ROUND UP

ROUND UP

FROM WORMSTONES TO WORK EXPERIENCE

This year, our volunteer teams continue to go from strength to strength. Find out more about what some of the teams have been up to.

Main image Work experience trainee Josh Reynolds outside Battle Abbey Left Work experience trainee Henry with Battle Abbey volunteer Robert Above The abbey gatehouse

WONDERFUL WORK EXPERIENCE

James Witcombe, operations manager at Battle Abbey, tells us about a work experience scheme which proved to be valuable for everyone involved.

Battle Abbey has teamed up with Sussex-based charity Little Gate Farm, an organisation that helps adults and young people with learning disabilities and autism get into work. In 2021, five trainees joined the

Battle Abbey team on work experience.

Louis, Josh, Ryan, Henry and Thomas were keen to learn more about working at a historic site and develop their independence and communication skills. The whole process was designed to give them a real flavour of working for

English Heritage, including a pre-placement interview, induction and on-the-job training. Meeting and greeting

While at Battle Abbey, the trainees undertook a variety of tasks encouraged by their Little Gate Farm job coach, who helped them learn their role and adapt to the new workplace. One of their main jobs was meeting and greeting: offering a friendly welcome to our visitors, helping them work the audio tour and showing them where to go. Each one of the trainees came with a fantastic attitude, work ethic and a willingness to learn. They took real pride in what they were doing and especially in representing English Heritage. Team work It’s fair to say that some of the trainees were nervous when they started but the Battle team quickly made them feel at home. The work experience involved working closely with the abbey’s Meet and Greet volunteers who did an amazing job supporting all of the trainees throughout their placements. The volunteers were able to guide the trainees, giving them hints and tips on how best to engage with different visitors and how to help them make the most of their visits. There was lots of work to be done in the grounds too, ensuring that the battlefield, abbey ruins and even the car park were looking their best. The trainees got to grips with litter picking, cleaning signs, weeding and raking leaves. Their efforts were not lost on the public: as Josh said, ‘it felt really good and rewarding to be recognised by visitors for all the hard work I had put in.’

The whole team of volunteers and staff really enjoyed getting to know the trainees and staff from Little Gate Farm and they really became part of

the team. It wasn’t all hard work – the trainees also got to appreciate some of the ‘perks of the job’ such as exploring behind the scenes in some of the areas not regularly open to the public, including the Abbot’s Hall with its magnificent 18th-century painting of the Battle of Hastings. A valuable experience for all The most satisfying aspect for everyone involved was helping and encouraging This experience the trainees to develop. As Louis said, ‘this experience helped me increase my helped me confidence with speaking with the public, increase my and now I can open my opportunities to customer-facing roles in the future.’confidence with The partnership has been really speaking with valuable for each of our five trainees, and everyone involved at Battle Abbey. the public Perhaps it can best be summed up by Ryan: ‘it was a really enjoyable experience, staff were great, the visitors were really friendly, and I didn’t feel stressed at all. My favourite part of this work experience has truthfully been all of it!’ ►

FIND OUT MORE For more information about Little Gate Farm visit their website at www.littlegate.org.uk

NEW INTERPRETATION PROJECT AT DOWN HOUSE

Kristyna Silvova, senior gardener, explains how the team hope to engage with visitors in new ways.

Earlier this year a new Down House garden interpretation project was launched to create another way of sparking the interest of our visitors.

It consists of fi ve interactive posts positioned throughout the grounds, and an interpretation hub inside the glasshouse laboratory. Each post is dedicated to one specifi c experiment, thought or observation which is then summed up in an informative brief description and accompanied by botanical drawings from Darwin’s notebooks, examples of his handwritten notes, interactive games, a microscope peephole or even a quiz.

Weed garden and the survival of seedlings This post explains how Darwin marked and counted all germinated and all perished seedlings, demonstrating that only 20 per cent of them survive this early developmental stage and grow into mature plants.

Wormstone and the power of earthworms The Wormstone was developed by Charles and his son Horace to assess the effect of earthworms on the movement of soil and landscape. They designed a millstone with a measuring device to precisely monitor the sinking of the stone as a direct result of the worm activity and production of worm casts – a natural fertilizer.

Heterostyly in primroses and cowslips The word heterostyly describes different forms of fl owers within a species: more specifi cally, different lengths of their reproductive organs. Darwin wasn’t the fi rst scientist to notice this – even his own children knew about it – but he was the fi rst to defi ne the reason and purpose of this intriguing variation.

Cross-pollination of hollyhocks Darwin knew little about genetics and heredity at this time, but he was able to observe the results of the sexual reproduction of plants. Double hollyhocks were puzzling him: how come they don’t carry mixed traits from both parents but always look like either one of them? The answer was provided by Johann Gregor Mendel hundreds of miles away but Darwin never had the opportunity to learn about it. If only... Clover and bumble bees This one may sound like a fairytale, but it actually explains how Darwin used the example of clover, bumble bees, mice and cats to demonstrate the co-evolution of plants and animals, the interaction of species and the food chain law.

The second hotspot for the interpretation of Darwin’s observations is found inside the glasshouse laboratory. This room was built by Darwin in 1881 with the intention to use the space for further scientifi c research. Today it serves its purpose as a working potting shed as well as a home to a colony of honey bees in our observation beehive.

In August 2021, as a part of the interpretation project, this room was redecorated and more interactive panels were put up on the walls to enhance the visitor’s experience.

Once the installation was completed, our volunteers took part in a training session where they shared ideas on engaging with the general public. We focused on how to intrigue our younger visitors and encourage them to look around, observe and discover for themselves. As the next generation who can make a real difference to our planet, we believe they are worth all the time and effort and that we must try our best to show them the beauty the natural world possesses.

WELCOMING THE CHOUGHS BACK TO DOVER CASTLE

Visitor assistant Gavin Wright shares how he has supported the reintroduction of this historic bird.

In 2021 we saw a milestone in the work that the castle had been doing in partnership with Kent Wildlife Trust and Wildwood (a local centre for British and European animal species). We were helping with a project to reintroduce the iconic red-billed chough to the

Kent landscape around us. A public engagement aviary was installed on the clifftop next to the First World War fi re command centre and signal station.

History and legend This beautiful bird with its glossy black plumage and sealing-wax red bill and feet was, we know from historical records, once common on the clifftop landscape, feeding on insects in the closely cropped turf. About 200 years ago they started to disappear from Kent and many other parts of the United Kingdom, probably due to persecution by humans and changes in agricultural practices.

There are lots of historical and literary connections between this species and Kent and Dover in particular. Henry II rebuilt Dover Castle in the late 12th century after his own knights murdered the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, in the nearby cathedral. According to legend, just after the murder an ordinary crow fl ew down from the cloisters to dip its beak and feet in the blood of the saint – and so the fi rst chough was born as the spirit of the dying saint! It’s thought that Dover Castle was built, at least in part, to impress pilgrims to Becket’s tomb, which is suggested by the creation of the beautiful Becket Chapel in the Great Tower. In King Lear, Shakespeare describes the choughs wheeling around the cliffs of Dover, looking as small as beetles because of the staggering drop below.

Engaging and charismatic birds Our aviary was installed in a suitable part of the castle with advice from properties curator Roy Porter to ensure no damage was done to archaeology in the area. In August, four young birds, bred by Wildwood that spring, were brought in, and the fun began. I teamed up with my colleagues Viv, Tony and James to provide daily care, feeding, cleaning and training. Like all crows, choughs are engaging and charismatic

Our visitors were also fascinated by the birds

Tony Colla gets friendly with one of the choughs

with big personalities and we loved the work. More importantly, our visitors were also fascinated by the birds and we recruited a dedicated band of outside volunteers who came to explain the project, the birds and their connections with Dover and the castle to the public. We are all looking forward to continuing to be an important part of this project for years to come. ■

FIND OUT MORE For more information about reintroducing the chough in Kent visit www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk