THE creation of a Reminiscence Quilt by elderly people in Ambleside has proved the value of taking history out of museums and into the community.

For the past 18 months, the Armitt Gallery, Museum and Library has been working with members of Ambleside's Age Concern Day Centre to help them find new and creative ways of expressing their lives.

Keen to encourage new uses of the Armitt's collection, little objects such as items of clothing and old photographs from the museum were taken into the day centre to help jog memories.

So much information was generated that the Armitt obtained a grant from the North West Diversity Festival to celebrate the working lives of former farmers and policemen, hotel chamber maids, cooks and bakers by gathering images of them into a quilt, which captures a brief history of the lives of the retired community in the Lake District.

The project is the Armitt's contribution to the Diversity Festival, organised by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (North West).

"The project was at times moving, at times hilarious, and I think we all learned a lot about each other," said project leader and local learning consultant Gilly Hodkinson.

"It is important to make museum collections available to those who are perhaps unable to visit the building and to non-traditional audiences.

"Objects can be enjoyed in new ways and the dialogue inspired by them benefits everyone the individuals concerned, the museum and the wider community."

Armitt curator Michelle Kelly expressed the museum's delight at the creative and rewarding new uses for its material: "Through outreach projects such as this, the Armitt has not only found a new use for its collections but has also been greatly privileged to be allowed into the lives of some wonderful people at the day centre.

"Through them, the museum has learned in incredible detail about life in Ambleside over the course of the 20th Century - the quilt is not only testament to their honesty and enthusiasm, but will act as a permanent reminder of the jobs people did at that time."

The Reminiscence Quilt is currently displayed at the day centre, in the Kelsick Centre building in St Mary's Lane, Ambleside.

It will also be on display at Age Concern's head office in Stricklandgate House, Kendal, before returning to Ambleside in October, when it will be included in a special exhibition at the Armitt Museum celebrating oral history and the power of words.