Double celebration for volunteers at the British Motor Museum

The volunteers at the British Motor Museum are celebrating by scooping two nominations at the West Midlands Museum Development Volunteer Awards held on 19 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 5 years of service by 27 of its current 78 volunteers. The Museum's Managing Director, Julie Tew presented a 5 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, Managing Director 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 5 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 Britains's motor industry.

Last year at the West Midlands Museum Development Volunteer Awards, volunteer Roger Gollicker was shortlisted for the Museum's volunteer blog and the Collections Centre Guiding Team were shortlisted for the Team Award for their involvement in opening and facilitating the visitor experience in the new Collections Centre.

For more information about the British Motor Museum and its volunteers visit http://volunteers.britishmotormuseum.co.uk For more information about the awards please visit https://mdwm.org.uk/news/and-the-winners-are/

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