MERL celebrates Volunteers' Week

UMASCS volunteers celebrate the 25th anniversary of Volunteers’ Week with a trip to Wales …

On Thursday, 4th June, twenty-three volunteers from the University of Reading’s Museums and Special Collections travelled to St. Fagans, the Welsh National History Museum and one of Europe’s foremost open-air museums and Wales’ most popular heritage attraction.

This trip was organised as part of Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June), to thank our volunteers for their invaluable contribution and support. National Volunteers’ Week is the UK’s annual celebration of the work that volunteers do, and this year they are celebrating their 25th anniversary. Our volunteers ranged from University of Reading students and those interested in a career in museums and archives, to retired local residents, steam engine owners and farming enthusiasts. All of the volunteers have been involved in archive and museum work at the University of Reading’s Museums and Special Collections Service (UMASCS) either on a short term basis or over many years.

On arrival at St. Fagans we were given a tour by Gerallt Nash, Senior Curator of Historic Buildings. The Museum is home to over thirty original buildings that have been moved from different parts of Wales and re-erected in the beautiful grounds of St. Fagans castle. As a curator at St Fagans for over twenty-five years, Gerallt has overseen the reconstruction of countless buildings, from the smallest post office in Wales to Rhyd-y-car, ironworkers' cottages. Gerallt took us on a guided tour of several ‘time capsules’ including St Teilo's Church, St. Fagans’ newly completed medieval church, giving us a brief but fascinating history of each building we visited, and happily answering any questions we wanted to ask.

We then had a couple of hours to ‘do our own thing’ and immerse ourselves even more in the rich heritage and culture of Wales. Volunteers explored the museum, its buildings and its amazing grounds in the glorious sunshine, and indulged in the local fare at the grocery or with a visit to the award-winning tea-room.

Nikki Houston, acting UMASCS Volunteer Development Officer, based at the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) said: ‘Volunteers are the life blood of organisations such as ours, and today is one way in which we can thank our volunteers and show our appreciation for their continuing support at events and on projects within UMASCS.’ Everyone agreed that it was ‘a brilliant day out’. St. Fagans ‘lived up to expectations’ being both ‘interesting and beautiful’ and ‘the reconstructed buildings were an inspiration’. Also, as one of our community volunteers said, this was a great opportunity ‘to meet other volunteers, who … [volunteer] on different days’. In fact, everyone had such a fantastic time that most of them are already planning a return trip with family and friends!

Volunteers are recruited throughout the year to help with archive cataloguing, tour guiding, museum collection databases and hands-on conservation work at the University of Reading’s Museum of English Rural Life, the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology and the Cole Museum of Zoology. Full training is provided and volunteering is an excellent opportunity to learn a range of skills and make new friends.

To find out more about volunteering with UMASCS, please email UMASCSvolunteers@reading.ac.uk, or call 0118 378 8660.

 

Volunteers Week 2008

A group of volunteers who help in the University’s museums  and collections escaped to the Sussex countryside on Monday 2nd June to visit the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum.

The educational trip was organised to thank volunteers as part of Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June), the UK's annual celebration of the work volunteers do. The volunteers, who include students, local residents and steam engine owners, have been involved in a range of projects at the Museum of English Rural Life, the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, the Cole Museum of Zoology and other collections.

On arrival, they were given a talk by Richard Harris, Director of the Weald and Downland Open-Air Museum about the history of open-air museums and how volunteers contribute to the success of the Museum. The volunteers then enjoyed looking behind-the-scenes in the Museum’s artefacts store from Curator, Julian Bell, before enjoying a tour around parts of the 50 acre site and its buildings, led by two volunteer tour guides.

Nicolette Evans, UMASCS Volunteer Co-ordinator based at the Museum of English Rural Life, said: “This day out was primarily organised as a thank you to our volunteers for their hard work over the past year. We rely on volunteers to help us in so many ways.”

Volunteer, Terry Boyington, said: “It was an absolutely splendid day - I enjoyed every minute of it. It was fascinating to see how others do the same sort of things that we are all involved in.”