Student Volunteering
What we offer
Our growing student volunteering programme includes young people writing articles for the Museum website, running object-handling sessions and developing and helping with our holiday activities.
It’s a great opportunity for young people to develop a variety of work skills, including research and customer service, alongside experiencing how a museum is run on a day-to-day basis.
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Nicola Trowell: nicola.trowell@wiltshiremuseum.org.uk.
If you are aged 16 or under‚ please get your parent/guardian's permission beforehand whenever you provide us with
personal information.
The Museum offers a number of opportunities for student volunteering, including:
Summer placements
Our summer placement programme can be flexible to suit.
We offer one day a week opportunities for students in different departments across the museum from June to September.
Placements may include:
- Helping with holiday activties
- Running 'Hands on History' sessions for visitors
- Designing guides and activites
- Administration and computer work
Duke of Edinburgh
We can offer volunteering activities for different levels of the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Volunteering can be undertaken for an hour session each week in the Museum or we can make arrangements for volunteering at home.
Work can include:
- Developing education activties
- Writing articles for the website
- Helping in the shop
- Designing guides for the museum
Work Experience
Our varied work experience programme gives a wide overview of life in the museum. We can take students from one up to five days. PLEASE NOTE: Our work experience programme is now full for the 2020 spring/summer terms.
If you are interested in undertaking work experience at the Museum, please download an application form here and return to nicola.trowell@wiltshiremuseum.org.uk
Student Work
Exploring the Collections
-
Tourmaline axe-head
Read moreVolunteer Olly gives us an insight into one of his favourite objects in the Museum... This beautiful artefact is a perforated axe-head of tourmaline granite,
Comments off -
A Local Tale: The Robber’s Stone
Read moreImages in our collection of the Robbers Stone, parish of West Lavington. Volunteer Tabitha tells of a gruesome Wiltshire story... On the A360 of West
Comments off -
Spearhead (Bent)
Read more1 iron spearhead, blade flat, bent at right angles to split socket, found on Rushall Down, Rushall, Wiltshire. The people we call Anglo-Saxons * were
Comments off -
Iron Halberd
Read moreThis iron halberd head was found at foot of Morgan’s Hill, Roundway, Wiltshire, which is the site of the battle of Roundway Down, 1643, stamped
Comments off -
Bronze statuette of Mercury
Read more1 small bronze statuette of Mercury, found at Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire. The earliest large-scale statues had very simple forms driven by their manufacture, known as
Comments off -
5 Fossilised Plesiosaur vertebrae
Read moreThese 5 Fossilised Plesiosaur vertebrae, found at the Kimmeridge Clay, are from the Jurassic period. They were found in the Great Western Railway Works, Swindon,
Comments off -
Francisca (Throwing Axe)
Read moreIn Old English, the Axe was referred to as an æces, from which the Modern English word derives. Most axes found in early Anglo-Saxon graves
Comments off -
Iron Age Carved Heads
Read moreAround Europe, what are commonly referred to as ‘stone heads’, are frequently found, often in areas that are known to have been lived in by
Comments off -
Roman Civilisation in the South-West
Read moreThe Roman Empire, by the beginning of the Common Era, had become one of the largest Empires on Earth, rivaled only by the Parthian Empire
Comments off -
Battle of Roundway Down
Read moreEngland. 1642. The First English Civil War has just begun with King Charles I of England and VI of Scotland fleeing London to Oxford after
Comments off -
The Saxons
Read moreIn order to understand the Anglo-Saxon origins of the modern English, it is necessary to understand the extent of their continental cousins and the extent
Comments off -
Upton Lovell Shaman
Read moreShamanism is where people are regarded as having access, and influence, in the world of good and evil spirits. Typically, such people enter a trance
Comments off -
Roundway Abbess – gold and garnet necklace
Read moreIn 1840, a barrow on Roundway Down was excavated to reveal a Saxon woman buried with various items, including a coin and a beautiful gold
Comments off
Blogs
“Why did I decide to Volunteer?”
“As part of my Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s award, I chose to volunteer here at the museum. I enjoy history and volunteering at the museum has allowed me to explore about the amazing artifacts found in our area and even discover why certain practices or objects have been used or buried by people from our past.
Part of my volunteering has been writing articles about objects that people might miss or skip over normally, and going into depth about why they were so significant at their time. Doing this has allowed me to learn more about our history and how we have evolved over time, as well as how different cultures have mixed with ours to influence our ancestors and eventually create the familiar principles and beliefs we know today. Having had the time to look around the museum myself, writing and researching the objects within has given me the opportunity to be curious (possibly I’m just naturally nosy?) and ask questions such as: where did the object originate?; why was a particular component was used?; who would have influenced this?; what it was used for?; when was it introduced? However, volunteering has also given me the means to sate this curiosity and to share with others what I have discovered, (hopefully!) interesting them as well.
I also help with front of house, learning how the till works (but not handling cash because I’m under 16 (Year 10)), how I should greet people visiting and helping out with the shop. Understanding how to restock the shop and how the balance of items sold and the order of new stock works has helped me to be aware of how shops work and appreciate more what goes on behind scenes in the real world and in the museum that I visited as a child. Despite the prospect of doing stock seeming boring, I enjoyed the process as it felt like I had contributed towards the museum more than usual (also I felt really quite important holding the clipboard!).
Volunteering here has made me feel as though I am doing something for the community, – despite also feeling, quite selfishly, very, very pleased with myself for being a better person – as well as helping the staff here at the museum, and it is something I look forward to each week, telling my friends about what I do here with a smile on my face. So, yes, volunteering is definitely a great idea and everyone who is thinking about it should get involved, not just here at the museum, but anywhere.”
Sasha Minnis, Duke of Edinburgh Student
“Our names our Joe, Tom and Aidan. We have been volunteering at the Wiltshire Museum for around 3 months now. Over this time we have been working on projects and learning more about the items in the museum.
Joe has been writing articles for the museum’s website including ones about throwing axes and fossilised plesiosaur bones. Tom and Aidan have been creating a digital interactive experience on PowerPoint to be placed in the museum. Over this time, we have had many ups and downs such as the PowerPoint failing to work an innumerable amount of times! The Museum has helped us in many ways over our time here such as guiding us through what to do on our PowerPoint and providing us with an enjoyable time at the museum. Joe has also been lucky enough to learn all about the museum and it wonderful artefacts.
While we may have only spent around 3 months at museum so far – we do plan to keep volunteering here and continue our help over at the museum even while it may not be for our dofe award so that we are able to expand our knowledge of our local heritage.”