Heritage Volunteers

Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum

Volunteers at Leamington
Spa Art Gallery & Museum

Our team of 4 volunteers are now entering their sixth year at the gallery.

During this time they have condition checked, recorded, photographed and repacked the Textile Collection and the Ethnographic Collection.

They are coming to the end of the Social History Collection, a large collection including many items of local interest. When this is complete they will return to the Textile Collection which, after 5 years, will need to be revisited.

Hundreds of artifacts have been checked and the two and a half hours spent every Monday morning are still much enjoyed by the team.

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Alfred Herbert Art Gallery Coventry

Alfred Herbert Art Gallery

A team of five volunteers are currently working on the the costume collection here.

They have already made padded coat hangers, bustle pads and undergarments for an exhibition ‘All Dressed Up. Clothing from the 1890's to the 1950's’, mounted in January 2011.

They have received training from gallery staff in handling delicate and fragile textiles, methods of hanging and packing using sensitive materials and finally updating records on the database.

This is a large collection and the team who work on Tuesday mornings could be there for many months.

Volunteers get together

One special day when the volunteers from Leamington Art gallery and The Herbert Art Gallery, met up to share ideas and see the costume exhibition the Coventry group had helped to mount. They were also given a guided tour of the stores by Ali Wells, curator, where hundreds of artifacts are kept.

Weapons collection

It is hoped that in September the Weapons Cleaning and Restoration group who have already completed two projects at the Lord Leycester Hospital Warwick and the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Museum at St. John's Warwick, will be looking forward to a new challenge at the Herbert Art Gallery and The Guild Hall Coventry where their particular skills are needed.

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Royal Regiment of Warwickshire Fusiliers Museum St. John's Warwick

St. John's Warwick

After a break of six months a new team are returning to the museum to check the uniform collection. It is five years since it was last checked and because most of the uniforms are made of wool and some are red they are particularly vulnerable to infestation.

The three volunteers will examine each uniform for for any new damage, vacuum it and make sure records are up to date before rehanging it in its custom made cover

There are over a hundred uniforms so this will take some time.

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Chasubles For Harbury Church

Chasubles for
Harbury Church

The two chasubles are now complete and will be on display at the 2011 Annual General Meeting.

A white one lined in gold with patchwork embellishments and a purple one made to the same design now grace the services.

The vicar Reverend Craig Groocock is delighted with the results of Annette and Helen's hard work.

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Church Recorders

Presentation of the Church Record
at St Nicholas Church, Kenilworth






Church Recorders at All Saints Church,
Leek Wootton

A Church Record is a detailed inventory of the furnishings of a church. The work is done in sections – memorials, metalwork, stonework, woodwork, textiles, paintings etc, library, windows and miscellaneous – so that everything is described.

Recorders work in pairs using a set formula for describing each item. Photographs are also taken of each recorded item. A Record takes on average 3 years as recorders usually meet once a fortnight and there is often research to be carried out at Record Offices, libraries and museums. Training is given to new Recorders.

The work of Church Recorders has a high reputation among outside bodies and copies of the finished Record go to the church, the Diocesan Record Office, the Cathedral and Church Buildings Library (CCB), the V&A Art Library and the National Monuments Record Centre (English Heritage).

They are used by researchers and, unfortunately (but luckily) sometimes by the police or insurance companies if an item is damaged or stolen – often with successful results.

Over the years the RLSDFAS Group has recorded St Barbara, Earlsdon (1996–2000), St Mary the Virgin, Stoneleigh (2001–2004), St James the Great, Old Milverton (2004–2006) and St Nicholas, Kenilworth (2006–2010).

The beautifully bound copy of the St Nicholas Record was dedicated at a moving and friendly service at the church on 7 November 2010.

The Royal Leamington Spa Church Recording Group currently has 24 members and is recording All Saints Church, Leek Wootton

The Group meets regularly at the church whilst carrying out the fieldwork interspersed with coffee mornings where notes are swapped and problems shared and solved.

The work is interesting and sometimes challenging. If you enjoy working with others, constantly learning, making unexpected discoveries and producing a worthwhile and lasting piece of work, do join us.

Recently burglars broke into St Nicholas church in Kenilworth. In doing so they smashed a stained glass window in the South aisle. This church was being recorded at the time by the Royal Leamington Spa group of church recorders and luckily this window had already been photographed. The detailed description and photograph were sent immediately to the church wardens. The information will be most useful in the restoration of this lovely window. This is just one example, albeit an unhappy one, of how invaluable church recording can be.

For more information please contact:
volunteers@rlsdfas.org.uk