News

‘Making a difference’

To show our appreciation for our volunteers we held an award ceremony on Friday 19th November. In celebrating and acknowledging the support of our amazing volunteer team, we were delighted to make a number of awards. Presentations were made by a number of members of staff covering the whole range of Museum and Society activities.

The Awards

We were thrilled to be able to make a number of awards to volunteers.

Volunteer Team – Textiles
Helen Francis, Carole Henderson, Mary Martin and Anne  Roberts

During the period of Museum redevelopment, the Textiles team has provided excellent support to the curatorial team in researching objects, preparing them for display and/or for transfer to the new collections store.  Locating objects, working with designers and prepping for displays, have been amazing support.

Volunteer Team – Metal Work
John Singleton and Nigel Mykura

During May 2021, with the countdown to opening underway, the Collections Team was working under an extremely hectic schedule installing objects in the new Museum galleries. One of the last objects that needed to be installed was a hoard of coins – The Piddletrenthide Hoard – made up of 2,114 later 3rd century CE base radiates. The coin hoard had been meticulously sorted by coin type in individual envelopes by the British Museum prior to being acquired by the Museum, and the plan was for the coins to be stored in a bowl in a new display. This would mean mixing up the coins again and potentially losing the information about which coin was what type.  At very short notice, John and Nigel agreed to help and worked tirelessly in the store to photograph the coins. They could not have been more helpful

Individual volunteers

 Marlene Heinrich

 As part of the Learning Team, Marlene has gone above and beyond with her contribution for supporting the family activities since the Museum opened in May.  She has committed a lot of her time to supporting these events.  Marlene always arrives early, with a smile on her face and a keen desire to help in any way possible including the clearing up!  She is fantastic with children and families, encouraging and supportive of their experience and friendly with the parents, grandparents and carers.   Marlene comes up with suggestions and ideas for ways to add to the offer to improve the experience.

Jill Minchin

 Jill has carried out the role of Volunteer Co-ordinator, now Volunteer Engagement Officer, for a great many years.  Initially supporting Jon as Director, Jill soon took over the administration of the volunteer recruitment process including updating all the documentation and procedures.  Over the last two years, Jill has played an integral role in the review of volunteer role descriptions, the volunteer handbook and updating all her own supporting documentation.  She has assisted with the recruitment of new volunteers to support, in particular, the Welcome Desk and front-facing teams ready for the opening of the Museum in May this year.  During the restrictions imposed by Covid-19, Jill worked from home to continue in this Role to oversee the volunteer team.

Astrid Tipney

Working behind the scenes and from home, Astrid has helped us collate and log all of the claims that we have had to submit to HLF, totalling over £16m.  These submissions have enabled Dorset Museum to claim the funding for the Tomorrow’s Museum for Dorset Project.