FEBRUARY 2020

We are delighted to have been shortlisted for not one, but two awards in the Cornwall Heritage Awards 2020, organised by Cornwall Museums Partnership and South West Museum Development. We have been shortlisted for the Wellbeing Museum Award and the Cornish Object of the Year Award.

The awards recognise and celebrate the excellence within over 70 museums in Cornwall. The Cornish Object of the Year Award presents the opportunity for museums to nominate their most ‘weird and wonderful’ object, and Wheal Martyn put forward Jack Clemo’s braille pocket watch.

This was Clemo’s first braille pocket watch that he used until his first marriage in 1968. Jack Clemo was a Cornish poet and writer who slowly lost his hearing at 19 and was blind by 39. Although his world was retracting inwards around him, it didn’t stop him from following his passion of writing. It’s weird and wonderful because a braille watch is something you may not realise exists in the modern world of digital technology! But, for someone whose life had become enveloped by darkness, that familiar method of telling time would have been precious.

The winner of the Cornish Object of the Year Award is decided by an online public vote, closing at midnight on Sunday 23 February 2020.

Please vote for our braille pocket watch as Cornish Object of the Year in the online vote at the link below by 23 February.

VOTE HERE

We have also been shortlisted for the wellbeing award in recognition of their inclusivity initiatives. Through working in partnership with Heritage Ability, Sensory Trust and Spectrum, we have made numerous improvements to accessibility; for example, creating an easy read guide for people with learning difficulties, BSL clips and installing a hearing loop for visitors who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The winner for the Cornish Object of the Year 2020 will be announced at the Cornwall Heritage Awards on Thursday 26 March 2020.