Behind the scenes at the John Bunyan Museum with Freya and Ame

" At the beginning of July the John Bunyan welcomed two people named Ame and Freya for a week of work experience. Throughout their time here, they took on a variety of tasks and activities, lending a hand across different areas of the museum. During their week, they developed a special attachment to our very own Mini Mr. Bunyan. Here’s their account of the memorable week they spent with us"

This week, we have been doing our work experience here at the John Bunyan Museum. We have found the experience enjoyable, memorable and something we will carry onto later options for careers. All the staff were lovely and very welcoming which ensured our happiness throughout the week. Here is our behind the scenes of the work experience at the John Bunyan Museum.

Monday:

At 10 o’clock in the morning, we signed in and we were greeted by Nicola who soon after gave us a tour round the building. She also educated us on the history about John Bunyan and history of the Independent Church. After that, she gave us another Mini Mr Bunyan to create alongside the original one, which we made in the museum. We then took pictures which have been uploaded to social media. We spent the rest of the day planning out surveys and managing social media.

Tuesday:

We once again signed in and met Nicola in her office. We spent a small part of the morning managing social media and uploading photos. After that, we worked with the collections team and filed pieces that had been donated. It let us take an insight into how much effort is put into running a museum, it’s not easy! For the rest of the day, we shadowed in the main museum where we observed how it is run and were taught how to lock up before going home.

Wednesday:

Today was mainly filled with art! We met Allison in the morning who had created prototypes of the Crafty Thursdays in August which is designed to allow children to explore their creativity. We tested out these prototypes over a couple of hours. Freya made a miniature garden and Ame made a treasure chest and a puppet that looks a lot like her! These will be put on display at the Crafty Thursdays for inspiration. After lunch we spent time in Anne-Marie’s workshop where we created art by painting and collages. Ame was very excited to stick it up on her wall!!!

Thursday:

In the morning, we showed Nicola our crafts from Wednesday (who seemed very impressed by our professional work)! We began writing up our blog. After this, we helped package up some of the cards for the shop, and then some post cards. We got to use the sticker gun which was definitely our favourite part when we came back from lunch, there was a large group of Americans who had come here on a visit, we had helped set up some of the cakes in preparation for their lunch but then we got split up and each followed one of the groups on their tour. Although we had nearly been here a week, it was interesting to hear the information from someone who really know what they’re talking about. Ame went with John, and Freya went with Doreen. Once the Americans had left we went over to the Higgins to complete some surveys of the people there. Neither of us had been before so it was really interesting to explore somewhere new. We got around 10 people to fill them out so hopefully it helped! Then to finish off the day we spent some time in the museum, before helping to shut it off with Elizabeth.

Friday:

Today was our last day, which is very sad because we’ve both enjoyed it ton. To start off the day we're writing our blog. We haven’t done anything else at this point as it's still early but today we will be spending more time in the museum. On top of this we are heading over to the panacea museum to take more surveys. We are both really excited because from our research it is very interesting. But as today is our last day we’ve reflected on our visit here and we both agree it's been an amazing experience! All of the staff here were so kind and welcoming and made us feel part of the team, so we will always be grateful for that!