Look closely at a piece of jet and it doesn’t look particularly impressive at first. Fresh from the cliff, it is not the deep, glossy black that we associate with Victorian jewellery. It is often brownish-grey, dull, and easy to mistake for an ordinary lump of coal. But polish it, and something remarkable happens. The surface transforms into a deep, velvet black that catches the light like glass. For centuries, this strange little piece of fossilised woodland has been pulled

This February half term, we set ourselves a simple but meaningful challenge: how can we help people see Staithes not just as a picturesque seaside village, but as a place layered with stories — stories that live in its cottages, ginnels, harbour walls, and in the objects carefully preserved in the museum? This project was designed to connect local people with local history in a fresh and accessible way. By sharing selected objects from the museum’s collection alongside their