National Museums Liverpool Blog - Volunteer team

The volunteers’ team are happy to announce that our Discovery Volunteers project has been named the regional winner North West for THE UNITE AWARD for team activity at the vinspired Awards 2010.

Since summer 2009, 72 young people have been involved with the project, having volunteered on gallery at World Museum – chatting to our visitors about specially chosen handling objects. We are really pleased that this award recognises all their hard work and the positive impact that they have made within our museums. We would like to say a big well done to all the young people who have taken part as a Discovery Volunteer!

Winning the regional award means that Discovery Volunteers are now in the running for the national award – which will be announced early 2011. We will keep you posted on this next year, but please keep your fingers crossed for more good news!

More information about the Unite Award which Discovery Volunteers have won can be found on the vinvolved website, you can also find out more about youth volunteering too.

If you are aged 16-25 and interested in youth volunteering projects at National Museums Liverpool please contact the volunteer team.

Emma at the Young Volunteer of the Year Awards 2010, with Mike Howlett from the vinvolved Sefton team.

Last night saw the Volunteers team attend the vinvolved Sefton Young Volunteer of the Year Awards 2010 at the Adelphi Hotel, to help cheer on our shortlisted volunteer Emma Gilbertson.

Emma has volunteered at National Museums Liverpool since June 2009 and has been involved in several volunteer projects; including volunteering at World Museum as one of our very first intake of Discovery Volunteers and also helping out during Slavery Remembrance Day events for the past two years. Emma is also a member of Mersey v’s: our Youth Volunteer Steering Group.

The Young Volunteer of the Year Awards are hosted by vinvolved Sefton and recognise the volunteer work done by young people (aged 16-25) living in the Sefton borough.

Whilst Emma didn’t scoop the main prize on the night, her volunteer achievements were highly praised at the event.

Well done Emma!

If you are interested in finding out more about youth volunteering at National Museums Liverpool, please contact the volunteers team

You can also find our more about youth volunteering from ‘v, the national young volunteers service.’

This past Saturday saw our latest intake of Discovery Volunteers achieve their v50 Award at our Celebration & Feedback Event.

They were presented with their certificates by Steve Judd, Director of World Museum and also a representative from ‘v, the national young volunteers service’.

Our large group of youth volunteers (all aged 16-25) attended training sessions in July and then volunteered throughout the summer holidays at World Museum.

The Discovery Volunteers chatted with our visitors on both the Ancient Egypt and World Cultures galleries, using specially chosen handling objects to engage their interest and help start conversations.

If you visited World Museum this summer, you may well have chatted to one of them yourself.

In completing their training and volunteering, our volunteers amassed a grand total of more than 50 hours volunteer work each. Their v50 Award certificate is delivered by ‘v’ and recognises their achievement and commitment to volunteering.

We would like to say a big thank you and well done to all our Discovery Volunteers this summer for their involvement with our family activities.

To find out more about youth volunteering, visit v’s website,

You can also contact the Volunteers Team to find out more about volunteering at National Museums Liverpool.

Our Discovery Volunteers receive their v50 Award Certificates, with members of the Volunteers Team.

During the summer our Volunteer Project Supervisors (Fred & Emma) have been looking after a very large team of volunteers over at World Museum.

Here in their second blog post, Emma fills you in on the some of the handling activities that have been taking place on gallery…

Volunteers and visitors chatting about Ancient Egyptian handling objects.

“August saw the launch of our new Discovery Volunteers Go Wild! and Discovery Volunteers Go Ancient! projects in World Museum, as part of a number of volunteer initiatives across the museum this summer. 

Discovery Volunteers began in summer 2009 and was so successful that it was brought back over Easter 2010. The project has returned again this summer, bigger and better than ever! Originally located in the World Cultures gallery, this time around more than 40 youth volunteers, aged 16-25, have been split between both the World Cultures and the Egypt galleries. The Discovery Volunteers project allows visitors the opportunity to handle objects on gallery and to learn more about them from our volunteers, making their museum visit that bit different. If you are planning a visit to World Museum, why not come along and say hello to the volunteers?

Our youth volunteers had several training sessions before the project was rolled out in the museum at the beginning of August, with sessions ranging from learning about the objects they would be handling to developing their customer care and group working skills. The eager volunteers were then unleashed on to the galleries, and have so far done a great job chatting to visitors about their objects.

Our Go Wild! Volunteers have set themselves up on the World Cultures gallery, with a plethora of objects coming from across the globe for visitors to handle. The snow goggles from the Arctic are a particular favourite with children. There is also a replica of our codex which is a great chance to learn about one of the museum’s star items and to see how it would have been used. The codex is a very rare object, with only around two dozen known to have survived the Spanish invasion of Mesoamerica in 1521, when whole libraries full of these books were destroyed. Our handling trolley also has some Japanese Netsukes, made from a surprising alternative to their traditional material, ivory. These figures are carved into a variety of animals and other characters and would have been used in a similar way to a toggle on a kimono.

Meanwhile, our Go Ancient! Volunteers are resident in the Egypt gallery, with a replica of a wall fragment from an ancient temple. The original of this wall fragment can be seen on the gallery, along with a second replica, this time painted as it would have originally appeared in the temple. The volunteers also have a number of related handling objects including the minerals which the Ancient Egyptians used to make paint to decorate their walls. This is a great chance to learn how these objects relate to the perhaps more well-known aspects of Ancient Egypt, such as the burial of the dead. Being the first time that our Discovery Volunteers have been positioned in the Egypt gallery, this is a special chance for visitors to handle objects and learn more about this very popular subject.

The Discovery Volunteers can be found in World Museum from 11am-4pm everyday until the 29th August.”

For more information about volunteering at National Museums Liverpool, please contact the Volunteers team.

You can also find out more about youth volunteering for 16-25 year olds through v, the national young volunteers service.

During the summer our Volunteer Project Supervisors (Fred & Emma) have been looking after a very large team of volunteers over at World Museum.

Here in their first blog post, Fred fills you in on the some of the activities that have been taking place on gallery…

Children and volunteers enjoying craft activities in Plantastic.

"As part of The World Museum Liverpool’s programme of events to celebrate 2010 being the year of biodiversity, a number of arts and crafts activities have been running daily during the Easter and summer holidays. It would have not been possible to run these activities without the efforts of volunteers. Nearly 60 volunteers have committed their time to enable us to teach children and young people the importance of biodiversity and how it creates good habitats for wildlife through a range of interesting and inclusive activities.

On our Savannah gallery, an African waterhole scene has been used as inspiration for a worksheet. Volunteers assist children in colouring in and decorating a picture of a lion hunting a zebra at the waterhole. Alternatively, they are given stencils to draw their own wildlife pictures. Through these activities, the volunteers show children how Savannah and grassland areas are threatened by increasing desertification, caused by poor farming methods reducing the biodiversity of the habitat. This enabled volunteers to link this activity to other areas of the museum such as the Ancient Egypt gallery, where a similar process is thought to have once occurred. When the children complete their drawing and colouring, volunteers help them to display their creations on the wall, or they have the option to take them home as a colourful souvenir of their day out!

Downstairs on the Plantastic Exhibition, volunteers work alongside demonstrators to help children learn about the importance of having a diverse range of insects and flowers to form a habitat. Different boards on the wall signify different types of habitat, such as ponds, woodlands and meadows. Children are helped by volunteers to make 3 dimensional flowers and insects to add to the habitat boards. Whilst helping with the craft work volunteers help children learn about the important role played by insects in pollinating plants, and how different types of plants and shrubs exist in different habitats, linking in to some of the messages that can be learnt through the Plantastic exhibits.

A flower shop display has also been set up. For this, volunteers help teach children how bright colours and patterns on flowers are used to attract pollinators such as bees and insects. It also gives kids a chance to get creative and they have created a really spectacular display!

All these activities are great fun for the kids, helping them create personalised souvenirs of their day out, as well as teaching them about important conservation and ecological issues.

Both sets of activities have been a great success, with volunteers seeing over 400 visitors on some days.

The Volunteers can be found in the Plantastic exhibition on Level 2 and the Savannah area on Level 4 every day until Sunday 5th September, from 11am until 4pm."

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact the volunteer team to find out more.

Amidst this past weekend’s Pirate festivities down at the Albert Dock, the volunteers team were also celebrating with a group of their young volunteers.

Having passed their Bronze Arts Award back in May, the group mustered together for the presentation of their certificates.

Congratulations and well done to our 12 Arts Award volunteers.

If you are interested in finding out more about youth volunteering at National Museums Liverpool please contact the volunteers team.

You can also find out more about the Arts Award, which aspires to support any young person to enjoy the arts and develop creative leadership skills and is run by Arts Council England and Trinity Guildhall.

8 of the 12 successful Youth Volunteers, receiving their Bronze Arts Award certificates (pictured with members of the volunteers team)

Last month, Mersey v’s (our Young Volunteers Steering Group) visited Manchester Museum to meet with their Youth Board. Caroline, one of our Mersey v’s has kindly shared her thoughts about the day …

Members of National Museums Liverpool's Mersey v's and Manchester Museum's Youth Board, making friends with Stan, the Tyrannosaurus Rex!

‘After their visit to World Museum last year with the Mersey v’s, the Manchester Museum Youth Board wanted to repay our invitation to visit with one of their own. On the 8th May, the Mersey v team ventured into the wide world to visit one of our neighbouring youth museum volunteer teams in Manchester. After a claustrophobic train journey (both Tranmere Rovers and Wigan Warriors were playing beyond Manchester), we arrived at Manchester Oxford Road ready to go to The Manchester Museum.

On arrival we were greeted by the Manchester Museum Youth Board. Once reacquainted, we had a presentation about what the Youth Board is doing in their museum. Their enthusiasm and confidence during the presentation was amazing and we were all impressed by the members of the advisory board about changes to the Egypt and classical collections and the group project to create the Manchester trail. The Manchester trail is a highlights tour of what the Youth Board believe are a mixture of Manchester greatest sites and has been so popular that it has become one of the many leaflets to accompany visits around the museum.

After a booming buffet, the Youth Board gave the Mersey v’s a tour of the Museum.  Highlights included the community gallery, showing the work they had done to help create the Manchester trail, from photos to personal stories of objects relating to Manchester including an elephant skeleton which when alive had walked to Manchester from Edinburgh. Other highlights included the Egyptian mummies, the Tomato Frog in the live reptile section and the scary encounter with Stan, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. At the end we had a chance to look at the Darwin exhibit.

Overall, it was a fantastic day not only to see another museum, but to see how a youth group like our own makes a difference in the museum. Thank you to the Manchester Youth Board for showing us around and the Volunteer team for sorting everything out for such a great day.’

Mersey v’s help the Volunteer Team to develop and deliver ideas and volunteering projects at our museums. If you are interested in volunteering and becoming part of the steering group please contact the Volunteers Team to find out more.

You can also find out more about Youth volunteering from v, the national young volunteers’ service.

The Volunteers Team would like to send out congratulations to several of our youth volunteers who each passed their Bronze Arts Award last week.

The group of 12 young people (aged 16-25) have all volunteered as part of our Discovery Volunteers project based at World Museum. During this time they met with visitors on gallery and chatted about handling objects, having received lots of prior training from curatorial and education staff.

Our volunteers also attended several Arts Award sessions run by the Volunteers team, including a visit to Plantastic and writing up a project about their Arts Hero or Heroine.

Arts Award aspires to support any young person to enjoy the arts and develop creative leadership skills and is run by Arts Council England and Trinity Guildhall.

We would like to say a big well done to them all!

You can find out more about youth volunteering from v, the national young volunteers’ service.

Arts Award volunteers celebrating the successful end of their project.

As it is National Volunteers Week all this week (1st – 7th June 2010) we thought it would be a great opportunity to pass the blog over to one of our youth volunteers. So, here’s Emma, to tell us a bit more about Mersey v’s: Our dedicated Youth Volunteers Steering Group…

'Mersey v’s is made up of a group of volunteers aged 16-25 at National Museums Liverpool. We meet once a month, usually on a Thursday evening or during a Sunday daytime, in different venues to discuss anything and everything to do with volunteering, giving us the opportunity to pass on our thoughts and ideas to the Volunteer department.

A typical meeting will start with an update from Claire, the Youth Volunteer Officer, with any relevant news since the last meeting. Then we usually move on to look at specific topics or tasks related to volunteering, such as designing logos for volunteer projects, discussing ideas for future projects, and suggesting how the museum should recognise volunteer achievements. In order to fuel the discussions at meetings, we are usually provided with a selection of cakes or pizzas, which are always popular with the group!

Mersey v’s is a great way to have a real impact upon volunteering within National Museums Liverpool, giving young volunteers the opportunity to have their say on a whole range of issues. Mersey v’s also allows members to learn more about the organisation by visiting different venues and talking to members of staff, while also developing our own skills by doing new things, such as writing this blog!'

If you are aged 16-25 and would like to get involved or find out more, please contact the Volunteers team.

You can also find out more about youth volunteering from v, the national young volunteers’ service.

Members of Mersey v's; our Youth Volunteer Steering Group.

Mersey v’s Aims
• To encourage youth volunteering
• To make volunteering relevant, new and exciting
• To engage young people in museums and their work
• To develop opportunities that link to the lives of young people today
• To learn about what National Museums Liverpool does
• To achieve new skills in a social environment
• To involve people from all sections of society

Jennifer is a volunteer working on the new Museum of Liverpool project and has recently achieved her v50 Award for completing more than 50 hours volunteer work.

Over to Jennifer, as she kindly tells us about her volunteer role….

“For the past year I have been volunteering on various projects for the new Museum of Liverpool. I am lucky enough to have been able to watch the museum progress from its initial building stages to the complete structure it is today. The projects I have worked on vary from helping to provide research and ideas for the City and Mersey Views galleries, collating data to inform and support a court reconstruction, and currently I am developing a power-point presentation about the Wirral to provide information for a multimedia station in Creative City. Doing this research has been very interesting, enabling me to learn things I hadn’t expected about Liverpool and its past, as well as to help contribute to things for its future. I think volunteering is an invaluable experience to be part of and encourage everyone to get involved with their local museum as there really is something for everyone!”

A big thank you to Jennifer for all her hard work!

If you would like to find out more about youth volunteering and achieving a v50 Award please contact the Volunteers team.

You can also find out more about youth volunteering from ‘v, the national young volunteers’ service.

View from Creative City at the Museum of Liverpool, © Sam Bytheway