Motor museum celebrates volunteers who keep history alive

THE volunteers at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon are celebrating by scooping two nominations at the West Midlands Museum Development Volunteer Awards held on 19th September.

Volunteer, Vince Hall went on to win the ‘Special Collections Award’ for his work on the Museum’s Oral History project and volunteer, Mark Bradbury was a finalist for the ‘Above and Beyond Individual’ category for his involvement with the Museum’s curatorial team.

The awards ceremony, held at the Birmingham Hippodrome, was supported by Arts Council England to celebrate the achievements and commitments of individuals who volunteer at museums in the region. The judges said “We were both enlightened and humbled by the many worthy nominations that demonstrated the varied and valuable roles that volunteers have in our regions museum sector.”

The British Motor Museum also held its own awards ceremony to celebrate five years of service by 27 of its current 78 volunteers. The Museum’s managing director, Julie Tew presented a five years’ service pin badge and certificate to celebrate the outstanding contribution that the group of volunteers have made to the museum in that time.

Julie Tew said “Our volunteers are an integral part of the Museum team and have enabled us to undertake many projects that we would otherwise not be able to do. The five year service awards is our way of thanking them for all the time and commitment that they give to the Museum”.

The Museum’s volunteer programme started in August 2012 and now has over 78 volunteers, all of whom are involved in various projects including ​vehicle restoration, surveying the Museum’s vehicles, guiding in the Collections Centre, helping out with Family and Life Long Learning events, as well as oral history and archive projects. Vince, who won the ‘Special Collections Award’ has pioneered the Museum’s oral history project, leading a team of 6 volunteers who have recorded over 60 different social history stories from people who worked in the motor industry in the last year. The oral history project is an important way for the Museum to give a voice to the workers in the motor industry, who ordinarily may not have their stories recorded in the history. They also provide a new insight and information that gives us an opportunity to question what we already know and believe about Britain’s motor industry.