Theresa Emmett

Museum of Life

Are you able to find 10 items around your house that mean something special to you?

Things that you have saved over your lifetime, and then tell us about those items and why they are important to you.

Here is HRGS Secretary, Theresa’s 10 items.

List of 10 Items that I have collected

  1. My postcard collection
  2. My cream puff dog
  3. A Victorian dolls head found in my old garden
  4. My singing teddy
  5. A silver cup
  6. My 50th Birthday Year Book
  7. A Wooden Dresser
  8. Grandfather Clock
  9. My computer and all its data
  10. Wall of Reflection at the Heritage Hub

Item 1.

My postcard collection – especially the first one my Dad gave me when I was 6. Well actually it was sent to my Mum and she let me have it for my collection when I was about 10 years old. The front image is of a camel in Egypt, as my Dad was in the army and away on manoeuvres at the time. What it gave me when I read it, was a peak into the past. This started my life-long interest in collecting postcards. I do like the images on the front. But when I send cards I always try and write a snippet of history, the price of something, a story about the place I visited, what I thought of the place, how hot or cold it was, some piece of history. 

Item 2. 

My cream puff dog was a gift from my friend Ron Millington, who was like a dad to me, when I was 18. He was my first serious boyfriend’s dad. And when me and his son John split up (circa 1980) Ron bought me the cream puff dog to cheer me up. The dog has been with me to lots of places, and holds lots of happy memories, as I carried it down the aisle when I married my first husband Gian Bertorelli in 1984, and on some holidays; and lives in my bedside draw. So the cream puff is easy to take with me, as it is small enough to hold in one palm of your hand, or hide in your pocket without the world knowing you need a teddy to cuddle.  I also took it with me to Ron’s funeral on 11th February 2021.

Item 3.

A Victorian dolls head found in my old garden – It never fails to amaze me the things that people throw away or drop. I found this porcelain dolls head and shoulders that would have been attached to a fabric body that made a doll for a Victorian little girl. I found it whilst I was changing the flower boarder at my home at Breach Lane in around 2006. I found it because I was sifting the soil for bulbs to plant elsewhere. It was the first of many things as an hobby archaeologist I would dig up and research.

Item 4.

My singing teddy plays the tune ‘Girls just wanna have fun’. The teddy is a reminder of a fabulous day out with my friends. It was given to me as a 50th birthday gift in 2010 from my ‘girl friends’ when we set off on a coach trip to Brighton – just one of the things that I organised to celebrate my 50th birthday year! This trip was a day out to Brighton with as many of my friends as I could persuade to spend the day with me visiting the seaside and playing games on the coach. We then had an organised history tour around the lanes, a trip around the Police Museum, fun on the arcade games and dinner where ever we wanted.  White teddies have a soft spot in my heart, as my very first teddy was also a white teddy bear.

Item 5.

A silver cup – presented to me in 1961 (My Mum recalls it was February 1961) in Kluang. The cup was presented as 1st prize at a Baby Show, by Hup Lee & Co Johure Bahru. I would have been exactly 6 months old, when I won this baby competition. My Mum says that she took me along to see the other babies but the safa-sister had entered me into the competition. I had yellow flipflops on my feet and just terry-towelling pants, as it was so warm in Malaysia.  My Mum still can’t believe that I was walking, holding the judge’s hand – she says I bewitched him as I was so young and yet walking, he made me Miss Kluang 1961!

Item 6.

My 50th Birthday Year Book which I managed to collate and have printed in 2012 has so many fabulous memories of all the things that happened to me on my 50th birthday year. Richard and I bought me a blue car Audi A3, the colour of my dream blue sky/ the book also records we helped many of my friends celebrate their 50th birthdays, and so many friends helped me make my year special by giving me a day to remember, rather than a present. I learnt how to make pavlova, went to the Tower of London, picked blackberries in Rye, went on a spooky Halloween walk, plus many other activities. I organised the coach trip, and encouraged all my friends to feed my postcard collection with their memories of their day. I then scanned them all into my book with all the photos. Plus the actual main party which I held in Newington village Hall, which had so many games for people to be involved in and a fortune teller that went from table to table. Then music and friends helped make the evening, whilst my two twelve year old nieces helped me on the night (Emily Sioux Watson and Alisha Sallam) marked the quiz papers and made the evening even more special.

 

Item 7.

A wooden dresser – which I purchased with my first proper bonus when I worked for Barclays Bank. I won’t say here how much it cost, as it was far too much money, but I keep the price tag that was on it, still in the draw of the dresser. I bought it at the turn of the millennium, and felt at the time I was buying an antique of the future. A beautifully hand crafted wooden dresser that made me feel at the time, that I had made a name for myself with my company and I was able to turn that into a piece of family history to pass on to one of my nieces.

Item 8.

The Grandfather Clock is made from Rose wood, and was bought from Hong Kong in 1984 whilst on my honeymoon to my first husband. We had it shipped home and remember the great unveiling of this huge wooden packing case that delivered it nearly safely (just a new glass front needed) to our home in Kent. It chimes on the quarter hour, plays three separate tunes, and needs to be wound up once a week. The carvings on the clock are of dragons and I was lucky enough to keep it, when Gian and I split up amicably in 2002.

Item 9.

My computer and all its data would seem to be a strange thing at first to put in a museum, but it hold thousands of photos and thousands of documents; many that I have prepared since I became a member of the Historical Research Group of Sittingbourne. I back up my emails and documents and would be lost without the memories that link me to so many stories and events. I feel privileged to be part of such a group that does so many things. And to have received the Queen’s award for Voluntary Service in June 2020 was a real milestone in our group’s adventures.

Item 10.

The Wall of Reflection at the Heritage Hub was unveiling in the Forum shopping centre in Sittingbourne on 4th November 2018. It is to me a symbol of the project that Richard Emmett, my husband, suggested that the Historical Research Group of Sittingbourne start in 2012. It was supposed to be a project to bring the 500ish names from in and around Sittingbourne, so that the person became a real person, and not just a name. The project grew and grew and now records 1149 names from 26 parishes, which 150 volunteers were involved in over the six years. It is complimented by the Touch Screen that holds around 3000 names (as this includes Sheppey and Faversham names as well). We created a powerpoint with pictures and words that tell the life of that name on the memorial; and also those who were missed off the memorials. If they were born, schooled, lived, loved, died or are buried in one of our local parishes, we have studied each and every name, till they are just like our own kin. A real legacy that I hope will live on forever.

Why not contribute to the Museum of Life.

Send us a list of your 10 items and photographs to mailto:research@hrgs.co.uk