Voluntary Work

Hello one and all!

I am alive - ish.... lol! it's been a strange few days to top off a strange few weeks, but today I am here to finally talk about the voluntary work i'm doing that I mentioned in my last post.

For the last couple of weeks I've been at Soho House Museum in Birmingham, the home of the industrial father of Brum - Matthew Boulton. Now, i've worked for the site for two seasons (2009 and 2011) and I love it. The house is so welcoming and the history, truly incredible. So when I started to get cabin fever from job hunting I got in touch with the debuty curator to ask if I could come back and do some volunteering with them - conservation cleaning, research and the like.

Little did I know that I would not only be able to do that, but also be in the midst of their redevlopment work at the site as well. The vistor centre is finally getting a much needed facelift and in the process, a new gallery space is going to be created - which in turn has meant that the gallery rooms of the house have been removed and the spaces returned to two more historical rooms! phew!

It's been great though - not only have I been able to assist the team on the site to gut the old gallery space (nothing quite like a hammer and crowbar to make you feel like a rebel!) but it's also enabled me to pull out all the old site history and indulge in my favourite past time, research!

Amongst manyof the tasks that i've been doing, one of the key areas is the re-write of the information panels in the historic rooms and the drafting of new panels in the two new spaces. Although these are still far from being completed, its been incredible learning even more about the site and its development, redevelopment and numerous uses post Boulton family - and here I was thinking I had a fairly good grasp on things! ooops!

But as I carry on and do more research, it becomes even clearer to me the importance of Matthew Boulton, not only on the city of Birmingham but on England in the 18th Century. If only more people cared enough to learn about him - maybe the site wouldn't want for visitors and maybe, just maybe, we could rekindle his name across the country. I can but dream.

Until next time (hopefully being typed without so many cuts and bruises!) take care and happy crafting