HODs RSS FeedCategory - Volunteering
Showing blog posts in the category: Volunteering.
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How to recruit new volunteers
Posted by Lucie Thacker on 27th February 2012 | 0 Comments
People who volunteer do so because they believe in the cause they choose to support with their time and effort. If you open your doors for Heritage Open Days and could do with a few more people to help out, here are a few ways to recruit new volunteers.
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Making collections accessible to visually impaired visitors
Posted by Ben Goodwin on 23rd January 2012 | 1 Comment
Catering for differently abled people within arts and heritage venues is essential and rewarding but it can pose a challenge. At the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham where I work, we are grateful for the support of our volunteers who have helped us improve our accessibility for those with visual impairment.
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Real people with real issues: Working with disabled volunteers
Posted by Esther Gill on 11th October 2011 | 0 Comments
I am currently pre-occupied by the generally enjoyable post-HODs activity of ‘reading the feedback’: positive, negative, insightful, useful, frustrating, well deserved. As part of this process I have been looking at the transcript of an interview with a Heritage Open Days volunteer from Gosport who is passionate and knowledgeable about local history, keen to use her skills and time on a worthwhile project and who also happens to be disabled.
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There and back again - a HODs tale
Posted by Sarah Holloway on 27th September 2011 | 0 Comments
After months and months of working away to register events for Heritage Open Days (HODs), people often ask me what we, as the national team, do over the weekend and afterwards. Well, here is a quick review of this year’s itinerary for all those who are curious.
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A day in the life of Petworth House and Park
Posted by Zoe Potter on 25th August 2011 | 0 Comments
They say it takes all sorts, a statement certainly true of Petworth House and Park in West Sussex. It takes the varied expertise and dedication of the whole team to keep this amazing mansion, not only open, but interesting and engaging for all our visitors. We are moving away from our traditional stately home image, and on to bigger and brighter things. From banister brushes to hidden attics read on for a sneak peak at what goes on behind closed doors.
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How to keep your volunteers happy – 6 tips
Posted by Roger Woodley on 24th August 2011 | 2 Comments
Six tips coming. But first, very likely, you’re a volunteer yourself. So ask yourself: what keeps you happy? For my part, what keeps me happy as a volunteer is being appreciated. It’s easy. So, when dealing with volunteers, the summary is: be really grateful. But let me explain in more detail:
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Top tips for tip top entertainment: how a drama performance brought a coffin fittings works to life
Posted by Lucie Thacker on 16th August 2011 | 2 Comments
We didn’t decide to be dramatic – but Tin Box Theatre Company did. After many years of work and several turns of fortune, Birmingham Conservation Trust bought a semi-derelict Grade II* late 19th century manufactory on the edge of the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham last year (with the aid of a grant from Birmingham City Council). The Coffin Fittings Works is a handsome red brick building, fronting the road and with two rear wings arranged around a courtyard. Without services and with boarded-up ground floor windows, the Coffin Fittings Works looked doomed to wait for the results of major fundraising before it was used again. Heritage Open Days were the only opportunity the public had to have a look inside and then the two Jo’s got in touch...
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Guiding tours that people enjoy
Posted by Tim Prevett on 5th August 2011 | 7 Comments
Guiding tours that people enjoy is about allowing the visitor to connect with a place and linking it with a lasting good memory of their visit. That’s not as intimidating as it sounds because much of what makes an enjoyable tour is common sense when you pause to collect your thoughts.
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Maximise publicity using networks
Posted by Jim Herbert on 1st August 2011 | 11 Comments
So, you've bought that old and mysterious property and have decided to share it with the country before restoring it and moving in. You've registered it for Heritage Open Days, online or posted off your form. Now what? How are you going to get noticed as one site among the thousands of others in the country?
