We are thrilled to announce that Kelham Island Museum has been shortlisted for the Museums at Night national Connect10 competition.

Voting starts next week and you can help us!

If successful, the Museum will work with leading contemporary artist Susan Forsyth to stage a spectacular event. Susan's ‘Zusammen Choir' concept is about community music-making on an industrial scale and we definitely have something to make a song and dance about!

We will create a Pied Piper procession from the city centre, celebrating Sheffield as a city of song and steelmaking. Our feet will walk the line of the old electricity cables right back to the source of their energy - Kelham Island Museum, former power station for the city's trams. The procession will swell and grow, gathering voices as it flows, building to the grand finale - a mass duet with our star attraction, the colossal River Don Engine. This working steam engine once powered a rolling mill making armour plating for First World War battleships.

‘Zusammen' means together and local schools and community partners will form the core of the choir, gathering individuals and local residents along the way. The singers will be joined by our Living History characters, bringing people of the past vividly to life.

We are competing against Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Rochdale Pioneers Museum and the University of Liverpool's Victoria Gallery & Museum.

The decision is now up to you the public and voting is open until 5pm on Tuesday 5 March.

Click here to vote for Kelham Island Museum

Museums at Night 2013 takes place in hundreds of museums, galleries and heritage sites across the UK, during the evenings of Thursday 16, Friday 17 and Saturday 18 May. 

The Connect10 competition invites museums all over the country to bid for one of ten leading artists, to help them create a unique event during the Museums at Night weekend. The competition is supported using public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England

Museum honours Sheffield ‘lad'

2013 celebrates 100 years since the discovery of stainless steel in Sheffield by Harry Brearley - a discovery that revolutionized the modern world and shaped the city we know today.

This year the steel city will celebrate Brearley's achievements with a series of exhibitions and activities taking place at venues across Sheffield commemorating 100 Years of Stainless Steel. This annual programme includes two exciting new exhibitions at Kelham Island Museum - Rustless: The Harry Brearley Story and Stay Bright - Keep Bright: The Impact of Stainless on Everyday Life.

In recognition of this extraordinary Sheffielder and in celebration of what would be his 142nd birthday on 18 February of this centenary year, Kelham Island Museum is set to rename one of its rooms in his honour. Part of Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust, the museum not only pays tribute to the city's past achievements, it is also a showcase for Sheffield industry and innovation and an inspiration for future generations to continue the tradition of scientific and technological progress. The Brearley Room will take its place within the museum and will host events and exhibitions, including Rustless, as well as conferencing and learning activities.

Brearley's story is not only one of discovery but of a journey of a Sheffield ‘lad' from Burngreave, to becoming one of the most influential figures of the city's industrial heritage. Brearley was born on the 18th February 1871 on Spital Street, near the Wicker. At this time the area stood in one of the most industrialised areas of Sheffield. The sights and sounds of the area's steelmaking and the Little Mesters Workshops intrigued the young Harry and set in motion an interest in steel which would eventually lead him to make his significant discovery in 1913.

From 1st April 2013 visitors can enjoy two Stainless Steel related exhibitions at Kelham Island Museum - Rustless: The Harry Brearley Story (1st April - 17 November 2013) and Stay Bright Keep Bright: The Impact of Stainless Steel on Everyday Life (1st April - 31 December 2013) hosted by the Hawley Tool Collection. Normal opening times and admission to the museum applies.

For more information see welcometosheffield.co.uk for the 100 Years of Stainless Steel event programme.

Happy New Year to all ... we hope you enjoy our selection of 2012 Victorian Christmas Market Highlights

See our social media pages on Facebook & Twitter @KelhamIsland for more great memories of our special anniversary event!

Images by Ian Spooner.

It's back - our exciting online competition asking you to identify the location of our splendid red ‘Top Hat', the icon of our 20th Victorian Christmas Market at Kelham Island Musuem.

The brightly coloured Top Hat will be worn proudly at the Christmas Market on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 December but in the run up to the festivities it will also be the focus of an exciting social media campaign giving you the chance to win a FREE family ticket to the event.

The Top Hat will be photographed in and around Sheffield in places of interest and resting proudly on the head of a few famous faces. The photographs of the Top Hat can be viewed via twitter @KelhamIsland, facebook KelhamIslandMuseum and our website www.simt.co.uk/news where we'll invite you to guess the location of the hat. Make sure you find us on facebook and twitter for extra little clues and helpful hints about the location.

The ‘Spot the Top Hat' competition can be entered online by emailing ask@simt.co.uk, registering to our website with your answer or posting on facebook or twitter. Fans that correctly guess the location of the Top Hat will be entered into a prize draw for the chance to win tickets.

Kelham Island Museum invites you to enjoy a warm Dickensian welcome on Saturday 1 December 10am - 7pm and Sunday 2 December 10am - 5pm. Admission is £5 adults and accompanied children are FREE.

Normal SIMT Terms and Conditions apply. All correct entries will be entered into our prize draw to win one of ten family passes. Closing date is Mon 26 November 2012. Online winners will be notified by email on how to claim their prize. Entries will also be accepted by post, please send you answer along with your contact details to Events, Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust, Alma Street, Sheffield S3 8RY to arrive no later than the stated closing date.

Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust (SIMT) has been awarded £1m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The funding is for the development of Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet - a former eighteenth century steel works in South West Sheffield.

The focus is on developing the accessibility and learning potential of Abbeydale and to conserve and restore the working machinery of the Hamlet so that visitors can experience a working site and understand how the buildings and the machinery would have been used.

John Hamshere, chief executive of Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust said "This is great news for Abbeydale and we are delighted the bid has been successful.

"Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is a place of outstanding historical significance and the funding will allow us to preserve the site and safeguard its future. It will enable us to make fundamental changes to the way people can enjoy and engage with the site and allow us to build a team that is experienced in heritage skills and can provide a sustainable solution to safe-guarding the site's working machinery in the future."

The project is set to transform the eighteenth century industrial works with essential conservation and restoration work. The million pound project will:

• Restore the waterwheels and other machinery (The engineering team at Abbeydale will get them going and then have the skills to maintain them)
• Build workshops for modern day metal workers
• Create a Learning Centre for Children to learn more about the historical site
• Improve disabled access
• Update facilities, creating a better environment for visitors
• Create a new space for the shop and cafe - taking them out of existing historical buildings
• Introduce a community participation project to engage with local people, new audiences and create a new volunteer team.

John continued: "The site at Abbeydale is of world importance and Sheffield is renowned around the world for our Industrial Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund has given the Hamlet an exciting and secure future. The learning and interpretation programmes will be refreshed and expanded into the new spaces which will be accessible to everyone. Machinery will work again and people will learn new skills as well as passing those skills onto others, with volunteers central to the life of the site. This will all help to protect the heritage of the city as well as develop the Hamlet as a sustainable site for many years to come."

Alex Pettifer chairman of SIMT said: "We're delighted to have been awarded the £1m of Heritage Lottery Funding, it is a truly significant success for the Trust. Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is a place of outstanding historical significance and it is important that the site is preserved. Sheffield will be a better place for the protection of the historical and industrial heritage of the City and how it helped place Sheffield on the world map."

The project is in two strands: ‘Abbeydale -‘A new Learning Experience' and ‘Abbeydale - A Working Site'.

Under the first strand, a Community Participation Officer will be appointed to develop a team of volunteers to interpret and improve the visitor experience of the site. The current interpretation scheme will be revisited and changes made to improve access and visitors' understanding of the site. The aim is to provide increased heritage learning opportunities and remove barriers that limit both numbers and means of delivery.

In the ‘Working Site' strand, the waterwheels and associated machinery will be restored to working order by the Trust's own Technical Services Team. The Team will be trained as part of the project so that the heritage skills of repairing and maintaining waterwheels will be kept within the organisation and form part of the aspiration to be the regional centre for waterpower expertise. Workshops will be created so that metalworkers can return to the site and show craft skills that will sustain the traditions of Sheffield.

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet closes for the winter season from Sunday 7 October and reopens April 2013