NEWS RELEASES
Volunteers who keep our museums ticking
10th September 2004
ACROSS the Horsham District there are a variety of fascinating museums, including those at Steyning, Henfield, Storrington, Amberley, West Chiltington and Horsham town.
They provide the community with a wealth of information about the past and we should be very proud of them and the people who keep them going.
Amberley Working Museum is the biggest, attracting visitors from far afield. Horsham Museum, set in the historic Causeway, is fully funded by the Council, whilst the other village museums are supported by their local communities. All of them have one major factor in common: the band of volunteers without whom they could not continue to function.
At Horsham, for example, the paid staff amounts to three people. The remainder of the team consists no fewer than 60 volunteers, many of whom are retired people, enthusiasts for various subjects or students seeking experience. Without them the museum could not achieve the successes it has.
Some volunteers carry out work such as carpentry, gardening, painting and cleaning whilst others are beavering away behind the scenes cataloguing new exhibits, researching, verifying, or entering data onto the computers. Last year volunteers undertook around 5,000 hours at Horsham alone.
Most find that they gain a lot from the role. They meet others in a pleasant and interesting environment and some quickly become "expert" in what they do. A number of students have gone on to enjoy careers in museums and others pick up skills which enable them to write articles or books and lecture on a variety of different subjects.
The impact they have had in Horsham has been remarkable. Until the 1980s there had been no cataloguing of exhibits during a 90 year period of collecting. Now some 50,000 objects have been logged by volunteers, some in paper form but growing numbers are now held on computer, making life much simpler for the researcher.
Horsham Museum has around 37,000 visitors a year, runs up to 15 temporary exhibitions, deals with around 2,000 public enquiries, organises displays in the parishes and offers an archive service to the public. Among its many services is the 'reminiscence box' for people who cannot visit the museum, including retirement homes, sheltered housing schemes and day centres. The post popular of these is ‘Britain At War’.
All of our museums play an important role in enriching knowledge about the District's history and local cultural heritage, and there are great opportunities for individuals, families and organised school parties to take advantage of some outstanding learning resources available right our doorsteps. I hope that many more will be encouraged to use these wonderful services.
For information about our museums and volunteering opportunities, these are the contact numbers:
- Horsham: (01403) 254959
- Steyning: (01903) 813333
- Henfield: (01273) 492546
- Storrington: (01903) 892210
- West Chiltington: (01798) 817301
- Amberley Working Museum: (01798) 831370
More information about volunteering in general is also available from Horsham Volunteer Bureau on (01403) 232100.
Ends
Councillor Sheila Van Den Bergh, The Chairman, Horsham District Council, Park North, North Street, Horsham, RH12 1RH.
E-mail: contactchairman@horsham.gov.uk
CONTACT:Richard Morris, Communications Manager
(01403) 215549