Behind the Scenes at John Bunyan Museum with Liam.

In June 2023, John Bunyan Museum welcomed a new work experience volunteer: Liam. Over their week with us, they worked on a variety of tasks and assisted the museum team in preparing for our summer programme. This is their account of the week they had here:

My work experience-behind the scenes

I had the pleasure of working within the John Bunyan Museum for most of the week I found myself very comfortable and welcomed into this new environment within this time I did a range of activities and jobs to help of the museum staff this included building the summer exhibitions and creating multiple example products for the children later on [during the Summer Crafty Thursdays].

When I first came into the museum on Monday morning It was very welcoming with many smiley faces a received a tour of the surrounding area and museum quarters and met some of the staff that worked there and introduced myself.

I started the week by creating and making some of the children’s puzzles and wordsearches for the summer this made me feel like a was being useful and allowing the kids to enjoy there trips here it also made me feel nervous as I couldn’t let the kids down with a bad puzzle! Later that day I continued my creations for the children in the form of a clay castle this was meant to be something they can base their own castle of off when they get to doing it later this year. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s is better as I found it can be a real struggle to manipulate the clay into perfect shapes it got my familiar with failure and starting over and allowed me to eventually succeed.

On Tuesday I helped set up the summer exhibitions this involved some heavy lifting and transforming the entire room we also had a few volunteers to help us which I would like to say thanks for the help. We first had some issues with wondering where to place everything but then manage to grasp where everything would go, this was very fun and intriguing getting a glimpse into the past and seeing all the old objects from the 17th century. I also was able to hang some of the painting and photos which was tricky to get them to stay straight. overall building the summer display was very impact and the best part of my stay as I’ve always seen museums but never helped set up their display.

On Thursday I started by coming down to the new built summer exhibitions and taking photos of the artefacts inside I then used this to create a dice for activities that will be used later this year it was nice to know that my contribution will be used late on and that I made an impact then I started on this blog your currently reading. After that I started to pack up the boxes and equipment you used to build the exhibition this involved a lot of walking up and down and collecting things to finish off the day, I finally laminated some information pages for the museum the laminator was and calm and nice way to end the day.

On Friday I had a more relaxed day with just finishing some unfinished jobs and continuing it write this post After this I was able to shadow downstairs at the front desk and let customers into the museum it was nice to see and greet customers in.

I would like to say a massive thank you for the opportunity and to all the staff, especially Nicola who made me feel very welcome and was a good role model for the week it made me enjoy my experience that much more. It was nice to the see ins and outs of a museum and to see how cared about the legacy of John Bunyan is through all my tasks throughout the week there was never a dull moment and I urge you to find work experience at the John Bunyan Museum as it is a wonderful place.

Liam :)