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How to use Drama to invigorate your Education Offer, through the Narrative Immersion approach

Empowering workshop facilitators to use drama processes in their sessions and deliver the Narrative Immersion approach.

By the end of the day delegates will have:

Teas and coffees will be provided, delegates are asked to bring their own lunch.

Priority will be given to staff/volunteers from non-NPO West Midlands museums which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.

Click on the button below to book your place, if there is no button this event is fully booked. If you wish to be added to the waiting list please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk with the name of the event.

12 February 2020 – Learning through Drama: The Narrative Immersion Approach
10am-4pm Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, Little Elborow Street, Rugby CV21 3BZ

Exceeding Visitor Expectations

This one day training course is aimed at staff undertaking visitor-facing roles in West Midlands museums who want to increase confidence and skills, in order to deliver excellent customer service.

11 February 2020 – Exceeding Visitor Expectations
9.15am-4.15pm, Museum of Carpet, Stour Vale Mill, Green Street, Kidderminster, DY10 1AZ

Exceeding Visitor Expectations will help participants to:

Tourism South East will combine the expertise of VisitEngland’s Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme and the experience of the renowned Welcome to Excellence training programmes to deliver ‘Exceeding Visitor Expectations’.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Click here to book

Priority will be given to staff/volunteers from non-NPO West Midlands museums which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.  Maximum of two delegates per museum.

 

Exceeding Visitor Expectations

This one day training course is aimed at staff undertaking visitor-facing roles in West Midlands museums who want to increase confidence and skills, in order to deliver excellent customer service.

Exceeding Visitor Expectations will help participants to:

Tourism South East will combine the expertise of VisitEngland’s Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme and the experience of the renowned Welcome to Excellence training programmes to deliver ‘Exceeding Visitor Expectations’.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Priority will be given to staff/volunteers from non-NPO West Midlands museums which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.  Maximum of two delegates per museum.

Click on the button below to book your place, if there is no button this event is fully booked. If you wish to be added to the waiting list please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk with the name of the event.

11 February 2020 – Exceeding Visitor Expectations
9.15am-4.15pm, Museum of Carpet, Stour Vale Mill, Green Street, Kidderminster, DY10 1AZ

Welcoming All Customers

Welcoming All Customers is a brand new one day course, delivered by Tourism South East, packed with practical advice to allow your organisation to attract and delight all customers.

5 December – Welcoming All Customers
9.15am-4.15pm, Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, The Square SY1 1LH

Designed to boost the confidence of staff/volunteers in anticipating and meeting the needs of disabled customers and looks at how small changes and a positive attitude can make all the difference.  The content is designed to be delivered in a participative way with a variety of activities, exercises and discussion sessions.

This course will help you to:

Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Click here to book

Priority will be given to staff/volunteers from non-NPO West Midlands museums which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.  Maximum of two delegates per museum.

Welcoming All Customers

Welcoming All Customers is a brand new one day course, delivered by Tourism South East, packed with practical advice to allow your organisation to attract and delight all customers.

Designed to boost the confidence of staff/volunteers in anticipating and meeting the needs of disabled customers and looks at how small changes and a positive attitude can make all the difference.  The content is designed to be delivered in a participative way with a variety of activities, exercises and discussion sessions.

This course will help you to:

Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Priority will be given to staff/volunteers from non-NPO West Midlands museums which are Accredited or officially Working Towards Accreditation.  Maximum of two delegates per museum.

Click on the button below to book your place, if there is no button this event is fully booked. If you wish to be added to the waiting list please email wmmd@ironbridge.org.uk with the name of the event.

5 December – Welcoming All Customers
9.15am-4.15pm, Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, The Square SY1 1LH

Meet our Finalists – Young People

Meet the finalists in our final category Young People…

Alex Rowe, Waterworks Museum – Hereford

Alex, an 18-year old blacksmithing student, walked into the Museum in April 2018 to offer his services as a volunteer.  Nobody could have anticipated the impact he would make in a short space of time. In his first week he distributed posters around Hereford and then volunteered additional weekend time to support their Steampunk festival. He has diligently supported their open days in steam during term time, and some during college holidays. He is the youngest of their volunteers in training to operate the 1895 triple expansion steam engine. In September-October 2018, he boosted awareness of the Museum by producing two ‘behind the scenes’ video-blogs.

Given this contribution, it was no surprise when in March 2019 Alex was appointed the Waterworks Museum’s first Youth Trustee.

It would have been quite daunting for an 18-year-old to step into this environment, but Alex’s enthusiasm and can-do attitude quickly saw him accepted as a valuable and valued member of the team.

Jacob Fowkes, Claymills Victorian Pumping Station

Jacob now 17 first came to the museums junior engineers club aged 12. He’d been told there was no room, and arrived with his membership fee, form filled in, and both parents as back-up. They couldn’t turn down such keenness, and immediately made room.

For the first few years he worked under guidance, proving to be very intelligent and a very quick learner, and he was soon trusted to undertake projects without supervision. Since then he has personally restored or overhauled several of their smaller steam engines, and worked well in a team on the large ones. He has also become a knowledgeable and very popular tour guide. He strategises their social media and runs them with one other young volunteer, and now works as an adult leader with the junior engineers. He will soon be asked to join the board of trustees at the museum.

“Claymills, and the world, need more young people like Jacob.” [Nominator]

Phoebe Kelly, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Birmingham Museum Trust

Phoebe’s role was to support the organisation of the annual Heritage Week in Birmingham which takes place in September. In this role Phoebe gathered information about events happening across the city and got it ready for the website, she supported social media activity, played a huge part in the launch event and assisted with the co-ordination of the evaluation. She is also an Archive Project Assistant working alongside the Heritage Sites Teams to collate a business archive for Birmingham Museums. This role involves visiting our sites and physically sorting information as well as pulling it all together digitally. She manages to balance both projects brilliantly, whilst also studying full time at university, and it is through her hard work that these projects are as successful as they are.

“Phoebe is a true advocate of Birmingham Museums and her hard work, passion and enthusiasm are clear whenever she is volunteering with us. We really believe that Phoebe deserves to be publicly recognised for the work and passion she has bought to our organisation.” [Nominator]

Meet our Finalists – The Projects

Next up we would like you to meet the finalists in the Project category…

Coffin Works’ Collections Volunteers, The Coffin Works’ Collections Audit project, The Coffin Works

“Although an audit is pretty standard in terms of museum work, the effort, timescale and commitment (not to mention working in a draughty Victorian manufactory in the depths of winter!), as well as the speed at which this was achieved was anything but standard. The vast and varied nature of our collection meant a significant amount of volunteer help was needed and by the time we submitted our application they had racked up an impressive 950+ hours between a team of 12 volunteers. The bulk of those hours being completed in an extremely short time frame, beginning in January 2018 in order to meet our Accreditation return deadline by September 2018.

We could not have done this without the powerhouse that is the Coffin Works’ Collection’s Team. This award is to recognise them, but also to mark the achievement of where we’ve got to in just five years. It seeks to highlight the personal efforts of the Team who can often be overlooked, as they do not have the main stage, but without whose dedication and impact we wouldn’t be where we are today.” [Nominator]

Jake Whitehouse Project Volunteers, Jake Whitehouse Collection Website project, Staffordshire Archives & Heritage

In early 2018, Staffordshire County Museum Service had a short term opportunity to digitise an important collection of 1,695 images collected over a lifetime by Jake Whitehouse (1926-2017), local and military historian. Without volunteer help, the project would have been impossible to achieve. A team of volunteers researched caption information, dates and locations for all 1,695 images and entered them into the database between June and November 2018, a phenomenal amount of work in such a short period of time.

To complete the project, the project volunteers also undertook to lead a guided walk of World War 1 remains on Cannock Chase for 90 Etching Hill Primary school pupils; and ran celebration events hosted at Walton Village Hall and the Museum of Cannock Chase. In total, the 24 volunteers involved in the project contributed 763 hours of their time to make it the success it has turned out to be.

“We are fortunate that this group of people are so willing to share their knowledge and committed so much time and energy.”[Nominator]

Lace Guild Volunteers, Hidden in Stores project, The Lace Guild Museum

“The Lace Guild’s Museum is entirely staffed by Volunteers. As an Accredited Museum we have aspired to display lace from the V & A museum. It certainly was the catalyst, the inspiration to transform a very tired, not very public-friendly building into a clean and bright space that we were proud to invite the public into. We applied for grants to improve physical access to our building, and improved accessible toilet facilities.

We have all worked together to realise a long-awaited dream of our Museum Curators. We have supported and inspired each other along the way to move the Lace Guild forward into the 21st Century.

This project is noteworthy in that not only did we achieve a long held aspiration, to bring lace out of the V&A stores to display in the Midlands, to enable visitors to have the opportunity to view a few examples of lace of outstanding interest and beauty, but in so doing we brought the attention of our little Museum to many, who had no idea we existed.  It has galvanized the whole of the Lace Guild into action.” [Nominator]

Reminiscence Volunteer Team, Reminiscence project, Birmingham Back to Backs

A team of dedicated volunteers based at the Birmingham Back to Backs have been working with the Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust (SMHFT) to make a real meaningful difference for people with Dementia. Sessions were created based on feedback received from visitors with Dementia and their families that the current guided tours of the Back to Backs was simply not suitable for visitors with Dementia.

The Reminiscence Team of volunteers used the 1840’s Levy family house as the setting. Visitors, their families and volunteers along with SMHFT simply sat around like the families would have at the times our houses were lived in. The Reminiscence Team used the coal fires, candles and a cuppa along with introducing artefacts from the Back to Back’s collection to stimulate discussion.

The reminiscence team’s intervention has demonstrated that despite many logistical challenges with careful planning and determination, the Birmingham Back to Backs can and has introduced more flexible tours which are more aligned with the needs of our visitors. Artefacts from their collections that were once overlooked are now carefully the centre of attention during their reminiscence tours.

The Croft Cloth Crafting Team, The Croft Cloth project, Croft Castle

“As part of an exhibition celebrating the 100 anniversary of the representation of the people act we decided to make an art work to celebrate craft and community. It took the form of a signature cloth which were very popular in the early 20th century as a way of fundraising, commemorating an event or just as a statement of friendship. The idea was that anyone could sign their name on a scrap of recycled fabric in the shape of an oak leaf. Then the leaf would be attached to the cloth and initially exhibited at Christmas, but then to be given a space in the castle for posterity.

Visitors could sit at a table and sign and embroider their own leaf or the team would do it for them.

Our fantastic volunteer team sewed over 2000 leaves and formed a crafting group that is already working on new ways to create community projects to engage and amaze our visitors.” [Nominator]

Works on Paper Volunteers, Works on Paper project, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Birmingham Museum Trust

“Our Works on Paper volunteer team of six, alongside our Collections Digitisation Assistant, are working through this collection of 36,000 objects, one at a time measuring and condition checking all items and then photographing them. They are also updating all of the objects digital records to ensure we have the correct information about this significantly important collection. As the majority of this collection have not been displayed or digitised previously, the public will be able to enjoy some of these works for the very first time. We think this is pretty special!

The Works on Paper project has exceeded all expectations with regards to our volunteer team. Bryce, Helen, Isobel, Leanne, Mariel and Monica are such champions of Birmingham Museums and the collection and their hard work is ensuring that a significant number of objects are correctly recorded, inventoried and photographed whilst also helping to make them more publically accessible. We really believe that they deserve to be acknowledged for the dedication and enthusiasm they have bought to our organisation.” [Nominator]

Meet our Finalists – Individuals

Meet the individuals who are finalists in the 2019 West Midlands Volunteer Awards…

Barry Bull, Chasewater Railway Museum

Barry’s knowledge of the museum’s collections, and his understanding of individual items, have enabled the full recording and documentation of the artefacts and archives, which are progressively being made available on display or electronically to a wider audience.

Bearing in mind that Barry does not own or drive a car and thus has to rely on the vagaries of public transport to and from his home in Birmingham, attendance at the museum (in all weathers) requires real commitment, a fact that does not go un-noticed within the museum team and the growing group of regular museum supporters. Barry has been ‘snowed-in’ and forced to stay the night more than once, mentioning work achieved rather than inconvenience suffered.

Even with significant commitments elsewhere, Barry continues to give over a thousand hours a year to the museum.

Barry reaches 50 years of service this year, the majority of this as Museum Curator, a role he has carried out with exceptional dedication.

Gayle Bevan, Aston Hall, Birmingham Museum Trust

Gayle started volunteering at Aston Hall over five years ago as a Heritage Interpreter.

Gayle has taken her volunteer role further as she has also developed a wonderful Heritage Herb Garden in the courtyard at Aston Hall, to tie in with a Pop Up Still Room that she delivers, and she has organised a Costume Room within the Hall itself too.

Her excellent tours of the building are always well received, and she enables them to welcome more visitors to this site and to share its history with the public. Gayle is very customer service focused and it was visitors’ comments that encouraged her to develop a Pop Up Still Room.

She feels like such a central part of the team and alongside supporting the delivery of tours she has developed her own projects to improve the visitor experience and has supported lots of new volunteers to settle into their roles at the sites too.

Gill Salisbury, Selly Manor Museum

Gill volunteers at Selly Manor every week and has become a vital member of the team and incredibly generous in sharing her time, skills and knowledge.

Gill is a talented seamstress and spent months making 40 costumes for their visiting school children who are transformed into mini-Tudors. These are now worn by 6000 school children each year and is a real highlight of their visit and it’s thanks to Gill!

During her time at the museum Gill has loved organizing and delivering their craft activities. Their regular sessions need lots of getting ready and Gill is always keen to lend a hand whether it’s making trousers for George Cadbury finger puppets or creating time traveller watch straps.

Gill loves helping the children and seeing the smiles on their faces when they take home something they have enjoyed making.
Gill is a fantastic example of someone who makes the difference and all the hard work and dedication worthwhile.

Jan Barnes, Shropshire Museums

Jan began volunteering almost 25 years ago, primarily working with and caring for the Costume Collection. During her time, she has been a key member of the costume team hoping to oversee two collection moves and a major cataloguing project.

However, her work is not restricted to backroom activities. Jan also helps to refresh the costume gallery at Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery and always has great ideas for display themes. Jan works regularly as a Gallery Guide at Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery helping to bring the collections to life for the visitor. There are many children who have had had their first experience of sewing alongside her!

“As Jan embarks on a new adventure and leaves us to relocate we would like to show our appreciation for her dedicated support over many years. Jan has provided the service with over 1,000 days of her time. I have learnt so much from her and regard her as equal to many professional costume curators I have met. There will be so many times over the coming weeks when I think “Jan would know…” [Nominator]

Jovan Jules, Pen Museum

In February 2019, just five minutes into his first day volunteering, Jovan was literally (without being forewarned) ‘thrown into the deep end’ by being placed on the front desk to welcome visitors. Since that day Jovan has unstintingly accepted and approached a wide and diverse range of volunteer activities with unremitting enthusiasm, commitment and dedication whether during the week, evenings or weekends.

Jovan’s unstinting dedication and commitment to the Pen Museum has resulted in the successful development of new activities that focus on improving the visitor’s experience.

The new activities developed have helped ensure customers enjoy their visit and receive a consistently high quality experience that clearly surpasses their pre-expectations as highlighted in TripAdvisor reviews.
Jovan is an exemplar volunteer who epitomises the value and critical importance of volunteers who by freely donating their time, passion and dedication ensure museums continue to provide public access and thereby provide a sustainable historical legacy for future generations.

Mike Hermolle, Lapworth Museum of Geology

Mike has been instrumental in helping the Lapworth to make considerable in-roads into addressing our documentation backlogs. Mike works principally on collections documentation, preventative conservation and general collections management. Mike’s work is always meticulous ensuring that the work he completes is of the highest quality.

Mike was also a huge asset when the Lapworth underwent its major redevelopment. Mike was (and still is) always the first to volunteer for tasks, including helping to decant, and then further relocate, the 300,000 objects within the Lapworth’s collection. Mike was also instrumental in the focus groups that helped to inform, shape and deliver, the successful Redevelopment Project.

Mike is a ‘perfect volunteer’ – committed, reliable, enthusiastic, thorough, and keen to learn, but equally -to share his considerable knowledge and skills.
One thing that helps to demonstrate Mike’s dedication to the Lapworth Museum of Geology comes from his granddaughter, who clearly recognises how Mike is dedicated to the Museum as she refers to the Lapworth as “grandad’s museum”.

Nigel Priddey, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists

Without Nigel’s help, the gallery would not be able to manage the Collection and Archive store to their current high standards.

Through the range of tasks involved in his role, Nigel also helps to assist with tackling barriers/difficulties by making films and ensuring we have a good digital record of works in the Collection, Nigel has helped them share more Collection and archive-related information with people who are less able to visit the gallery due to access barriers/difficulties (e.g. researchers from further afield who cannot afford to travel out to RBSA gallery, disabled audiences who might face more transport and parking difficulties, Deaf and Blind audiences who need films with subtitles and audio rather than just text on a webpage).

Nigel goes above and beyond on a regular basis. As well as his Archive Officer role, he helps with general stewarding and exhibition changeovers throughout the year.

Everyone has always found Nigel to be friendly, supportive, good-humoured and helpful. He has a wealth of experience, providing insightful comments and ideas in a way that is still very modest and open to feedback from others.

Pam McNamee, Redfern’s Cottage: Museum of Uttoxeter Life

Shortly afterward starting Pam was appointed as secretary to the Uttoxeter Heritage Trust in 2011 assisting the treasurer from 2013. During this period the trust was the recipient of a large Heritage Lottery Grant to fund the redevelopment and extension of the museum. Pam was appointed as project trustee responsible for overseeing the project in 2017 and given responsibility for the budgets and managing the HLF grant.

Pam has worked tirelessly to ensure the success of the project she has put in long hours managing the finances of the project to ensure its successful completion, in addition to this Pam is still heavily involved in the more practical side of the project making day to day decisions on matters as they arose during the 9 month period of construction.

Now the museum is open Pam continues to volunteer, both in the museum and as a member of the board of trustees. She is still vital to the running of the museum and all that goes on there. She continues to go above and beyond to ensure the survival of the museum in everything she does.

Roger Salmons, Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park

Roger is Compton Verney’s data genius. He mainly volunteers with the Marketing team helping them to analyse their ticket data, research potential audiences and the demographics of the local area, and provides insight into trends, anomalies and correlations in the data. His perseverance with extracting information from a very complex ticketing system means that they now have vast amounts of data that would otherwise remain unused and unexplored.

But beyond his data crunching, he is also always willing to lend a hand wherever is needed. He has assisted the department when running events for the press or public. He contributes to team meetings with new ideas and challenges our ways of working.

Roger has helped to facilitate a step-change in the organisation, allowing them to make evidence-based decisions and improve their customer service. The information that Roger has been able to provide has deepened their understanding of their audiences and their products, allowing them to make decisions that will ensure future sustainability and resilience.

Steven Harris, RAF Museum Cosford

Steve has been involved in many activities across three departments for the Museum. Access and learning, Public Events and Visitor Experience. Steve delivers some of our formal and informal learning workshops to a wide range of young people. He has been described by museum staff as ‘a calm and thoughtful person in both his approach and his presentation which goes down well with children’. He has planned and run with the team activities, including building rockets and cars out of paper materials, parachute and glider building. However, for students to build such vehicles they first need to be taught the science that drives them. Then how their performance can be optimised, utilising in full Steve’s knowledge and expertise.

All of Steve’s volunteering is public facing and telling of stories of science and the RAF. He always considers his audience whether that is a group of 5 year olds or secondary school students and he differentiates his delivery as needed. He is always understanding of the needs of teachers and how important our support of the visiting groups is to make their visit ‘the best visit ever’

Terry Rahilly, Coventry Transport Museum

Terry’s passion for making is enabling the learning department to develop activities in a new way, in house and on a tight budget, designing and making activities. He supports the delivery of family learning sessions and the development of school sessions. He truly encourages and motivates visitors to try out new things, to not have a fear of designing, making and engineering but to simply have a go and play, enjoying the process. He also makes visitors feel comfortable and involved in the museum setting, by explaining how things that the museum has produces might be improved and getting visitors involved for ideas in improving the design, therefore enhancing the learning experience.

Terry is being nominated because he has been so consistently supportive over such a long time. He is playful, experimental and open to working with people that think in a different way to him. He is very committed and has spent so many hours happily cutting cardboard that in the museum offices the Stanley knife is now known as the Terry knife!

Meet our Finalists – The Groups

There’s less than a week to go until all of our finalists are treated to a glittering evening at Birmingham Hippodrome and we announce the winners of the 2019 West Midlands Volunteer Awards! Before we do let us introduce you to this years finalists, first up are the groups…

Collections Volunteer Team, Heritage & Culture Warwickshire

The collections volunteer team give their time weekly, supporting the work of the curatorial and collections team at Warwickshire Museum’s offsite collections store.

Individually, Jane O’Dell has used her vast experience of working with biology collections, Elaine Moore has previously worked as a costume maker for the RSC and has worked closely with the costume collection, Anne Morton brought her experience as a keen botanist and researcher for the Horticultural Research Institute to catalogue the entire Natural History library and finally, Jane Dennick’s knowledge as a former pharmacist has been invaluable when assessing and cataloguing the museum’s medical collection.

“It cannot be exaggerated how much of a pleasure it is for all of the staff who work alongside Jane, Anne, Elaine and Jane. They are unfailingly good-humoured, kind and supportive – towards us and to each other.” [Nominator]

As a team they have become like a family and have supported staff and each other emotionally through various hardships. In this way Jane, Anne, Elaine and Jane also demonstrate the more intangible benefits to volunteering, for both staff and volunteers.

Erasmus Darwin House Education Team, Erasmus Darwin House

Team members run a wide variety of Science and History activities for school visits to Erasmus Darwin House (EDH). They assist in devising workshop activities and they prepare the resources, including models, costumes, scientific equipment.

They facilitate the activities, adapting them to each school’s specific needs. Schools which visit EDH range from Y1 through to KS3. The team accommodates individual school’s requirements and evaluate activities and develop them as necessary.

Recently the team facilitated an outreach visit to a school which was unable to finance a visit to the museum. This involved working in unfamiliar surroundings; not all the team have been teachers so they don’t all have experience of working in classrooms. It also necessitated working with full classes instead of the usual small groups at the museum.

Team members run activities for a summer school scheme which is run by Lichfield Cathedral for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

This is a small team, composed of people of retirement age, who have many demands on their time. Thus their commitment and flexibility is all the more noteworthy. They work really well as a team: supporting each other both in developing and in delivering activities.

Fossils in Shropshire Project Volunteer Team, Ludlow Museum Resource Centre, Shropshire Museums

In 2016 the Friends of Ludlow Museum were successful in gaining funding to digitise the internationally important geological collection held at Ludlow Museum Resource Centre.

At the core of the project is a super dedicated group of volunteers ranging in ages and backgrounds who, over the last 3 years, have been digitising, cataloguing and researching the collection.

Over the last 3 years the volunteer team have created and edited over 11000 records on the museum database which otherwise would have remained untouched.

Members of the volunteer team have also researched and written over 30 articles on collectors and their collections. They have spent many hours of their own time researching and travelling all over the country producing detailed research and gathering information about the collections which would never have been known if they hadn’t discovered it.

The project has now been running for over 3 years. During that time, they have had over 30 dedicated volunteers offering their skills, knowledge and time to help.
This has resulted in a detailed and vital geological resource now becoming available online. The general public, researchers and academics all over the world can now access this valuable information which would otherwise have been unknown and inaccessible to them.

Gallery Support Volunteers, Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park

The team plays a crucial role in delivering high standards of visitor care, welcome and engagement by greeting visitors into the gallery, helping to orientate them around the building and exhibitions and answering queries.

The team are superb at what they do, bringing a smile to every occasion. They are the first to offer assistance with events – one has even been both Father Christmas and the Easter Bunny.

“I’ve seen them mentor each other, bringing out the best in each other and encouraging new team members – both staff and volunteers. They bring their years of experience from their working lives – we have retired teachers, head masters, social workers, engineers and planning officers to name but a few – and offer advice and feedback which helps us develop as an organisation.

We also have mum’s returning to work, recent graduates and those that are recovering from major life changes such as bereavement and mental health issues. They say that Compton Verney offers them opportunities to be part of something and brings a real pleasure and joy to their week.” [Nominator]

Gladstone Pottery Museum Volunteers, Gladstone Pottery Museum

The Gladstone volunteers are a hardworking and versatile group who use their experience and dedication to the site in a wide variety of ways. They maintain working exhibits and several put their careers in engineering to good use when problem solving with plumbing, electrics and building repairs.

They assist with the planning, preparation and delivery of events and can be relied upon for innovative and appropriate suggestions.

They are unique as they include people who were instrumental in saving the Gladstone China factory from demolition over 40 years ago. Their strong connection and familiarity with Gladstone is precious and valued highly by museum staff. Their pride in the site shines through and when talking to visitors they’re excellent at giving both accurate information and a personal perspective about the importance of the museum.

In 2018 volunteers were the driving force behind the Festival of Bottle Ovens commemorating the 40th anniversary of the last firing of a bottle oven.  Not only were they involved in planning the festival from its conception but also prepared and delivered a large number of events, from talks to activities.

“Some volunteers have been at Gladstone for over 45 years and it is not just their lengthy dedication which sets them apart but the quality of the help they provide.  They can achieve anything they put their minds to and their hard work undoubtedly and repeatedly exceeds our expectations.” [Nominator]

Natural Science Volunteer Team, The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery

The group has been working as part of the Natural Science team on a range of collections management projects, displays and outreach activities.

The team has primarily been working together to digitise and document the 150,000 Natural Science specimens held at PMAG. These tasks have ranged from documenting a cabinet containing over 20,000 beetles, photographing newly acquired fossil collections and updating the taxonomy on local moths and butterflies.

The Natural Science Volunteer team are invaluable to the museum. Not only bringing essential people-hours but also a range of subject specialist knowledge that the museum would otherwise be without.

“The work this brilliant team carries out goes beyond simply numbering objects for our documentation (though I’d never underplay the importance of that!). As a relatively early-career Natural History Curator, they also provide me with an important support network, offering advice and knowledge that would otherwise have been lost with the retirement of the previous curator.” [Nominator]

Over the previous 5 years, the team has donated approximately 3,000 hours of their time – their loyalty and contributions to the museum really can’t be appreciated enough.

Oak House Gardeners, Oak House Museum

During the past four years a group of over 20 volunteer gardeners have completely transformed the Oak House gardens. The council gardeners visit once a month to mow the lawns but all other maintenance is done by volunteers along with the planning and planting of the grounds.

“We have had many comments from the public about how wonderful the grounds are and they are undoubtedly one of the reasons people visit the museum. We are also complimented on the afternoon teas the volunteers provide and the customer service in general in the tea room.” [Nominator]

The group work in all weathers without fail and work tirelessly to keep what is a huge space tidy and attractive for the visitors. During extremely busy events at the museum the volunteers in the tea room have had to cope with hundreds of customers in an extremely fast paced and sometimes stressful environment and cope incredibly well with kindness and patience.

The group is an asset to the museum but also helps the local community have a safe place to meet others and feel appreciated.

Research Team, The Staffordshire Regiment Museum

The volunteers come in twice a week to the museum without fail and carry out all the requests they get for information. These can range from personal family requests, local media or information on certain individuals or specific military events. They have provided information for museums and individuals across the globe including India, Australia and America. There is never a request that they will not try and support, going to great lengths to check as many sources as they can.

The majority come with little or no military knowledge and they very much learn as they go, which can be very challenging as our history spans from 1705 to the present day. This is very important for a Regimental Museum who places a very strong emphasis on supporting and working alongside the wider Regimental Family.

“I am nominating them because they are the group which are often overlooked when events and activities take place in the museum, which with their dedication and support I do not feel should be the case. Their dedication is second to none.” [Nominator]

Thinktank Conservation Team Members, Thinktank, Birmingham Museums Trust

David, Stephen and Robert started volunteering in May 2017 as Thinktank Conservation Team Members, their role is to support ongoing conservation cleaning at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum.

The team have completed more than four conservation cleaning circuits of this large museum since they started over two years ago. This has involved removing dust from displays, polishing tarnished metalwork and degreasing working machinery. Their work ensures that the collection on display is better cared for, monitored and in the best condition possible for visitors to enjoy.

The volunteers have also recently supported work for MiniBrum (an interactive city for under 8s at Thinktank) by assisting with the preparation of a giant architectural model of the city and helping with the installation of text panels for this new space. This has enabled the space to be completed on time and to a high standard.

“The Thinktank Conservation Team go above and beyond every time they come onto site with us. They can always be relied on to be enthusiastic about their work even when it can be dirty and smelly, and sometimes physical too.” [Nominator]

Thursday Collections Team, George Marshall Medical Museum

“We are a tiny team of one part-time Curator and on average five regular volunteers each year. The Museum has only been open since 2003, and Robert and Margaret have been volunteering for us for in excess of 24 years between them! They have rolled up their sleeves every Thursday and have been instrumental in both providing support for the collections and in our understanding of our collections.

As a retired Theatre Manager and General Practitioner, respectively, and with all of the knowledge and expertise which comes from this joint experience, the Museum can boast of in-depth collections knowledge. Between them, they have listed the collection hazards, accessioned nearly an entire book store, catalogued the large photographic collection, ordered our research files and helped to put on a series of exceptional temporary exhibitions showcasing our little-understood and rarely-seen stored collections.

This fabulous duo do not shout from the rooftops or expect prizes for their voluntary activities, we think now is the time to truly celebrate them both, and to show how much they are appreciated.” [Nominator]

Volunteers at Broadway Museum & Art Gallery, Broadway Museum & Art Gallery

The activities the volunteers undertake include giving interesting and informative introductions on the history, background and contents of the museum. They keep the museum shop running smoothly. They restock the second-hand bookshop with personal donations, and source cards and gifts created by local craftspeople to sell in the shop. One volunteer is a keen photographer of local landscapes, flora and fauna, and now supplies the shop with cards created from these beautiful photographs. Other volunteers undertake general maintenance and cleaning on a weekly basis, and even help with painting and decorating projects. Others help to serve drinks and refreshments at evening events and at group tours, and help with clearing away afterwards. All the volunteers help to fold leaflets and from time-to-time distribute them to local tourist centres, cafes and hotels. Their outreach and educational activities are also volunteer led, with interesting and fun children’s trails created for each school holiday.

“All of our volunteers are willing to help in any way they can when at the museum, and all of them go ‘above and beyond’ the regular front of house duties.” [Nominator]

Winterbourne Volunteer Printing Press Demonstrators, Winterbourne House & Garden

Winterbourne Press was formed in 2012. Volunteer demonstrators have been instrumental in ensuring the Press’s ongoing success, the group have cleaned and fixed equipment (with one individual even making replacement parts), sorted and arranged type but probably most important of all have engaged with a wide variety of Winterbourne customers, their enthusiasm is infectious and every customer comes away with new knowledge and interest in historic printing techniques.

The group’s professionalism is second to none. Printed material including greeting cards are now available in the Winterbourne gift shop and all of the paper bags are printed in the press with a Winterbourne Logo. Not only are the cards printed at Winterbourne but the designs are created by a Winterbourne volunteer inspired by the families that lived in the house.

The group are enthusiastic engaging and encouraging; their positive attitude has added a new dimension to the museum collections. The live interpretation is always well received and the group consistently go above and beyond to ensure they are available for events out of normal trading hours on weekends and at any time to showcase the press and its collections.

Worcester Heritage & Amenity Trust Board, Tudor House Museum

In 2003, the Museum of Local Life closed due to funding issues. The MOLL was so loved by local people that a small band of them formed a group and began to campaign for it to stay, even to the point of writing to Tessa Jowell, the then Minister for Culture. When that failed, they decided to take on the running of the museum themselves, forming Worcester Heritage & Amenity Trust and taking on this huge project.

With the entire collection removed to council storage, the team opened the doors with little more than a kettle and a strong determination to keep the museum going. They began gathering a collection, learning about how an inventory works, researching topics to make displays out of and, of course, fundraising. By attending as many courses as possible, they gathered the skills to match their enthusiasm and have been consistently proactive in developing the museum.

Their efforts and productivity have inspired great loyalty to the museum from the local community and they are embedded in it in a way that other organisations struggle to achieve.

Awards ceremony countdown is on!

With just weeks to go before we host the West Midlands Volunteer Awards we are putting the final touches to plans for the glittering celebration.

Representatives and volunteers from museums across the West Midlands will attend the ceremony, which is being held in Birmingham Hippodrome’s Patrick Centre, on Wednesday, September 11th, from 4pm – 8pm.

Our awards, now in their fourth year, have become a key fixture in the volunteer calendar and we are very much looking forward to welcoming all of our 2019 finalists.

The awards were launched in 2016 to recognise the critical role volunteers play in keeping museums running throughout the West Midlands. Since then, more than 400 guests have attended the annual ceremonies and from 90 nominated finalists, 28 individuals and groups have been chosen as overall winners.

Nominations were welcomed from across the region and the scale and quality of entries has been fantastic.

The judges will decide winners in four categories – individual, group, young person (25 and under), and project. And the winner of the prestigious Judge’s Award for Excellence, chosen from finalists in all four categories, will also receive £500 to spend on the museum, heritage site, or art gallery project of their choice.

Guests will be treated to an evening of entertainment that is sure to make it an unforgettable event. In previous years we have invited travelling musicians, hip hop crews, and opera improvisation troupes to take to the stage and keep attendees happy.

We’re not giving anything away just yet but we guarantee an evening unlike any other.

You can see our 2019 finalists here: https://mdwm.org.uk/news/volunteer-awards-finalists-announced/

We look forward to meeting our wonderful finalists soon.