VOLUNTEER FOCUS Together we’re making a difference
2020 ISSUE 17
Welcome Back... ...we’ve missed you
OUR SURVEY SAYS... An overview of our survey results INSIDE: Project profile | We did it! | Charity update | Your stories | News and more...
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WELCOME
Hello and welcome It’s good to be back! With most of our sites now reopened we’ve been able to welcome many of you back to your volunteer roles and with more teams in place we’re looking forward to the future. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, some things are being done a little differently. However the enthusiasm, dedication and commitment of our volunteers is still very much the same and this magazine celebrates all that you do.
On the cover: Sarah Dumont, garden volunteer, working at Audley End House and Gardens If you’d like to contribute to the next edition of Volunteer Focus or if you have any feedback on this issue, we’d love to hear from you:
In this issue, which is online only to save money on printing and postage, read the PROJECT PROFILE articles explaining how Kenwood rose to the challenge of lockdown on page 12, and the difference that our volunteers have made at Walmer Castle on page 24. There’s a CHARITY UPDATE from our Chief Executive on page 16, a NEED TO KNOW interview with trustee Kunle Olulode on page 17 and a summary of the Volunteer Survey results in our HAVE YOUR SAY article on page 32. I hope you enjoy this issue and I hope to see some of you soon.
Annie Bethell, Volunteering and Participation Manager
volunteerfocus @english-heritage.org.uk www.english-heritage.org.uk/ volunteer 0370 333 1185 If you’d like this document in a different format, please contact: 0370 333 1181 customers@english-heritage.org.uk Assistant Editor Eleanor Telfer Article Editor Anneka Coleman Designer Bronwen Reeves The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a company, no. 07447221, registered in England.
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7 16 24 12 CONTENTS
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17
REGULARS
F E AT U R E S
7 12 14
RO U ND U P Celebrating 25 years of the National Lottery
PRO JEC T PROF IL E: How the Friends of Kenwood coped during lockdown
PRO JEC T PROF IL E: LAND O F OA K & IRON Our Affiliate Volunteer Group
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C HARITY UP DATE News from our Chief Executive
NEED TO KNOW An interview with one of our trustees
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NEE D TO KNOW
24
PROJ E CT PRO F I L E :
Fundraising Discovering Walmer Castle’s Pleasure Grounds and Glen
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HAV E YO UR SAY
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NEE D TO KNOW
36
YOUR STO RI E S
Volunteer Survey 2019 Environmental initiatives A photographic journey of the Beeston Roundhouse Project
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NE W S Find out what’s been happening
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A YE A R I N TH E L I F E
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W H Y I L OVE . . .
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YO UR STO RI E S
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OVE R TO YO U
A year at Kenilworth Castle Totnes Castle Dover Castle Handling Collection We want to hear from you
NEWS All the latest news and notices from across English Heritage.
The Iron Bridge
A team of locals kick-start the garden clearance
WORK BEGINS AT MARBLE HILL
IRONBRIDGE GORGE WORLD HERITAGE FESTIVAL
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arble Hill House in London, the home of resilient patron of the arts Henrietta Howard, is being restored. The Palladian villa will undergo extensive conservation works and visitors and the local community will be able to enjoy free entry, a new community hub, improvements to the parkland, a new events programme and new sports facilities which will soon be on offer. The project is due to be completed in spring 2021. Last year we kicked off work and recruited a new team of volunteers to support the gardens and events team. Recently the local community joined in and cleared swathes of ivy, built a tool shed, removed invasive shrubs, delivered events and conquered piles of paperwork. More roles are coming, so get in touch if you’d like to be part of this project: marblehillrevived@english-heritage.org.uk
SHARE YOUR NEWS We’d love to hear from you by email at volunteerfocus@english-heritage.org.uk
nglish Heritage was invited to participate in the first Ironbridge World Heritage Festival in September 2019. The dedicated team of volunteers, who had led countless tours during the conservation in action project, were on the bridge for every day of the festival. They gave talks and tours and shared their knowledge and passion for the site, adding tremendously to the experience of visitors to the bridge. A huge thank you to all the volunteers involved. We couldn’t have done it without you. Find out more details about the festival at: www.ironbridgefestival.co.uk
Get 10% OFF at English Heritage shops and cafés with your pass or quote code VT863 to receive the discount in our online shop. english-heritage.org.uk 5
NEWS
BUILDING LINKS WITH THE COMMUNITY
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The Yarn Market in Dunster
n Dunster we have three free-to -enter sites: Gallox Bridge, Butter Cross and the Yarn Market. Last winter, we held a stall at the ‘Dunster by Candlelight’ event. The event attracted over 2,000 people every night as the Yarn Market was turned into a magnificent performance space for musicians. In 2020, we’re hoping to develop a community project to fundraise for the conservation of the roof at the Yarn Market.
This event proved the ideal place to start raising awareness, having found that many local people were unaware that English Heritage manages the three sites in Dunster. As we reported in the last edition, our free-to-enter sites are an area of priority for us, so if you live nearby to one, have an idea, or want to get involved, please contact us at: volunteer.enquiries@ english-heritage.org.uk
Hide and Seek Project
Three gold medals for Down House
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arden volunteers at Boscobel House and the Royal Oak have created an impressive willow tunnel and garden structures as part of the new Hide and Seek Project. Huge thanks to the team, many of whom originally joined us to work on the Iron Bridge Conservation in Action project. Thanks to investment from the Capital and Small Sites Investment programmes, we’re bringing the stories of Boscobel House and the Royal Oak to life in new and interactive ways. We’re transforming the gardens, re-introducing farm animals, updating the interpretation, reopening our café with a new play area and introducing a Hide and Seek-themed trail. New costumed storytelling and animal care volunteer roles are also being introduced. Boscobel House and Garden will reopen next season.
ell done to all of our Garden Volunteers at Down House. Their hard work, dedication and enthusiasm earned Down House three Gold medals at the 2020 London in Bloom Awards. All three entered categories – Walled Garden, Large Conservation Area, and Heritage Parks and Gardens – were highly commended by the judges. ‘We are so proud of our volunteers and so grateful to have them. Each one of them is a wonderful individual, but when they come together they are a formidable force’, said Kristyna, Senior Gardener at Down House.
Get 10% OFF your stay at an English Heritage holiday cottage. Use discount code EHVOL19 when you book online or call 0370 333 1187.
SHARE YOUR NEWS Is there something exciting happening? Have you just received an award? Have you got a new exhibition or partnership? Or do you just want to show off how great your volunteers are? Email us with your stories at VolunteerFocus@english-heritage.org.uk
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Your volunteer pass allows FREE ENTRY for you plus one adult to all English Heritage managed properties. Present your volunteer pass to get 10% OFF at English Heritage shops and cafés. Quote code VT863 to receive the discount in our online shop. AW
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VOLUnTEER PASS 2015
ROUND UP
CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF THE NATIONAL LOTTERY Last year the National Lottery celebrated its 25th anniversary. Since the first draw took place, on 19 November 1994, more than ÂŁ40 billion has been raised for good causes. English Heritage has been lucky enough to receive over ÂŁ50m in grant funding thanks to the National Lottery. In this edition of Round Up we look at some of the projects that have been supported by the Heritage Fund and the teams of volunteers who have made them possible. english-heritage.org.uk 7
ROUND UP
Previous page Volunteers outside the pavilion at Wrest Park Clockwise from far left The dairy at Kenwood; A volunteer with visitors at Stonehenge; Rembrandt’s self-portrait at Kenwood; The visitor centre at Stonehenge; Richmond Castle’s cell block graffiti.
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s part of our commitment to conservation and inspiring visitors, we have delivered major projects at Stonehenge, Kenwood, Wrest Park, Walmer Castle and Marble Hill House, to name a few. None of these projects would have been possible without the support of the National Lottery and Lottery players. Volunteers and local communities have played an integral role in all these projects. Here we share just a few examples of the difference that you have made to these transformational projects.
be possible without this amazing volunteer team. Kenwood The magnificent house at Kenwood and its dairy were restored after the National Lottery pledged a grant of nearly £4 million in 2011. The breathtaking interiors and stunning world-class art collection, including Rembrandt’s ‘Self-Portrait with Two Circles’, are free for everyone to enjoy all year round. However, this would not be possible without the volunteer team, the largest we have at English Heritage, who keep the house open daily for visitors to enjoy.
Wrest Park We’re over halfway through a 20-year Richmond Castle The offer master plan for Wrest The Richmond Castle Cell Park, which began with a to visitors Block project received a grant National Lottery-funded of nearly £400k to investigate, wouldn’t project to restore both identify and resolve the the Rose and Italian risks facing the building and be possible gardens and create new its graffiti. A team of local interpretation and visitor without this volunteers researched over facilities. The project 2,000 graffiti inscriptions amazing allowed us to increase to build a picture of the volunteer team occupants of this building the number and types of volunteer roles. We throughout the 20th century now have 206 volunteers at Wrest and why they were there. The project Park, helping in the gardens, delivering has developed educational resources for education opportunities, carrying out local schools and prompted discussion research and improving the visitor around historical themes linked to the experience. The offer to visitors building. Participants have helped to is unrecognisable and it wouldn’t interpret the graffiti for the English Heritage website and contributed to a travelling exhibition based around the stories of the graffiti. Young people have GET IN TOUCH engaged with conservation work and Please send us your theme ideas responded to the graffiti through music, for the next edition’s Round Up. film and performance art. 8 english-heritage.org.uk
Historic and Botanic Gardens Trainee Programme This prestigious training programme has benefited from two National Lottery grants over ten years. More than 200 trainees have completed the programme, and 86% of graduates have gone on to higher education or employment in the heritage horticulture sector. We have 527 volunteer gardeners across the country helping to care for these beautiful historical gardens. Projects currently under way So much has been achieved across the country thanks to the National Lottery and the teams of enthusiastic volunteers who have been involved – but more is yet to come. Projects are under way at Marble Hill House in London and Belsay Hall in Northumberland, as well as across the country as part of Shout Out Loud, where a grant of just under £1m is enabling us to run creative youthled activities to engage a wider audience of young people with their local sites. So watch this space for more projects in 2020 and beyond. ■
ROUND UP
STONEHENGE The transformational grant of £10m has had a huge impact on our number one site.
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he new visitor centre opened in 2013 replacing the outdated facilities and includes an exhibition space, dedicated education room, café and shop. A team of 100 volunteers were involved in building the Neolithic houses, which provide a fascinating insight into Neolithic life. Today, volunteers bring those houses to life as well as supporting visitors to the exhibition and leading sessions for more than 50,000 school children.
We’re extremely grateful to the National Lottery for the support that it has shown to English Heritage over the past 25 years. However, none of these projects would have been possible, or continue to have such a positive impact and legacy, without your support. Thank you. english-heritage.org.uk 9
A YEAR IN THE LIFE
Kenilworth’s volunteers Laurie Earl shares her experiences of a year at this majestic castle.
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n 1967 my aunties Connie and Lily visited Kenilworth; something I didn’t find out about until I discovered this photo and had already started as a volunteer. Having lived in New Zealand for the past 20 years it was coincidence that on my return to the UK I decided on Kenilworth and rented a cottage next to the castle. A few weeks later my husband, Paul, and I started volunteering.
Spring We started in March and after receiving training from more established volunteers we were soon greeting visitors at Mortimer’s Tower and manning the gatehouse. In April we had further training and started doing Elizabethan garden tours. We were nervous but Paul has a great sense of humour and his tours were really well received. 10 english-heritage.org.uk
Summer August heralded our late night cinema and Shakespeare productions. By now we had received our volunteer passes and visited other EH sites. We also had the great privilege of going to Hampton Court to see Queen Elizabeth’s dress that had been discovered. We also celebrated our many volunteers by having a party and quiz night. We started with truth or lie which was great learning those secrets of our fellow volunteers. We didn’t know we had a champion boxer in our midst or a concert pianist. Autumn In October a merry band of volunteers started to design decorations for the castle for Halloween. The team was led by Di Shores who demonstrated how to make beautiful handmade pumpkins from fabric remnants. Janet Claymore
came out with amazing pumpkins, cards and other brilliant ideas. Hannah from the tearoom made candles out of books, and Molly Herrick was just awesome at flower arranging. Fright nights were a great success. Put on by the events team, the volunteers were kept busy doing safety briefings, manning the gates, patrolling the grounds, and keeping the home fires burning for marshmallow toasting. We weren’t immune to actors picking on us either! Winter The team worked tirelessly; making baubles for the many Christmas trees, decorations for the Victorian Christmas theme and fitting the volunteers out in Victorian maid’s outfits or as elves for Santa’s helpers. Even management joined in.
A YEAR IN THE LIFE
Clockwise from main image An event in front of the castle; Laurie Earl; volunteer maids at Christmas; Tudor Boy; Queen Elizabeth takes a walk around the grounds; Paul Shears on a garden tour; Handmade pumpkins at Halloween.
Being a volunteer has been an absolute blast What a year Being a volunteer has been an absolute blast. We have made many friends of all ages and learned new life skills. We’ve had the opportunity to work in the best castle in the country and learnt so much history. We’ve worked as gardeners, chefs, tearoom staff, tour guides, safety briefers, visitor greeters, costumed players, handicraft makers and children’s entertainers. We’ll be back next year but have to say what a wonderful experience we have all had. ■
VOLUNTEER AT AN EVENT We have lots of volunteer roles for events across the country. For more information please visit: www.english-heritage.org.uk/volunteer
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PROJECT PROFILE
THE STORY OF A COMMUNITY IN LOCKDOWN Helen Payne from Friends of Kenwood explains how the group pulled together in times of difficulty.
FIND OUT MORE For more information on the Friends of Kenwood, please visit www.friendsofkenwood.org.uk
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We have learnt that we can hold a community together and engage people
PROJECT PROFILE
in a national lockdown with no cultural alternatives and where the only permitted activity away from home was daily exercise. We needed to keep our members interested in Kenwood, the shuttered jewel in the crown of English Heritage’s portfolio.
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ast your minds back to March. It had been a grey winter. We were venturing out into the spring when coronavirus struck. The speed took most of us by surprise.
Ironically, Kenwood House had been briefly closed for essential maintenance and lockdown meant it did not reopen. An English Heritage Gagosian book launch was cancelled. Then came the news on 24 March that the Kenwood estate at the top of Hampstead Heath was closing to protect staff, volunteers, and visitors. There were simply too many people to allow proper social distancing. Meantime, English Heritage staff were working from home. Things continued to change rapidly. It was clear in the run up to the Easter weekend that many of our English Heritage colleagues would sadly have to be furloughed. Friends of Kenwood As a voluntary organisation supporting Kenwood since 1979, the Friends of Kenwood had faced challenges before, most recently when Kenwood House closed in 2012 for an ambitious £6.1m restoration. On that occasion we turned the closure into a fundraising opportunity, ultimately funding the stunning redecoration of the Robert Adam entrance hall. But 2020 was different: we had lost access to the site again, but now we were
Kenwood volunteers, the largest caucus of volunteers within English Heritage, were left adrift. They had already rallied to form a group on a weekly support Zoom. We determined to help them. By providing a platform for weekly spotlight talks on Zoom, we could offer a wider audience and an unlimited time online. Staying in touch Less than two hours before furlough, Kenwood’s Volunteer Manager bravely accepted our offer. Two of us from the Friends of Kenwood worked with three of Kenwood’s volunteers as if this were an essential part of the global response to the crisis! By the following week we had a volunteer spotlight talk being broadcast on Zoom to an audience of over 120. We recorded the talks, edited out the technical blips, and created a YouTube channel (currently with over 1,500 views). And these online talks are still going strong. Meanwhile our social media following increased over lockdown because our
Main image Kenwood House, Top Helen Payne, Above Friends of Kenwood meet up online.
pages were where you could find out what was happening locally. And as lockdown eased, things did happen. The Kenwood estate reopened on 27 May, so ending the longest period the grounds had been closed since Lord Iveagh gave Kenwood to the nation in 1927. It also relieved crowd pressure on Hampstead Heath which had suffered dreadfully during the worst moments of lockdown. A few weeks later the café reopened (and the loos), and finally Kenwood House itself reopened at the beginning of September. What have we learnt? So, what have we learnt? We have found a way to collaborate with the formidable resource and knowledge base of Kenwood’s volunteers. We have learnt that what might need a multi-step approval process in ‘normal’ times goes out of the window in times of crisis. You just have to go with your instincts as to what would be a good idea. And we have learnt that, regardless of future uncertainties, we can hold a community together and engage people with an intellectual focus and social hope in times of crisis.■
What is my message to English Heritage? First, that English Heritage employees have a heart-warming love for and dedication to the properties they are involved with. Second, that we’re more important to English Heritage than we ourselves might have thought. Friends organisations and volunteers have a wealth of expertise, extensive local contacts and a depth of collective memory which can be critical when normal operations cease. We are dependable, able to step up to a challenge and invaluable advocates for you, so please, never hesitate to use us.
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PROJECT PROFILE
Sizzling Sausages at a Steel Furnace We joined Affiliate Volunteer group, Land of Oak and Iron, at their annual ‘Sausage Sizzle’ to reflect on a year of volunteering.
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n a crisp, bright December morning a group of volunteers gather in a woodland clearing nestled deep in the Derwent Valley for their annual ‘Sausage Sizzle’. The back drop for this celebration is the peculiar cone-shaped structure of Derwentcote Steel Furnace. Hidden in the surrounding woodland, one can also find the remains of workers’ cottages, blast furnaces and mill ponds. Cared for by English Heritage, this site is Britain’s earliest and most complete example of a steel-making furnace.
Land of Oak and Iron Those gathered in the clearing proudly 14 english-heritage.org.uk
identify themselves as volunteers for The Land of Oak and Iron project. Backed by a £2.2 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, The Land of Oak and Iron project is hosted by Groundwork NE & Cumbria. It covers a 177 km2 area flowing through the Derwent valley and encapsulating Consett, Rowlands Gill, Prudhoe and Whickham. This area was once the beating heart of British sword making and gave birth to the globally renowned traditional rapper dancing. The Land of Oak and Iron project pledges to tie the threads of Derwent Valley’s industrial past to its natural landscape. Derwentcote Steel Furnace is the
perfect synergy of this pledge: a site surrounded by woodland and embedded in the history of British steel-making. Because of this, Land of Oak and Iron have worked closely alongside English Heritage on the site to carry out a programme of woodland path improvement and maintenance. Affiliate Volunteering Following the creation of a woodland walk, which takes in Derwentcote’s hidden archaeology and opens up its natural pathways, Land of Oak and Iron volunteers chose to officially partner with English Heritage as part of our Affiliate Volunteer Scheme. This
PROJECT PROFILE
December gathering therefore has special significance, as volunteers seal the partnership with sausages and chat excitedly about the future. The Affiliate Volunteer Scheme has been created to enable local partner organisations, such as Land of Oak and Iron, to receive support and recognition for high quality volunteering at English Heritage sites. As an organisation, English Heritage is committed to ensuring that our sites, wherever possible, are placed at the heart of local communities. Through the Affiliate Volunteer Scheme we are able to better recognise the contributions of
local partner organisations by opening up English Heritage’s volunteer pass initiative to those who have contributed 60 or more voluntary hours. The scheme also encourages groups to retain agency, therefore allowing for greater collaboration. We hope the result will be an increasing number of volunteers who feel part of the English Heritage family. Volunteering at Derwentcote Steel Furnace As the volunteers pass around vanilla cakes, veggie sausages and ketchup they reminisce about the voluntary
work they have already undertaken at Derwentcote. They have helped to create pathways by carving out a woodland walk using dead hedging techniques. They have completed seasonal scything and organised Heritage Open Day events. Towards the end of summer the group even had support of the four-legged kind, as Jimmy the horse arrived on site to move heavy logs. One of these logs was later turned into a decorative bench to allow for quiet contemplation at the river bank. Even the charcoal used during the ‘Sausage Sizzle’ has been made by the group from materials gathered during their woodland work. Their energy and passion for the Derwentcote site and its wildlife is inspiring, and some have even chosen to volunteer directly for English Heritage through a series of roles, specific to the Derwentcote site, beginning in 2020. ■
This area was once the beating heart of British sword making
Clockwise from left The Derwentcote Woodland Walk which was supported by Land of Oak and Iron volunteers: Volunteers enjoy a sausage sizzle; Volunteer scything; Derwentcote; Jimmy the horse.
BE A PART OF IT Derwentcote Steel Furnace is open to the public all-year round. For details of volunteer opportunities, public tours and activities, visit: www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/derwentcote-steel-furnace
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C H A R I T Y U P D AT E
An update
from Kate Mavor
An overview of our amazing work and achievements.
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n 2019 more of you than ever before volunteered your time, energy, skills and experience with us, helping to bring history to life for millions of people and ensuring that England’s heritage is safeguarded for future generations. We started 2020 full of confidence that we’d be welcoming even more volunteers, to more opportunities, but unfortunately most of our work was paused at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic when all sites closed. The good news is that since June we’ve been able to open safely all but a handful of sites and visitor feedback has been very warm and supportive. Sadly we aren’t able to resume all our activities as yet but I am pleased that some education visits are now restarting this month.
Government support As you can imagine, the charity still faces an unprecedented challenge with a significant shortfall in the funds that we need to care for our sites and collections. We’re very grateful for support from the government to help us weather this crisis – we’ve been awarded a substantial grant as
part of the £1.57bn support package to protect the arts, culture and heritage and have been able to draw on generous government financial incentives including the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme, business rates and VAT relief, as well as the Eat Out to Help Out scheme which all our catering outlets took part in during August. Celebrating success Although there’s still a way to go to recover from this crisis, I’m proud of how safely and successfully we’ve been able to reopen sites so that people can come back to enjoy these special places. Both staff and volunteers have put in a huge amount of work to make this happen so thank you to you all. This has been a major achievement and I’d like to round off this update by celebrating some more recent successes and congratulating all the teams involved: ■ At the UK Heritage Awards Birdoswald Roman Fort was named Best Family Day Out; Speaking with Shadows, a six part podcast miniseries that listens to the people that history forgot, received the Contribution to Heritage award;
FIND OUT MORE You can listen again to all the Speaking with Shadows podcasts on our website www.english-heritage.org.uk/speakingwithshadows
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and ‘Our House’, a Shout Out Loud project, won the award for the Best Event. This created a new theatre piece devised by young people under 25 exploring the LGBTQ+ heritage and the history of Eltham Palace where it was performed. ■ The Stonehenge Neolithic Carpentry team are shortlisted for Volunteer Team of the Year in the Museums + Heritage Awards and there are also nominations for the innovative Rembrandt #nofilter exhibition at Kenwood and Tintagel Castle footbridge. ■ Beeston Castle Roundhouse volunteers were highly commended in the Marsh Awards for Volunteers in Museum Learning. ■ We commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation with online activity giving people a real-time experience of Operation Dynamo and the unsung heroes who planned the mission from Dover Castle. ■ More than 5 million people from around the world watched the Summer Solstice sunset and sunrise which we live-streamed from Stonehenge across our social media channels. Viewers donated over £40k during the live-streaming and we welcomed 104,000 new followers to our channels. All in all a very heartening reminder of how much excellent work we do and how highly it is valued. ■
NEED TO KNOW
A TRUSTEE’S POINT OF VIEW
Suzanne Wilkinson introduces English Heritage trustee Kunle Olulode. ►
Board Trustee, Kunle Olulode, at Whitby Abbey
english-heritage.org.uk 17
NEED TO KNOW
Visitors at Tintagel Castle
What made you want to volunteer for English Heritage? My passion for history began with Ladybird books. Whether it was King Alfred burning cakes or Nelson’s great naval victories, the stories created a sense of fun and discovery. I experienced history right on my doorstep in Wandsworth too. Hamilton House, a Grade II listed building, is where illicit liaisons between Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton supposedly occurred and nearby Trafalgar Arms in Tooting, a pub with an impressive art deco frontage, still exists today. So began my love affair with history and buildings and a desire to find out more. How big a part has volunteering played in your life? I can’t think of a time when I haven’t volunteered. It began at university, continued during my time in local government and from there I progressed onto running policy teams and start up groups at charities. Volunteering has broadened my outlook on life and my latest roles at English Heritage and the British Film Institute 18 english-heritage.org.uk
combine the two loves of my life, history and film. As a trustee, what would you say to volunteers? Volunteering is the backbone of the thirdsector. It enabled me to get an education and understanding of the world that I wouldn’t have experienced in a paid job. Our volunteers’ contribution is vital, and to that end, I am passionate about ensuring
I can’t think of a time when I haven’t volunteered that they are properly nurtured and engaged and that we invest in their future. This means ensuring they receive proper training and that we always follow best practice. I am constantly looking for new ways to maintain their loyalty. What are you excited about bringing to the board? I’ve long been a champion of developing artistic expression, whether through
music, performance or film, so I’m delighted to be Board representative for Shout out Loud. At SOL we’re taking an interactive approach to telling England’s stories through drama. The latest performances, with a total of four hours’ production time and a host of creative and energetic volunteers, was an impressive use of the space at Eltham Palace. Any key objectives you feel passionate about? Putting visitors at the heart of their visit to an English Heritage site. We’re moving away from focusing entirely on content to focusing on the experience itself, appreciating that this varies between individuals. Footfall is easy to measure; far more challenging, and significant to attract potential funders, is measuring the social impact of our sites. How did a visit inspire you, what impact it had on your life, your wellbeing and your mental health? Which project has excited you most recently? Kenwood, which is the embodiment
NEED TO KNOW
WHO IS KUNLE OLULODE?
‘Our house’ – a ‘Shout Out Loud’ performance at Eltham Palace
of what a building can represent and how it can reach out to different audiences. We’re extending its narrative beyond the beautiful grounds and extraordinary art collection to the philanthropists who lived there, including the first Earl of Mansfield. He was responsible for a landmark judgment, on 22 June 1772, which had a profound effect on slavery. By shining a light on his story, it widens the narrative and enables us to approach sponsors. It would be even better if on 22nd June each year we could celebrate Mansfield’s Judgment, starting in 2022, the 250th anniversary of the act. How would you like to broaden the appeal of English Heritage? By inspiring more people to study English history in order to understand national identity, otherwise debate becomes stifled and it can lead to accusations of racism and nationalism, which it isn’t. Whilst working in Spain, I witnessed the rising nationalism between the Catalonians, who are predominantly of Celtic origin and the
Spanish Federal State. We’ve witnessed it here too with Brexit. Identity and democracy are also important themes that touch on heritage. What’s the most memorable thing that’s happened whilst you’ve been a Trustee? Hearing that RSC actress, Adjoa Andoh had congratulated English Heritage on
Kunle is the Director of Voice4Change, an umbrella Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) organisation representing over 400 BME charity groups across England. He is also curatorial, programme and audience development advisor to the British Library, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Wellcome Collection, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Catalan Institute in London. He was previously UK Creative Director and producer with the Catalan live entertainment company in Barcelona and he has been part of the British Film Institute African Odyssey programming team for several years. He has set up award winning Black History Forums and has wide-ranging experience of policy development in the equalities field. He sits on the Cabinet Office’s Democracy Council.
Volunteering enabled me to get an education and understanding of the world that I wouldn’t have experienced in a paid job the improvements at Tintagel Castle. She knew it from her childhood and had fallen under the spell of its Arthurian legends. It’s heart-warming that a Hollywood actress and TV star (Dr Who, Casualty and EastEnders) still shares the same values and wonderful memories that buildings evoke in me. ■
Volunteer at Kenwood
BEING A TRUSTEE – WHAT’S INVOLVED? The English Heritage Trust is governed by a board of 12 voluntary trustees with a wealth of experience and expertise. The Board is responsible for ensuring that the Trust carries out its charitable objectives, remains solvent and is legally compliant. Please see our website for more information at: www.english-heritage.org.uk/about-us/our-people/our-trustees
Volunteer at Kenwood
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NEED TO KNOW
FOCUS ON... FUNDRAISING Emma Johnson, Community Fundraising Manager, tells us about fundraising at English Heritage.
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hen we became a registered charity in 2015, we committed to replacing the government funding, which we had previously received, with self-generated income. Year on year, our self-raised income has grown from strength to strength and we’ve attracted more Members than ever before, improved our catering and retail offers and expanded our commercial activities. This is fantastic progress, but we need to generate more to ensure financial sustainability, and we are therefore working hard to build up our fundraising offer to complement these other income streams. Like most charities, English Heritage has a fundraising team which raises funds in a number of different ways. Support from individuals We welcome donations from individuals to support wide-ranging areas of our work. These come about in many different ways: loose change in a collection box, responses to a cash appeal in the Members’ Magazine, or someone being inspired by a site visit leading to a multi-million pound donation, such as the Rausing’s gift to support the design and installation of the new bridge at Tintagel. Since 2015 we have also received over £11 million in bequests (also known as legacies or gifts in wills). Stonehenge itself was a legacy gift to the nation. Our work with businesses We also work with a selection of companies and brands on a variety of corporate partnerships. Each relationship is tailored to suit each 20 english-heritage.org.uk
company’s specific objectives, as well as providing valuable financial support for the charity’s work. This year we are excited to be launching a major threeyear partnership with global outdoor and travel clothing brand, Craghoppers who will be providing our site-based staff with new uniform items – they will also be providing new waterproof jackets for our visitor-facing volunteers. In 2019 we launched a new partnership with confectionery brand PLAYin CHOC who will donate 1p to English Heritage for every sale of their Woodland Animal ToyChoc Box – look out for the range in a selection of our site shops. We have also recently renewed our long standing partnership with estate agent Knight Frank who will continue to support our Blue Plaque scheme in London. Our other major partners include Barclays Premier and CSSC, who in return for their generous support receive free entry to our sites. Grants and trusts We can apply to external grant-giving bodies for gifts ranging from £1,000 to several million pounds. This edition’s Round Up celebrated the contribution the National Lottery Heritage Fund has made but we receive support from other bodies and organisations too such as Arts Council England and foundations which have the capacity to give large grants. These include the Wolfson Foundation, who supported the garden restoration and new café at Mount Grace Priory with a gift of £50,000, and The Linbury Trust who supported the re-presentation of the museum at Corbridge Roman Town – with a gift of
NEED TO KNOW
£275,000. Competition for these funds is high so we put a lot of work into the application and have a small team dedicated to this work.
Like most charities, English Heritage has a fundraising team which raises funds in a number of different ways
Clockwise from main image The new bridge at Tintagel Castle; Belsay Hall bookshop volunteer, Julie Hartley; PLAYin CHOC; Mount Grace Priory; the new Craghoppers uniform; one of our freeto-enter sites, Cirencester Amphitheatre.
BE PART OF IT If you’d like to find out more visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/volunteer
Once and Future fund The Once and Future Fund specifically benefits our free-to-enter sites. It is a fundraising campaign which is matchfunded by the National Lottery; they match every £1 donated up to a total of £1 million. We have secured over £700,000 in donations already and are working hard to raise as much as possible in the 18 months remaining. This will ensure that our 300 free to enter sites, like Hadrian’s Wall and Iron Bridge, benefit from ongoing conservation work, as well as improvements to access and interpretation, so that as many people as possible can enjoy and be inspired by them. The future of fundraising As well as continuing to grow income from all of the ways mentioned, we are going to be focusing on increasing our site and community fundraising presence over the next couple of years. This will include expanding our network of second-hand bookshops, which are a great way of raising funds to support our sites and add value to a local community – visitors love them!. We will also be increasing the number of opportunities across our sites for visitors to make donations by improving our collection boxes and other ways to donate. We will be recruiting and training volunteers who are interested in community engagement and fundraising. The training will focus on how best to inspire more supporters through hosting fundraising events in towns and villages, and equipping our volunteers with all the tools and resources they might need to achieve this. So a massive thanks to you all for being such an important part of this. You might not think you are a fundraiser, or even engaging in fundraising, but it is your efforts on the ground, to ensure each and every visitor leaves with a positive experience of English Heritage, that inspires them to support our cause. Without you we wouldn’t raise a penny. ■ english-heritage.org.uk 21
WHY I LOVE ...
THE TALE OF
MAUD DE BRAOSE at Totnes Castle
Elizabeth Strange shares the folk story of Maud, Lady of two English Heritage castles.
PLAN YOUR VISIT Visit Totnes Castle and find out more about its unique history. For more information visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/totnes-castle
22 english-heritage.org.uk
WHY I LOVE
Main image The castle bailey Centre The Keep Top right The garderobe Bottom right Elizabeth Strange
I
am a volunteer at Totnes Castle and I have been volunteering at this site since October 2018. What I particularly love about the site is the stories of the people connected to it, in particular the women, as I love women’s history. Therefore, I want to share the fascinating story of the terrible fate of Maud de Braose (c. 1155 – 1210), the lady of two English Heritage castles, Totnes (Devon) and Bramber (West Sussex). Maud de Braose Maud de Braose (pronounced ‘brews’) was married to William de Braose who was the 4th Lord of Bramber and many other lands including Totnes. He was originally a great favourite of King John who showered lands and titles on him, but he and Maud later fell from his favour. The Welsh attack She was a powerful figure: Maud’s husband had put her in charge of Hay Castle, which, according to myth, she built in one night by carrying the stones in her dress (she is often known as the Lady of Hay). She held off Painscastle against an attack from the Welsh for three weeks, until English
reinforcements arrived. Her husband was hugely unpopular with the Welsh as he had been responsible for a massacre in which he and his men killed three Welsh princes and their followers at a Christmas feast at Abergavenny Castle. For this, the Welsh called him the Ogre of Abergavenny and described her as a supernatural giantess Moll Wallbee.
them. Maud and her eldest son took a ship to Scotland while William stayed behind to try and reason with John. Maud and her son were captured when trying to flee to Galloway and were returned to England in chains and imprisoned in Windsor Castle. John demanded that William pay him 40,000 marks in exchange for Maud’s freedom and a royal pardon. William did not come King John up with the money What I Now, why she and fled to France and William upset disguised as a beggar. particularly King John is not He died there in 1211. love about actually known. The fates of Maud However, it was and her son were the site is the possibly because much worse: they stories of William had were thrown into the knowledge of the dungeons of Corfe the people murder of John’s Castle where they connected to it starved to death nephew Arthur of Brittany, which in 1210. John may have committed. William The treatment of Maud, also owed John some money. William and their son increased Whatever the reason, John the barons’ anger against John ordered Maud and William to give and probably was a factor in their up two of their sons to him as a wars against him until his death sign of their loyalty. Maud refused. in 1216. Clause 39 of Magna King John then seized their lands, Carta – which forbids arbitrary while Maud and William fled to imprisonment – may have been their son-in-law Walter de Lacy influenced by the harsh treatment for protection. John then pursued of Maud, William and their son. ■ english-heritage.org.uk 23
PROJECT PROFILE
REDISCOVERING... WALMER PLEASURE GROUNDS Hannah West discovers how Walmer Castle was able to breathe new life into a forgotten landscape.
24 english-heritage.org.uk
P R O JEEXCPTE RPTR O C FAI R LE
english-heritage.org.uk 25
PROJECT PROFILE
T
he ‘Rediscovering Walmer’s Pleasure Grounds’ project was made possible by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It has seen English Heritage re-present and reinterpret lost and forgotten elements of Walmer Castle’s Grade II listed gardens, first laid out by Pitt the Younger and his niece, Lady Hester Stanhope, during his time as Lord Warden. Since the project began in 2018, English Heritage has revived the historic landscape beyond the borders of the formal gardens and united the constituent parts of the Pleasure Grounds for visitors to enjoy and explore. These include the wildflower meadow, known as the Paddock, with its circling Woodland Walk, and a planted former chalk quarry called the Glen. Closed for 100 years, the Glen, located at the westernmost end of the gardens, had slowly become overgrown and inaccessible and, by 2018, when the project began, had reached a critical point in its decline. Without urgent intervention, the 19th-century landscaping was in danger of disappearing entirely; an important element of William Pitt the Younger’s legacy would have been lost and the gardens would have become disconnected from the stories told inside the castle. What’s Been Achieved The project aimed to halt deterioration and revive Pitt’s delightful, historic landscape and, over the last two years,
it has achieved this and more. Paths throughout the Pleasure Grounds have been restored according to historic plans. Trees and shrubberies were thinned and are being regenerated, allowing historic trees to flourish and a new generation of trees and shrubs to grow. Biodiversity has thrived as the historic parkland has reclaimed its natural flora and fauna, including woodland and chalk grassland, which now supports a wide range of species. Rare plant types, consistent with historic accounts of the chalk grassland meadow, have been reinstated and nurtured in the Paddock. Planting schemes have been designed to evoke descriptions written by Lady Stanhope in her letters, in which she speaks fondly of Walmer Castle and its gardens. Alongside this work, gardeners’ facilities have been improved, enabling them to care for and maintain Walmer Castle’s extensive estate. Enriching the physical aspects of the project has also included improved visitor facilities, such as the new Glasshouse Café and toilets. A community-focused activity plan is encouraging local people to become involved with the castle and gardens. Throughout the project, Walmer Castle’s team of gardeners worked tirelessly with a group of dedicated, local volunteers to re-present the Glen, making it ready for visitors to explore from spring 2019. One such volunteer, Rafi, has shared his personal story of the Glen and its rediscovery. You can read about his experience on the next page. ►
Biodiversity has thrived as the historic parkland has reclaimed its natural flora and fauna
1 Images Previous pages The glen at Walmer Castle These pages 1. Ferns taken by volunteer Imogen Robinson 2. Completing the project 3. Walmer Castle 4. The path down to the glen 5. Education visits to the glen 6. Wicker hut in the glen 7. Walking in the glen
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PROJECT PROFILE
4
3 7
5 7 6 FIND OUT MORE You can learn more about the project at www.english-heritage.org.uk/rediscover-walmer
english-heritage.org.uk 27
PROJECT PROFILE
VOLUNTEERING WAS AT THE HEART OF THE PROJECT Walmer Castle volunteer Rafi Husain tells his story.
W
Steep doesn’t do justice to the gradient of some of the slopes
Top Rafi Husain Centre An old-fashioned phone box Below Steep steps down to the glen
28 english-heritage.org.uk
ell, we started with what could be described as a Kentish jungle. This abandoned chalk pit, which Lady Stanhope had first transformed into what she called ‘a romantic wilderness’, in the early 1800s, has subsequently been neglected. The word jungle - albeit local vegetation such as ivy, bindweed, nettles and brambles - is not too much of an exaggeration. The Glen, as it is now, with its substantial staircase and solid paths is unrecognisable. Our first challenge was to get into the Glen. There were no pathways, we had to hack our way in down the steep sides of the pit. ‘Steep’ doesn’t do justice to the gradient of some of the slopes. Sherpa Tenzing would have thought twice about ascending those slopes with crampons and ropes. We were clearing brambles and nettles with one leg bent beyond 90° and the other straight out. Fully compliant with RA and H&S of course. Mess room with a difference With so much undergrowth cleared, we became adept at lighting bonfires in all weathers. The Glen was an excellent site, sending plumes of smoke up into the sky. Given the long trek back to the gardeners’ mess room for tea break and lunch, Brian (head of the project) started bringing flasks of tea and potatoes to bake in the fire. We discovered that, although there could be a 2mm carbon crust on the potato which resembled a lump of coal, the inside was perfectly edible. Not everyone gave it a go though.
Talking of long treks, going up and down the staircase several times a day (with gardening tools sometimes) was equal to any workout in the gym. Given the age of many volunteers we kept staircase ascents to a minimum. Bizarre discoveries I remember seeing a mysteriouslooking hole in the undergrowth which, from afar, could have been the lair of some hitherto undiscovered animal on the estate. I don’t mean a new species just something we didn’t know was in the grounds. It turned out to be a natural hole in the undergrowth and a bit of an anti-climax. As we progressed further into the Glen, we discovered the skulls and bones of foxes, badgers and possibly stoats; the usual haul of beer and cider cans and perhaps, most bizarrely, the whole of the innards of an old-fashioned phone box. Hard work rewarded It’s immensely gratifying to be going about our routine maintenance of the Glen removing bindweed and the weeds, repairing the paths and planting new shrubs - and chatting to the visitors who never fail to compliment us on the transformation of the Glen. The Glen is a realisation of the project, coordinated by Brian, and achieved by the hard graft of a lot of volunteers and full-time staff. It was a combined effort, but I wonder how many of us look at the Glen and say to themselves ‘I did that bit’. I do. ■
YO U R S TO R I E S
A BOX OF INSPIRATION David Thomas tells us about his role and the fascinating history of mallie armour at Dover Castle. â–ş
english-heritage.org.uk 29
YO U R S TO R I E S
I
n early 2017 I was approached by Gen Brosnan, Volunteer Co-ordinator at Dover Castle, who said ‘we’ve produced two handling boxes, one to show how maille armour is made and the other to demonstrate how a stained-glass window is constructed. I’d like you to lead on them’. I said ‘of course’ before adding ‘but I don’t know anything about them’. Gen said ‘don’t worry, you’ll learn’. The team worked with a professional medieval armourer and a stained-glass maker to produce the boxes. Crib-sheets were produced and after a rather steep learning curve it was time to ‘test drive’ the boxes with visitors.
Open the maille The first thing you learn is that it is never called ‘maille armour’, a Victorian term; it’s just called maille, which is French. The components enable you to explain to visitors, in a clear step by step way, how the armour starts off as soft iron wire and ends up, after many months of hard work, as a full suit of armour or ‘hauberk’ weighing 25kg. One suit in the ground floor armoury has 40,000 links! We show newly cut links, flattened links, hole punched links, links made into a ‘4 into 1’ pattern and then riveted. We also have a piece of a ‘gambeson’, a strong fabric armour, which would have been worn under the maille for added protection and comfort. Feedback from visitors was tremendous, with many commenting on how the story of the armour directly linked to the story of the Great Tower. Some said that looking at the suit of maille armour in Henry II’s wardrobe chamber made more sense having seen how it was made.
A kaleidoscope of colour On a sunny day the stainedglass windows in the Chapel of Thomas Becket create beautiful patterns across the masonry. This seemed the ideal location to site our stained-glass box, especially as the chapel was usually reserved for the king and his family. We displayed the stained glass in stands against a light background, which allowed the graduated tones of light and the vibrant colours to show through. This was complemented by Victorian glass that had been painted and stained and various fine examples of 18th-century and polished cut glass. Examples of the grozing pliers used to shape the glass and the lead ‘came’, which holds the different pieces of glass in place, were also part of the presentation. Have the boxes inspired? From the reaction of volunteers and visitors alike, I don’t think there is any doubt that the boxes have inspired. But if it is proof you need – I am now a student on a stained-glass course run by Kent Adult Education. I’ve even made my first stained glass window – not up to the standard of the chapel glass in the Great Tower – but who knows how things will turn out. ■
One suit in the armoury has 40,000 links
PLAN YOUR VISIT Use your volunteer pass to meet the team and see the handling boxes. For more information please visit: www.english-heritage.org.uk/dover
30 english-heritage.org.uk
YO U R S TO R I E S
Clockwise from bottom image Dover Castle; David Thomas; objects from the stained-glass handling box; more stained-glass objects; volunteers Lisa Carter and Robert Hough.
english-heritage.org.uk 31
H AV E YO U R S AY
SURVEY RESULTS A summary of feedback from our volunteer survey.
L
ast autumn, we invited you to take part in our Volunteer Survey to tell us about your experiences, your relationship with English Heritage and what we’re doing well or could be doing better. More of you than ever before took this opportunity to give us your views. Thank you for all the constructive feedback you have shared.
You spoke, we listened We’re looking forward to making the improvements you’ve told us you’d like to see. Your feedback from the 2017 survey helped us to start to make these changes:
You asked for more opportunities to find out what’s coming up at sites. Now, more sites are holding pre-season sessions for both employees and volunteers.
You asked for more opportunities to hear from senior leaders and share your thoughts. More than 250 of you came to the engagement sessions with Kate Mavor held in York, London and Swindon in 2018 and 2019.
You told us that this magazine could be more useful so we gave it a refresh and while it celebrates the amazing contribution you all make it is also a helpful way of sharing charity news and updates.
You told us that you weren’t happy with volunteer uniforms. We’ve changed suppliers and will be introducing a new system to ensure you receive uniform more quickly and have better access to the items you need. You identified a lack of consistency in the way you are managed from place to place. A new programme of volunteer leadership training is currently being rolled out and we have appointed more volunteer leadership staff than ever before. What next? We have a lot to do and we want to work with you to get things right. Reports on results have been circulated to Volunteer Managers to share with their teams so staff and volunteers can work together on a local basis to explore the findings and develop their own action plans to take forward. ■
GET THE FULL PICTURE Each team will be feeding back on their individual results over this season so look out for updates from your manager.
32 english-heritage.org.uk
THANK YOU
to everyone who took part.
H AV E YO U R S AY
The best thing about volunteering is... ‘Working at such a great location with like-minded people and supporting an organisation that protects our heritage for future generations’
96%
enjoy volunteering with English Heritage
KEY
benefits • Made friends • Made a difference • Life experience • Enjoyable
TOP
The best thing about volunteering is... ‘The team, both employees and other volunteers, are very warm and friendly’
motivations The best thing about volunteering is... ‘It has helped build my confidence’
• Good use of free time • Good use of skills • Belief in English Heritage
Areas to celebrate
87 %
Received support and encouragement from staff and volunteers
86 89%
Thought the role allowed you to make good use of your skills and experience
96%
Are clear about the behaviours English Heritage expects of you
90%
Feel you are treated equally irrespective of ethnicity, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation or religion
%
How you like to be thanked • Volunteer pass to sites • Shop discount • Personal ‘thank you’ • Social events
Feel you make an impact through the volunteering that you do
Areas to explore
62%
Understand English Heritage’s immediate priorities and where the organisation is going
75 54%
Are clear how your role contributes to the charity’s objectives
33%
Think the leadership team is in touch with the views and opinions of volunteers
58%
Feel your views are listened to
%
Felt informed of what is happening elsewhere in the charity
93%
intend to be volunteering in a year’s time
87% would recommend English Heritage as a great place to volunteer
1066
RESPONDED
to the survey 44% volunteers
The best thing about volunteering is... ‘Being able to use my skills and build new ones’
english-heritage.org.uk 33
NEED TO KNOW
SUSTAINABILITY AT THE HEART OF WHAT WE DO
Climate change is one of the most important issues facing us today. Rob Woodside, Estates Director, gives us an update on some of the actions being taken by English Heritage.
C
limate change is one of the most important issues facing us today. We asked Rob Woodside, Estates Director, to give an update on some of the actions being taken. It’s clearer than ever before that climate change poses a profound threat to our planet. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes it clear that action must be taken now to limit global warming to 1.5°C or we risk catastrophic climate change. They’ve said that we have less than 12 years to do this. What measures are we taking? Worldwide rising sea levels, soaring temperatures and increasing extreme weather events put the unique collection of historic sites, landscapes, gardens and artefacts in our care on the frontline of climate change. English Heritage has a duty to act, both for the sake of future generations and on behalf of the sites, artefacts, landscapes, gardens and habitats in our care. There are a number of ways we can do this and energy reduction is among the most important. We’re committed to reducing our absolute energy use by 15% over the next ten years. We will do this by increasing our use of renewables, replacing old and inefficient infrastructures and by finding ways to use energy more efficiently, including making the switch to LED lighting.
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Sustainable packaging Reliance on single-use plastics is another issue we’re addressing. We’ve stopped the use of all plastic bags in our shops and recently have introduced a new ‘Bag for Life’ which is made from three and a half recycled plastic bottles. Our cafés, tea rooms and restaurants have committed to eliminating the use of single-use plastics by the end of this financial year and you may have already noticed some changes as we’ve phased out plastic bottles and replaced them with glass alternatives. Free drinking water is also available. We’re also reducing the impact of plastics and landfill waste by replacing all disposable food and drink packaging with fully biodegradable alternatives made from recycled and plant-based materials and
Main image Pendennis Property Manager Kirsty Hedderly’s son Teddy does his bit as part of the clean-up crew. Above Plastic-free sea glass decoration Right Left to right - Kirsty Hedderly, Property Manager and Jade Bone, Catering Manager with their Plastic Free Champions plaque.
are working with suppliers to introduce reusable and biodegradable hot drinks cups. You will also have noticed that your copy of Volunteer Focus comes through the post in a plastic-free potato starch wrap and each edition of the Members’ Magazine is also posted out in compostable wrapping. Reducing our footprint Climate change means we need to be more joined up with other organisations and look to our teams to do more to find ways to reduce our footprint. There are great examples of how volunteers are helping to do this at sites up and down the country including these inspiring initiatives led by volunteers at Pendennis Castle.
NEED X PTEO R TK C NA ORWE
Volunteer Focus comes through the post in a plastic-free potato starch wrap
PENDENNIS CASTLE Alison Harlow, Volunteer Coordinator at Pendennis Castle, tells us more.
P
rotecting the environment has never been so important and here at Pendennis we’re ‘Thinking Global, Acting Local’. We’re helping to tackle the plastic pollution that blights our coastline by working with Plastic Free Falmouth to reduce the use of single-use plastic and we’re proud that Pendennis Castle has been recognised as a Plastic Free Champion by Surfers Against Sewage. We have a Volunteer Clean up Crew who get together every six weeks to work as a team to litter pick not just the Castle Moat and car park but also the area around the headland. Sadly the team always collect a shocking amount
of litter and we have a competition to see who finds the most obscure object – so far the person who found the life-size cardboard cut-out of Elton John must get the prize. The team are constantly looking at ways to reduce our environmental impact. Last Christmas, volunteers decorated the Keep using only greenery – we hauled in sacks and sacks of holly, ferns, pinecones, ivy and foliage for a stunning end result and used old Christmas cards to make tags for the Wishing Tree. Our craft tables have changed too. When volunteers lead crafts we tend to use recycled products – our Christmas craft table consisted of wood slices to make into reindeer and pinecones to decorate and at Halloween, volunteers helped children make ghosts on strings made from the sections of an egg box and scraps of white fabric. No pots of
glitter in sight. We also encourage recycling. Besides a box for general recycling, the volunteers’ room has a drinks can collection box from Every Can Counts. We collect up our crisp packets to go to Terracycle collection points. Hard plastic recycling (e.g. plastic bottle tops) get collected for Plastic Oceanic a local organisation that uses non-recyclable recovered plastic to make other things including kayaks. Books are left on the table to be borrowed and returned. I’m grateful to everyone for their innovative ideas and the great team work that is putting these into action to make a difference. ■ BE PART OF IT If you’d like to find out more visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/volunteer
english-heritage.org.uk 35
YO U R S TO R I E S
WEREN’T THE OLDEN DAYS IN
BLACK AND WHITE?
Dave Trevor shares his photography from Beeston’s Roundhouse project.
A
s a student during 1980 and 1981, Dave Trevor worked as a volunteer on the archaeological dig that would eventually uncover the footprints of Bronze Age roundhouses at Beeston Castle. Nearly 40 years on, he returned in February 2019 as a Core Volunteer for the Roundhouse project. Opting for monochrome over colour, he shares a few of the snaps he took during the project last year.
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1
YO U R S TO R I E S
2
3
4
5 1 Thu 14 March 2019 The day after the raising of three central posts with ropes and an A-frame, work was postponed by high winds. A small group of us returned to check on the results of our full volunteer team’s efforts, and were relieved to see no signs of swaying in the breeze. 2 Mon 13 May 2019 Looking vaguely Masonic in concept from below, the 24 ash rafters forming the cone of the roundhouse roof changed the whole feel of the structure. After their installation, it felt much less
6 like Woodhenge and much more like an enclosed collective space - some might even say ‘home’.
ring beams to the ash rafters with sisal ropes. Over 400 separate square lashings were needed to construct the roof.
3 Wed 15 May 2019 We have to make concessions to 21st-Century health and safety hi-vis, hard hats, safety boots, aluminium ladders and scaffolding, but our team spirit remains resolutely tribal, and our creative thinking has become increasingly Bronze Age.
5 Wed 19 June 2019 The evolving roof structure enters its final stages while the wattle wall hurdles begin to take shape around the edges. By the end of this construction week the internal space was enclosed, except for our three (yes, three) doorways.
4 Wed 5 June 2019 Like insects caught in a huge wooden spider’s web, two of our team fix hazel
WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU We’re looking for photography volunteers to join our Media Library team. See our ‘over to you’ section on page 38 for more details.
6 Tue 9 July 2019 If this stage of construction doesn’t work, you can blame the thatchers. Volunteers have elected to keep the layered look to the rush thatching, because it will better inform visitors about the process. Volunteer input is always welcome at Beeston, as is a project leadership style that has the courage to invite it. ■ english-heritage.org.uk 37
OVER TO YOU A dedicated space for you.
A MAGAZINE
FOR YOU
V
olunteer Focus has always been a celebration of the amazing ways you support English Heritage, so please do keep sending us your ideas for articles that showcase what you do, why you love it and sharing your passion for your site or role.
VO LU N T EE R FO C U S Together we’re making a differen ce
2019 ISSUE 16
Building at Beeston
Exploring the Roundhouse Project
GET INVOLVED
KEEPING YOU CONNECTED
Y
ou told us through the survey that you’d like to hear more about activities across the charity, so to improve our communications with you, we’ve been increasing the number of email updates and since May have been sending our regular email newsletters. We also started an English Heritage Volunteer Facebook group which has been really successful. It’s great to see how so many of our volunteers are using it to keep in touch with each other, find out about different sites and share experiences. Join us online to be part of the conversation.
INSIDE: Our heroes | Project Profiles | A day in the life | Your stories | News and more...
Email us at volunteerfocus@english-heritage.org.uk and we’ll let you know where we are on the production schedule and when to submit a finished article.
JOIN OUR FACEBOOK GROUP Log into www.facebook.com and search ‘English Heritage Volunteers’, click on ‘request’ to join the group.
DO YOU SEE LIFE THROUGH A LENS W
e are looking for photography volunteers to join our Media Library team and help us to create images for use on our promotional materials and website. If you have a modern camera, would like to hone your existing skills and build your portfolio, while taking images of beautiful historic sites and the people who enjoy them, then this role could be for you. To ensure we could use the images you provide you would need to have experience on at least a semi-professional level or be a very keen amateur photographer.
ve Watson Photograph by Ste
Not a professional just yet? Images for the Media Library need to be of a certain specification and that won’t be for everyone so we’re going to develop less formal photography roles over the course of 2020. If you would be interested in helping us to shape this role please get in touch. volunteer.enquiries@english-heritage.org.uk
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OV E R TO YO U
TEA BREAK CROSSWORD David Tovey, Stonehenge volunteer, has created this issue’s crossword. (Answers below)
1
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9
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18
Across: 4 Term of approval (5) SEASON 6 Area of land (7)
We’d love to see your 7 Highway (4) favourite images taken during 8 Infuses (5) your time volunteering, send them in and we’ll share them 10 Rots (6) with everyone and there’s 11 Intense fear (6) even a prize for our favourite.
13 Partial darkness (5) 15 Country (4) 16 Gemstone (7) 17 Shabby (5) 18 Article (4)
1 Curt (5) 2 Translucent substance (5) 3 Draw closer to (8) 4 Hidden gunman (6) 5 Wanders (5) 6 Containers (4) 9 Guarantee (8) Springtime at W almer Castle 10 Small horse (6) 11 Rely on (5) 12 Repair (4) 13 Broad cloth (5) 14 Warning signal (5)
WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU
To kick-start this brand new section, we’ve put in some of our own content to give you an idea of how it will look. We hope to expand and improve it with your submissions. Send us your letters, photos, puzzles, quizzes, jokes, or anything you’d like.
Answers: Tea break crossword Across 1 Tags; 4 Super; 6 Terrain; 7 None; 8 Brews; 10 Decays; 11 Terror; 13 Shade; 15 Cuba; 16 Emerald; 17 Tatty; 18 Item. Down 1 Terse 2 Glass; 3 Approach; 4 Sniper; 5 Roams; 6 Tubs; 9 Warranty; 10 Donkey; 11 Trust; 12 Mend; 13 Sheet; 14 Alarm.
IMAGE OF THE 1 Labels (4)
Down:
Across 1. Labels (4) 4. Term of approval (5) 6. Area of land (7) 7. Highway (4) 8. Infuses (5) 10. Rots (6) 11. Intense fear (6) 13. Partial darkness (5) 15. Country (4) 16. Gemstone (7) 17. Shabby (5) 18. Article (4) Down 1. Curt (5) 2. Translucent substance (5) 3. Draw closer to (8) 4. Hidden gunman (6) 5. Wanders (5) 6. Containers (4) 9. Guarantee (8) 10. Small horse (6) 11. Rely on (5) 12. Repair (4) 13. Broad cloth (5) 14. Warning signal (5)
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