Celebrating National Volunteers Week

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.