Behind the Scenes…

The museum isn’t open to the public in January – but behind the scenes it’s a hive of activity, as our volunteer workforce tackles jobs which can’t easily be done at other times of year.

One of the main tasks is the annual deep clean of the museum. This ensures a healthy environment for visitors, volunteer staff and, above all, for the objects and documents we look after.   We don’t want pests getting into the collection!

Alongside the cleaning is the inevitable list of maintenance tasks.  Minor tasks are dealt with throughout the year, as the need arises, but inevitably some jobs take longer than others and are easier to do when the museum is closed to the public.  Our DIY guys are brilliant.

Volunteers continue to work on different aspects of the collection – cataloguing the document archive, for instance, or inspecting storage boxes to make sure items are still being kept in optimum conditions.

Environmental monitoring continues as usual, with humidity especially having to be carefully monitored and controlled in an old building such as ours.    Our front-of-house volunteers are very adept at dealing with dehumidifiers!

Meanwhile, in the office, emails are getting answered, posters are being designed, exhibitions are in preparation.  Some volunteers are doing work at home, carrying out research or writing reports, updating the website or answering emails.  There are training courses to attend too – three this month…

So, we’re closed right now – but we’re busy!!!