A BEAUTIFUL new stained glass canopy was this week erected outside Okehampton?s Museum of Dartmoor Life, heralding a new era for the refurbished building. The canopy features a colourful stained glass roundel, which has become the museum?s new logo and which was designed by its former curator, Alan Endacott. Maurie Webber, the present curator, said: ?The stained glass can be back-lit, which will look wonderful ? we hope it will really attract people walking down the road and I really think it will give us further identity.? The canopy is based on the idea of a Victorian arcade ? the steelwork has been made by Paul Gilbert from Powderham Forge. Maurie said this summer would be an important one for the museum ? the first since the major £650,000 refurbishment and a turning point after the dark days of foot and mouth and the depressed period following the crisis . The investment has transformed the exhibition areas, treasure troves which provide an invaluable learning experience for local people and visitors alike. Two new items on display this summer are 13th century bells on loan from the Diocese of Truro. Maurie said: ?We think they were originally from Okehampton Castle because of the inscription on them, which is basically about Eleanor Courtney, calling for the soul of her dead husband. ?They were found on the floor of a church in Cornwall. We don?t know how long they were there for or how they got there, but we?ve had them conserved now and put into this wonderful oak frame. ?They are certainly significant bells, they?re absolutely super and make a lovely addition to our collection.? Thanks to the dedicated work of the museum?s team of volunteers, Maurie hopes the research department should soon be open regularly on a weekly basis, enabling people to carry out studies into family history. ?At the moment, most people have to do it by appointment,? she said. The John Young Gallery at the museum is also available for hire for small conferences and meetings. Maurie said the room was well equipped, light and bright and was an ideal, centre of town facility. The gallery is currently hosting the John Ravilious ?This Farming Life? exhibition, a collection of black and white photos depicting the agricultural way of life from the 1970s to the present. One item in the museum?s collection is still something of a mystery to museum staff ? it is an old slipper bath, originally used communally by up to five families in Lillicrap Court, Okehampton. Maurie said: ?It?s been here for as long as I can remember, but it?s the funnel on the top which nobody understands. It doesn?t go anywhere and it?s solid at the bottom. There?s a tap at the base of the bath to the let the water out, but this funnel is a mystery. ?I certainly can?t imagine anyone getting their legs into a bath like this ? and you?d never get out again if you had a bad back!? The Museum of Dartmoor Life is open Monday to Saturday between 10.15am and 4pm. Anyone who would like to become a volunteer at the building, or who has information about the mystery funnel on its slipper bath exhibit, can call Maurie Webber on 01837 52295.