The blog post for this week has been written by Syd Howells, the Volunteer Manager at the Egypt Centre. Without our dedicated volunteers, the Egypt Centre would not be able to function as it does. As we mark National Volunteers Week, it is important to recognise all their hard work!
From the very beginning of the Egypt Centre’s formation, the importance of involving volunteers was recognised (fig. 1). Not only was it a pragmatic move, particularly crucial for a new museum, but it was a great way of involving those outside the University community (historical fact: our first ever volunteer was Wendy Goodridge, now the Museum Manager!). Now, 25 years later, this award-winning scheme (for example, we were awarded the Queens Award for Volunteering in 2018), continues onwards providing opportunities to many.
Fig. 1: Our volunteers with the museum's handling tray |
The 1–7th June is
National Volunteers Week when volunteers and the incredible efforts they
provide are celebrated, and an ideal time to recognise our volunteers and the
time and effort they freely give to ensure our continuation. Over the past ten
years or so, an Egypt Centre tradition has been established where we buy our
volunteers cake to say thank you! If you are one of our volunteers, I can
confirm that this tradition continues (fig. 2).
Fig. 2: Cake! |
Many of our former
volunteers have gone on to careers in the heritage sector, education, etc., or
have continued in higher education. Volunteering at the Egypt Centre is an
ideal way to gain work experience or boost your CV, and those wishing to enter
the following fields may benefit:
· Most
heritage-related careers
· Youth
and social work
· Teaching/training
· Academia/research
· Librarianship
· Tourism
· Customer
care
· Retail
What do our volunteers
do?
Volunteers at the Egypt
Centre have three core tasks. These are:
· Gallery
supervision and maintenance (ensuring the galleries are safe and the objects
within our collection are secure)
· Visitor
and Customer Care/Interaction (it is essential to be welcoming to visitors)
· Educational
delivery (demonstrating the public activities of mummification, Senet, and the
materials handling board to visitors)
There are a variety of types
of volunteering you can get involved in, all of which will have at least one
element of the core functions. The following roles are available:
· Gallery
Assistant (greeting, guiding, and demonstrating activities to visitors)
· Educational
Assistant (assisting in school visits)
· Shop
Assistant (within our gift shop)
· Admin
Assistant/Transcription Volunteer (helping with paperwork, transcribing old
documents relating to our collection)
· Gallery
Supervisor (the progression role of a Gallery Assistant. Gallery Supervisors
can provide extensive tours around our galleries to visiting groups)
· Educational
Leader (teaching ancient Egyptian-related activities to visiting school groups)
It is important to note that we do not regularly offer any “behind-the-scenes curatorial work” as our infrastructure simply does not allow for it. All roles besides the Admin Assistant/Transcription Volunteers have an element of visitor interaction.
Without volunteers, the Egypt Centre simply could not function. We are open Tuesday to Saturday between 10am and 4pm, and while we are a small museum with only two galleries (the House of Life and the House of Death), we do hold the largest collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts in Wales (fig. 3).
Fig. 3: Welcome to the Egypt Centre! |
Our volunteers greet
visitors, welcoming them, answering enquiries, and giving guided tours. Besides the roles noted above, many adapt
activities already on offer by making props to enhance the activity, such as
headdresses, wigs, etc (fig.
4). Volunteers also pilot new activities before they are offered to our
visitors and evaluate the activities. There is a genuine family atmosphere at
the museum and our adult volunteers are aged from 18 to 85+ with a diverse
range of backgrounds and life experiences.
Fig. 4: Dressing up |
We also have a small group of distance volunteers who are primarily people living overseas who like to contribute to the Egypt Centre. These volunteers help to translate trails on our online catalogue into English, thereby increasing the potential for engagement. Besides English, there are now trails in Welsh, Arabic, Hungarian, and most recently Spanish!
It should be noted that some
days it is very quiet in the museum, while on other days the opposite applies! For
example, we host a lot of school visits, not only from Welsh schools, but also some
from England who travel down to visit us for the day.
Why should I volunteer at
the Egypt Centre?
You can make new friends,
learn new skills, gain experience for your CV and for your chosen career, and
have the satisfaction of helping run Wales’ only dedicated museum of ancient Egyptian
antiquities! We have special, free Egyptology classes for our volunteers (fig. 5), and you can
borrow books from our very own library. I also provide references for
volunteers and former volunteers applying for jobs.
Fig. 5: Taking part in object handling classes |
What type of people are
we looking for?
For our adult volunteer
scheme, anyone over the age of 18. You will need to be enthusiastic, enjoy
working with others, and meeting people from all over the world (fig. 6). An interest in
Egypt is not essential, but it helps! We have many volunteers who are retired
people, some also work part-time, and some are students. Swansea University
student volunteers can take part in the Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR)
awards, where they can achieve bronze, silver, and gold awards, which are
recorded on their final degree transcript.
Fig. 6: One of our enthusiastic volunteers |
How do I go about
volunteering at the Egypt Centre?
The first point of contact is the Museum Volunteer Manager. Drop me a line on l.s.j.howells@swansea.ac.uk and I can answer any questions you may have about volunteering with us. You can download an application form from https://www.egypt.swan.ac.uk/volunteering-and-work-placement/adult-volunteers/ or I can send you one via email. Complete this and return it to me (but please ensure I can read it and that you have provided the email addresses of two referees!)
I will then apply for your references and guide you through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. The DBS check is essential as we do a lot of work with vulnerable groups at the museum. Once the references are back and the DBS check is completed, I will arrange with you a suitable day and time for your volunteer induction, where we’ll discuss what days and times you are happy to volunteer at the museum (most people volunteer from between 3–17 hours per month). Then, you are one of us!
If you decide to become
involved with the Egypt Centre, you will be an addition to our team of wonderful,
dedicated volunteers who love bringing ancient Egypt alive to our visitors.
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