DCMVOX #002 January 2016

#002 - January 2016

Dorset County Museum Volunteer Newsletter Dates for Your Diary: ARCHAEOLOGY Lectures take place on the first Friday of the month:  Fri 5 Feb 2016 ‘Recent Dorset Discoveries’ by Rosemary Maw and Bryan Popple’ 7.30pm GEOLOGY Lectures take place on the second Wednesday of the month:  Wed 13 Jan 2016 ‘Mapping the Great Undercliff Landslides’ by Richard Edmonds 7pm  Wed 10 Feb 2016 ‘Diamonds through Time’ by Prof. Andy Fleet 7pm LUNCHTIME CONCERTS will be held on the following dates:  Wed 10, Thurs 18 and Wed 24 Feb 2016 HARDY TALKS in association with University of Exeter and National Trust:  Thurs 25 Feb 2016 ‘Hardy and Education’ by Jonathon Memel TRAVELLERS’ TALES  Thurs 4 Feb 2016 ‘The Lost Treasures of Syria’ by Michael Insley

Welcome back after what we hope was an enjoyable, indulgent and merry festive break…

Firstly, thank you to all who came and joined us in December for the Volunteers, Staff and Members’ Christmas Drinks and made it such a lovely evening.

As we welcome in the New Year, there are lots of exciting activities set to happen in 2016 and this is the place to find out about upcoming events, volunteering opportunities, HLF project updates and articles about the wonderful things you all get up to on a daily basis.

Don’t forget, this is your newsletter so we would love to hear about what you would like to see in next month’s issue and to learn all about your department’s plans for 2016.

If there is anything you would like to see included in this newsletter, or you would like to be the next profile in our ‘Who’s Who’ feature then please email your suggestions to Gabriella Crouch on fundraising@dorsetcountymuseum.org by Mon 18 Jan 2016. Any suggestions welcome!

Volunteers Coffee Morning– Tuesday 9 Feb 9.30-10.30am Please pop in and join us in the Victorian Gallery for free tea, coffee, cakes and a chance to chat with other volunteers.

RSVP to Anna on secretary@dorsetcountymuseum.org

Volunteering Opportunities Museum Makers, every Monday morning in term time, 10.30 – 12.30

YAC (Young Archaeology Club), first Saturday of every month, 10.30 – 12.30

Museum Makers is a group for adults with learning disabilities who meet at Dorset County Museum, every Monday morning in term time.

The YAC group at Dorset County Museum meets on the first Saturday of every month, 10.30 – 12.30. In the past, the group sessions have been museum based workshops and visits, in which the children investigate the collections and learn a wide range of new skills.

We are currently looking for volunteers to help deliver sessions to the group. If you are interested in helping please get in touch with Emma Talbot on education@dorsetcountymuseum.org.

We rely on volunteers to run the sessions and we’re currently looking for more volunteers to help. If you are interested or would like to know more, please contact Emma Talbot on education@dorsetcountymuseum.org.

Collections Discovery Centre Update Where we are... 

We will be appointing our new Architect imminently.

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A team of volunteers and staff have been working on sorting the ground floor of St Peter’s Institute by organising the accessioned items and removing any other items.

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You all had the opportunity to meet Jane Alexander, our new Activity Planner, before Christmas. She gave an informative and detailed presentation on what an Activity Plan involves and how each of you will be a part of the development process. Thank you to all those who came and participated. For all those who were unable to attend, we look forward to welcoming you to the next session.

Where we’re heading...  Archaeological, structural and measured surveys will be conducted early in the new year.  Once the Design Team is in place and all appointments have been made, the work can truly start! This will be the time you will begin to see more activity and you may be consulted by members of the team for your input.  There will be lots of project activity in 2016 and some exciting opportunities for us all to be involved in the project’s development. This is your Museum and we want you to be a part of its development process alongside all our consultants.  Jill Minchin, Ann Minto and David Ashford will continue to work alongside consultants on elements of our conservation plan– one of the crucial documents which HLF require us to produce during the Development Phase.

MANY THANKS to all our volunteers – without you our Museum would not function as effectively as it does.

Dorset County Museum, High West Street, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1XA Tel: 01305 262735 - www.dorsetcountymuseum.org

Visitor Quote of the Month: ‘Intriguing & - (all) life & time is here. V. inspiring & well put together. Head fizzing with ideas & responses to your multifarious jewels!’

Christmas Cracker Night

Free Training 

Visitor Services Staff and Volunteers:

THANK YOU

to all the volunteers and staff who helped in the Museum on Dorchester’s Christmas Cracker Night on Thursday 3 December.

An opportunity for volunteers and staff to develop and refresh their knowledge of the Museum e.g. ‘Do you know how many steps there are from Jurassic Coast Gallery to the Writers Gallery?’

Around 1500 visitors came through the doors to see Dorset County Museum transformed into Santa’s Grotto for the night. The Museum was overrun by Sci-Fi characters and lots of very excited children.

Sessions will be held from 12.30– 1.15pm & 1.30– 2.15pm on

Terry Riggs raised an impressive £56.50 selling Christmas Quiz’s, the Tearoom made £92 and Father Christmas and Head Elf, Jill Minchin raised £253.50.

Mon 11 Jan, Wed 13 Jan, Tues 19 Jan, Thurs 21 Jan & Fri 29 Jan 2016.

Therefore, in addition to the sales of mulled wine, minced pies, Christmas cards and donations, the event raised a total of £681.00

To ensure your place on a session, please sign up to your chosen date at the Front Desk.

Don’t forget there is still a chance to participate in the following free online training course: 

‘Behind the scenes at the 21st Century Museum’: a free online course from School of Museum Studies at University of Leicester and National Museums Liverpool. Begins Mon 18 Jan 2016. For more information, please visit www.futurelearn.com/ courses/museum Upcoming Exhibition Commemoration of the Dorset Yeomanry Friday 29 Jan– Fri 3 June 2016

in the Victorian Gallery.

The exhibition centres around a painting by Lady Elizabeth Butler to commemorate the centenary of the Dorset Yeomanry’s charge at Agagia which was the last regimental charge by a British regiment.

And most importantly, everyone had loads of fun in the Museum!

Autumn Book Sale 2015 Dorset County Museum held its famous annual sale of second-hand books in late November 2015. The sale, which was described to me as the ‘Harrods Sale of Dorchester’, once again did not disappoint.

You’ll all be pleased to hear that an impressive £2150.00 was raised!

Thank you to all those volunteers who helped and contributed in making this year’s Autumn Book Sale such a great success.

Digging the Dirt from the Director’s Desk…

Happy New Year to all the team at DCM. I’m sure I don’t need to explain to all of you what a critically important period in the Museum’s development 2016 will be, and I know all of you will make valuable contributions to our success in the next 12 months. For example, Ann Minto, David Ashford and Jill Minchin are already busy carrying out research work to assist the consultant appointed to draft the Museum’s Conservation Management Plan – a vital document the HLF require us to produce as part of our Stage Two application.

Self-praise is no recommendation, so they say! With that in mind do take a moment to have a look in our visitor books or check out our online reviews on Trip Advisor. If you do I’m confident you will feel proud of what we are achieving together here.

Jon Murden, Director

Welcome to

Chris Knowles and Jim Farrell our newest members of the Front of House Staff.

We look forward to working with you both more in the future.

A warm welcome to our six new volunteers several areas of the Museum and volunteers are also required to join our

By Jill Minchin, Volunteer Co-ordinator & Trustee December: Tearoom staff.

Cathy Breward, Hope Chapman, Several teams have no room for new We continue to receive applications to join Maryrose Farley, Sue Free, Gail Gardener, volunteers such as; Archaeology, Geology our Volunteer team, partly I am sure, due Sara Milne, Rebecca Munro, Maureen and Textiles who are all bursting at the to our existing volunteers letting it be Spencer and Laurence Taylor. seams. If you know anyone who might be interested in joining you as a volunteer, known how much they enjoy working with please encourage them to email me on Our specific needs at the moment are for us! So, Thank You to you all... volunteering@dorsetcountymuseum.org. people with IT or Data Entry abilities in

Welcome to our new volunteers…. who have joined us in November and

If you would like to receive this newsletter by email please send your contact details to Gabriella Crouch on fundraising@dorsetcountymuseum.org