STEVE Garland is in overall charge of 350,000 items for Bolton Museum - from a pin-head sized beetle to a mill engine. "It all sounds a bit daunting, but in fact exciting is the word I would use," Steve said.

"We have the opportunity to both educate and entertain people of all ages."

The sheer size and scale of artifacts owned by the museum is a problem of course.

"Much of our work is taken up with working out how to display items, and how to display them correctly," he adds.

Based in the main museum building in the town centre, Steve also has responsibility for the Art Gallery, the Aquarium, Hall i'th' Wood - where Samuel Crompton invented his Mule - and Smithills Hall.

He began his career as a naturalist and joined Bolton Museum in 1985 to run the natural history section. He has been curator for two years.

Apart from education and entertainment, another responsibility for Steve and his staff is the protection and preservation of items.

"Every museum can only display a tiny proportion of what it has and space is only one of the problems," he says.

"For example, part of our Egyptology collection consists of some early fabric which is thousands of years old. This material is extremely sensitive, making it very difficult to exhibit."

Of course, being in Bolton, the museum also has an impressive collection of items covering our industrial history. However, a planned heritage centre was not given the go-ahead and much of the collection is not on display at the moment.

One way of showing more items is to enter into partnerships with other museums.

Treasures In Trust is a partnership with Bury Museum aimed at making space for 8,000 objects at both Bolton and Bury, while another partnership joins Bolton to Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester University Museums and Galleries and the Harris Museum in Preston; while yet another is with the British Museum.

The Internet is another way of showing off Bolton's treasures and Steve is overseeing a project to get as many items as possible on to the museum's website.

"It is a way to show our items to the widest possible audience," says Steve, "but we must not lose sight of the fact that we are still a local museum and, as such, local people coming in and looking at objects is what we are really here for."

To this end, one of Steve's favourite projects is the Saturday "handling" session.

"The idea came from the staff," he says, "each of us has our own expertise and wherever possible the member of staff on duty will be able to help people hold pieces, while having the expert talk about them."

Another idea that the museum is working on is the possibility of taking artifacts out into the town.

"We could take wartime effects to old peoples' homes or hospitals for instance. There is some evidence that objects from the past can actually help people with Alzheimers."

Steve is looking forward to the attraction's future. He says: "At some point we are going to need to expand - maybe build in more space for some of those stored artifacts - and modernise.

"I have a feeling that the next couple of years are going to be very interesting!"

FACTFILE

The first recorded museum in Bolton was the privately owned Sharple's Museum of Curiosities dated from 1832. It was destroyed by fire in 1852.

The first purpose-built museum was built with a £5,000 bequest between 1879 and 1882. As it cost more than the £5,000 it was not immediately open to the public!

In 1883 Bolton employed a curator who equipped the museum and set up displays.

The museum opened to the public in July 1884.

In 1890 Mere Hall was opened as an Art Gallery

In 1899 William Hesketh Lever presented Hall i'th'Wood to Bolton as a folk museum, with particular emphasis on Samuel Crompton.

In 1938 Bolton's current Civic Centre was completed and the museum, art gallery and library were reunited in the same building where they remain to this day.

In 1852 Bolton Borough Council adopted the Libraries and Museums Act. It was only the third local authority in the country to open a library under the provisions of that Act of Parliament.

The first item to be donated to the committee was a small collection of fossils.

With the committee concentrating on the library, the museums collections grew slowly and were poorly arranged in a room in the old Exchange News Room in Victoria Square from 1853 to 1938.

The website is www.boltonmuseums.org.uk and opening hours are: Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm. Closed Sundays and Bank Holidays.