Dixon, Assistant Director Partnerships & Communications, said: “We’re thrilled to have Becci in residence at such an exciting stage in the museum’s development.

“Becci will be embedding herself within our Community Participation Team, who lead on work to involve local people in new developments at the museum – work which involves getting out and about across the region to collect stories, memories and objects.

“The way that the museum works with communities is totally unique to Beamish, and we hope that Becci’s residency will shine a light on this work, as well as exploring new and creative ways of telling local people’s stories. We are grateful to the Leverhulme Trust for funding the residency.”

Here is an extract from a story written by Becci, inspired by a conversation with our Costume Team.

“I am a green dress. I have a high waist and sleeves that come to just below the elbow, with five gold buttons down my front. I have a strip of white fabric at the bottom of my length which skims the floor as I am worn.

I came into the world in the costume department, made by skilled hands, nimble fingers and creative minds. Into me they stitched thoughts of the past, present and future. Since then, I’ve had many owners, many outings, glimpses into many lives. Rain, mud and dirty hems. Sunshine, heat and dry, dusty soil, kicked up onto me as they walk.”.

You can follow Becci’s journey and read some of the stories inspired by the residency on her blog http://beamishtales.co.uk/.