Name of volunteer: Angela Cope
Volunteer role: Steward

I’d visited the museum several times and always found it full of interesting objects which give a real sense of our local past, but didn’t become a steward until a few years ago when friend suggested it. I’m so glad she did!

Being a steward gives you such an opportunity to become part of the museum and get to know the range of artefacts. You spot things you might never notice on a short visit and there’s always something new to look at when exhibits are changed. Browsing through some of the thousands of photographs in a quiet moment is a joy too.

The other joy is meeting the people who come to the museum. There’s such a variety. Older folk, who can often tell you how things were in the village in their childhood. Visitors from overseas, like the couple from Nova Scotia who wanted and to find out what it was like for a grandfather who been stationed on the Plain in the Second World War. Children whose curiosity is sparked….. I won’t forget the small boy who was very taken by some of the small objects dug up in local gardens and wanted to know if he could bring in anything he found in his grandmother’s garden. From the glint in his eye there would probably be holes all over it by the end of the day.

There are always things you don’t know, and questions you can’t answer, but there is training and support and you find out more all the time.