National Museums Liverpool Blog - v50 award

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.

 

A few weeks back, during the Easter holidays, our wonderful team of Discovery Volunteers were on hand in the World Cultures Gallery at World Museum.

Each of the 24 youth volunteers underwent thorough training with curatorial and education teams and then put their knowledge to good use on gallery with interesting and engaging handling objects.

Our Discovery Volunteers had a brilliant time meeting with thousands of visitors and chatting to them about unusual objects, including Japanese netsuke and Arctic snow goggles. Volunteers provided information on what the object was used for and also the natural material it had been made from. This interest in natural resources is a key feature to reflect the Wild Wild World programme of events at World Museum to support the International Year of Biodiversity.

As Richard, one of the volunteers explains:

‘The Go Wild! project has made visitors aware of the diversity within human cultures across the globe…raising topical issues that are relevant in today’s present’

Each of the volunteers gave over 50 hours volunteer work on this project and as a result achieved their v50 Award Certificate, a nationally recognised certificate supported by v, the national young volunteers’ service.

If you are aged 16-25 and interested in becoming a future Discovery Volunteer please contact the Volunteer team.

Yasmin, one of our youth v volunteers has the honour of being the first volunteer to receive her v50 Award certificate in 2010. The certificate recognises the completion of 50 hours of volunteer work as part of the vinvolved project for people aged 16-25.
 
The staff in National Museums Liverpool's volunteers team and Education and Communities team have said a big well done and thank you to Yasmin for her time and commitment. Yasmin herself said of her time here:

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"Volunteering at the National Conservation Centre has given me the opportunity to develop a number of skills. I performed a variety of tasks from helping to deliver visitor workshops and walks for health, to being involved with the Stephen Shakeshaft exhibition.

The workshops were particularly useful as they involved working with a wide range of skills and visitor ages. My favourite workshop has to be Felt Making, because I enjoyed helping the visitors design and make their final pieces.

My time at the National Conservation Centre wouldn't have been as enjoyable without the encouragement and support of the Education and Communities team. As well as developing skills such as confidence, IT and customer service, I have also learned that nothing is impossible and that I can achieve many things."

Liam Physick, a student at Liverpool University and one of our fantastic youth volunteers, has recently achieved his v50 Award for volunteering for 50 hours for the Museum of Liverpool's urban history department. Liam did a fantastic job of logging 5,605 comment cards from The Beat Goes On exhibition, which asked for visitors' Liverpool music memories. The responses will be used in research at the University of Liverpool. Liam says,

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"The project developed my IT skills and taught me how to log records. It was very interesting to read people's experiences. One woman claimed that her husband had been the man who discovered The Beatles. It has clearly shown that people inside and outside Liverpool are fascinated by the city's musical heritage. Visitors came from all over the world including Malaysia, America, the Bahamas and Romania."

Fay and Charlotte, two of our dedicated youth volunteers in The Beat Goes On exhibition at World Museum Liverpool, have both achieved their v50 Award certificate, having completed 50 hours volunteering each. Congratulations to both and a big thank you for all their hard work talking to the many visitors who have visited the exhibition this year.

If you are aged 16-25 and would like to find out more about youth volunteering at our museums please contact Claire Olson, Youth Volunteer Officer. You can also find out more on the v-inspired website. 

A few words from Fay and Charlotte:
 
"Volunteering at The Beat Goes On has provided me with valuable experience of working in a museum and has also helped me develop other skills such as communication and customer care. Working towards my v50 award gave me something to aim for and I am very pleased that I have achieved this goal." Fay
 
"Working on The Beat Goes On exhibition has given me the chance to combine my interest in museums with my love of music. Volunteering at the museum has given me the chance to gain experience and insight into different aspects of museum work, which will be useful for a future career in this area of work." Charlotte

This weekend our wonderful group of Discovery Volunteers each received their v50 Award Certificate, having completed 50 hours volunteer work at World Museum Liverpool during the summer.
 
Our fantastic Discovery Volunteers have been based on the World Cultures gallery throughout August. During this time they used objects from our handling collections to chat to many visitors - if you visited during the summer, you may even have chatted to some of them yourself!
 
The Discovery Volunteers project was aimed specifically at young people aged 16-25; to encourage younger people to become more actively involved in their museums as part of our youth volunteering scheme. As one of our young volunteers explained, the project "has shown that young people are still willing to listen, learn and teach; despite all the negative press".
 
Each of the volunteers received training from our curatorial and learning teams before finally being let loose on gallery to meet their public!
 
The volunteers team would like to say a big thank you each of the 20 young volunteers who offered their time, commitment and endless enthusiasm throughout the project.
 
More information about v, the v50 Award and youth volunteering can be found on the v-inspired website.