New 'Being Brunel' museum in Bristol to open in 2016 (now Easter 2017)

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

Indeed - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Froomsgate_House,_Bristol for example. 

[Cynthia]

Brilliant!

However, last time I went to visit the 'Great Britain' sponsorship was still being saught for planks of this wonderful ship, to help with maintenance/ongoing restoration costs.  I can't help but think, then, that this latest project seems a bit ambitious, or have the fortunes of the Great Britain improved SO much in recent years?

Thanks for your support, Cynthia!

You're welcome, CfN, and I'll be at the front of the queue when the museum opens in 2016!

[Chris from Nailsea]

An update, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Being Brunel museum given 1,000 items


Isambard Kingdom Brunel is reputed to have smoked 40 cigars a day

A cigar which belonged to the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel is one of nearly 1,000 items to go on public display for the first time.

It is part of a collection donated to the ss Great Britain Trust by collector Clive Richards. The cigar will join thousands of other items at the Being Brunel museum which is due to open in 2016 in the ship he helped to launch in 1843.

Brunel is thought to be one of the most ingenious engineers in history. He built 25 railway lines, more than 100 bridges and three ships.

The iron-hulled steamship, the Great Britain was the most experimental steamship of its time, revolutionising travel and setting new standards in engineering, reliability and speed.


Brunel's penknife is among the possessions to have been donated to the new exhibition

After being left to rust in the Falkland Islands it was rescued and returned to Bristol in 1970, where it was restored and turned into a tourist attraction.

Among the donated items are Brunel's school reports which give a glimpse into his early life, his personalised pen knife and his famous cigar case, containing the cigar.

Matthew Tanner, from the ss Great Britain Trust, said: "Being Brunel will engage people of all ages by looking into the mind of a genius who was also a very human and interesting person. Clive Richards' magnificent Brunel Collection is particularly rich in telling the human side of the Brunel story, and will inspire visitors to understand him, and be excited by what he achieved, and perhaps what they themselves might be able to achieve too."

Brunel, who is reputed to have smoked 40 cigars a day, suffered with kidney problems for several years before dying of a stroke at the age of 53 in 1859.

[TonyK]

On the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) TV report, this was described as "a cigar smoked by Brunel", whereas it is clear it was never even lit.

(May belong in pedantry thread)

[SandTEngineer]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-33636296

New Brunel attraction in Bristol gets ^4.5m in lottery funding

Being Brunel musuem, Bristol

More than ^4.5m has been awarded to the ss Great Britain Trust for an Isambard Kingdom Brunel museum in Bristol.
The ^7.1m attraction, set to open alongside the ss Great Britain in 2017, will display Brunel's personal papers and possessions for the first time.

Brunel's office, where plans for the ss Great Britain were drawn up, will also be restored as part of the project.
Rhian Tritton, from the trust, said the funding allows them "to tell the story of Brunel in the way it deserves".

More than 14,000 items, pulled from the University of Bristol's Brunel Collection, along with thousands of artefacts from a private collector are due to go on show at the new "Being Brunel" museum.

Among the "never-before-seen" documents and personnel possessions will be Brunel's "last cigar", his sketchbooks and a drawing of a horse created by the engineer at the age of six.

"We've got the most significant collection of Brunel material in public hands anywhere in the world" said Ms Tritton.
"We have a hugely important private collection as well and that collection contains some of the most resonant private possessions of Brunel."

Following the Heritage Lottery Funding (HLF) award, the trust still needs to raise an additional ^670,000 to complete the project.

Due to launch Easter 2017, the new museum is expected to attract more than 200,000 visitors annually.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Great Western Railway press release:

Brunel Institute unveils previously unseen selfie

Fascinating entries afford a rare glimpse into the character of the youthful Brunel, including self-portrait
 
Curators at the Brunel Institute in Bristol have unveiled previously unseen diary and notebook entries by legendary engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, including a self-portrait, drawn years before his appointment as chief engineer for the Great Western Railway Company.  The items have been revealed in advance of the 175th anniversary of the running of the first train between London and Bristol which is being celebrated on 30 June.
 
The entries, which show the passion of Isambard Kingdom Brunel – who has been described as “one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history” will be displayed at Brunel’s ss Great Britain from Tuesday 28 June to Saturday 2 July along with other items connected to his work on the Great Western Railway. The special series of free drop-in sessions will take place from 12.30pm to 1.30pm daily. A Facebook Live webinar will launch the programme on Tuesday 28 June at 12.15pm (www.facebook.com/ssgreatbritain).
 
One diary entry from 1831 describes a journey he took on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Brunel wrote: “The time is not far off when we shall be able to take our coffee and write while going noiselessly and smoothly at 45 miles per hour… let me try.”
 
Two years later, Brunel was appointed chief engineer for the Great Western Railway, the length of which he personally surveyed in its entirety in a bid to find the smoothest, flattest route.

Brunel is known to have often attempted to draw a perfect circle while travelling on the nation’s bumpy railway lines. One entry is a pencil drawing that Brunel made; seemingly of himself travelling in a cold carriage as he attempts to draw circles and write smoothly.
 
Eleni Papavasileiou, Head of Curatorial and Library Services at the ss Great Britain Trust, said: “From Brunel’s extensive diary entries and notebooks, we start to sense his thought processes and understand how he approached the creation of the Great Western Railway. These informal musings and doodles might appear trivial, yet they tell us so much about Brunel’s mind and how he was absorbing every facet of the challenge he faced.”
 
GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Commercial Director Matthew Golton has studied the early history of the Great Western Railway. He said: “All these items give us a real sense of the young Brunel’s determined – and on occasion playful – personality. The diary extract could well be documentary evidence of the moment of inspiration that gave birth to Brunel’s vision of the Great Western Railway, so flat it became known as the Brunel’s Billiard Table.
 
“The second – likely a self-portrait – bears an uncanny resemblance to one of the famous photographs by the landing chains of the ss Great Eastern almost 30 years later.”

So there you are - 'Coach A' was Brunel's idea:

Brunel wrote: “The time is not far off when we shall be able to take our coffee and write while going noiselessly and smoothly at 45 miles per hour… let me try.”