VOLUNTEERS
ABOVE: Some of our veterans working on the bikes in the MCC
It has been a busy few months since I took on the role of Interim Volunteer Manager at Birmingham Museums Trust earlier this summer. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it so far and it has been great to get to know everyone and start to meet our brilliant volunteers face to face. I hit the ground running in July and was able to organise a group of 23 volunteers from across the Trust to support filming with the BBC Antiques Roadshow team at Aston Hall. Volunteers were on hand with sash and boater to make sure the event ran as smoothly as possible. From welcoming contributors to hosting refreshments, appearing as fabulous extras to giving impromptu tours of the Hall for the roadshow’s experts, the volunteers all played a valuable part over two very long filming days. We were also able to schedule in our first Volunteer Explore Day since the pandemic and to invite our volunteers to Thinktank to see all the changes that had been made over lockdown. Learning and Access Manager Andrew Fowles presented the new vision for BMT to the group and led a fantastic consultation session. It sparked some interesting discussion and has given us plenty to think about for the future. Natural Science Curator Lukas Large also treated us to a brilliant tour of the new ‘Our Changing Planet’ gallery. More latterly in September we hosted our Staff and Volunteer Summer Picnic at Aston Hall. The weather just about held out and it was great to get staff and volunteers back together in the beautiful grounds of the Hall. The catering team provided
a delicious spread and there were garden games and a photo studio for everyone to enjoy. Alongside these events we have of course been welcoming teams back onsite. Our green fingered gardeners have been working hard across Sarehole, Blakesley and Aston to keep our gardens blooming and beautiful. We have also been able to welcome back volunteers to Aston and Blakesley in our new Costumed Heritage Interpreter roles, sharing their knowledge of the sites via spotlight tours whilst dressed for the occasion in period costume. Thinktank hosted over 30 young volunteers for its short-term Summer Activities placements this summer and the team delivered some fantastic Object Handling and badge making activities which proved very popular! This year we’ve also launched our ‘Volunteering for Veterans’ project, a wellbeing and conservation project working with veterans of the armed forces. The team are based at the Museum Collection Centre and are working hard to conserve the motorbike collection with the aim to get one back out on display at Thinktank. Alongside this we’ve kept online volunteering going strong and have a great team supporting Documentation Registrar Misaho Washizu in gathering artist research to support the collection. Whilst we don’t know what this winter will bring, we’re hoping to welcome back more and more teams onsite and not lose momentum. I’d like to end with a big thank you to all our volunteers for your continued support from everyone here at Birmingham Museums. We really couldn’t do it without you! n
news from the volunteers By Jennifer Shufflebotham WINTER 2021 • issue 67
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