THE HOUSES THAT VOLUNTEERS BUILT

VOLUNTEER
FOCUS
ISSUE 06
AUTUMN/WINTER 2013
A magazine for our amazing volunteers
THE
HOUSES THAT
VOLUNTEERS
BUILT
Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013
1
WELCOME
CONTENTS
F
or me, the Autumn/Winter 2013 edition of Volunteer Focus is an extra
special edition as it’s the last one I will oversee as the Head of Volunteering
at English Heritage. I am leaving the Volunteer department to take up an exciting
new role as General Manager of Stonehenge running the new visitor experience
that opens later this year.
It is with great sadness that I hang up my volunteering hat – I have enjoyed
every minute of my time as Head of Volunteering. I have had the privilege to
travel all across the country, meeting and getting to know many volunteers.
It is your passion, dedication and sense of humour that has made it my honour
to lead volunteering for English Heritage.
CHILDREN’S STORIES
BROUGHT TO LIFE
AT AUDLEY END
The nursery suite at Audley End
opens for the first time as part of
a million pound project that also
sees fresh interpretation in other
parts of the Jacobean mansion.
VINEYARD VOLUNTEERS
Re-established in 2012, the vines at Lincoln
Medieval Bishops’ Palace are tended by a
team of volunteers using traditional methods.
VOLUNTEER
ARTICLES
16
14
Volunteering will always be close to my heart and I will have the opportunity
to work closely with a large volunteer and staff team at Stonehenge.
I just want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you reading
for your continued commitment and enthusiasm for English Heritage. I wish you
all the best in the future.
4
Best wishes, KATE DAVIES
On the cover:
Janey Green, Neolithic
House volunteer
If you would like to
contribute articles
and images to the
next edition of
Volunteer Focus Spring
2014 or if you have
any feedback on this
issue please contact the
Volunteer Team on:
VOLUNTEERING
AT DOWN HOUSE
NEOLITHIC HOUSE
PROJECT: BUILDING
THE HOUSES
Terry Pyle reflects on how
an early interest in Charles
Darwin has unexpectedly
led to volunteering at
Down House.
Learn more about this unique
volunteering opportunity and
a plucky volunteer reveals
what it was like to spend a
night in a Neolithic house.
19
CENTENARY
RECEPTIONS
9
volunteer.enquiries@
english-heritage.org.uk
If you would like this
document in a different
format, please contact
our customer services
department on:
0870 333 1181
01793 414878
01793 414926
customers@english-
heritage.org.uk
2
Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013
17
GARDENING AT WALMER CASTLE
A band of dedicated volunteers help to maintain
the formal borders and kitchen garden at Walmer
Castle, official residence of the Lord Warden of
the Cinque Ports.
A fitting opportunity
for Baroness Andrews,
former Chair of English
Heritage, to say thank
you and goodbye.
6
NOTICES
WREST PARK
HISTORY GROUP
News & events
near you
18
Volunteers tell us how
researching the history of
Wrest Park and the de
Grey family has become
a consuming passion.
Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013
3
VOLUNTEER
ARTICLES
3
4
5
In the late autumn of 2012 I had the opportunity to serve as an
English Heritage volunteer at Down House. As a young student,
many years ago, I had such a great interest in the life and work of
Charles Darwin that my A-level Biology teacher took to referring to
me as ‘The Darwin Man’ – so the opportunity was quickly embraced.
A
t Down House, English
Heritage has successfully
put Darwin’s more celebrated
scientific achievements into the
context of his life, his family and
their life together for 40 years
until Darwin’s death in 1882. As
volunteers we direct visitors to
the four rooms reconstructed
as they were when the Darwins
lived at Down House, furnished
with many of the original pieces
and family belongings, and to
the cupboard in the hall where
the first sketch of the theory of
natural selection was secreted
away with the croquet mallets
and tennis rackets.
1
VOLUNTEERING
AT DOWN HOUSE
TERRY PYLE
AKA THE DARWIN MAN
4
Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013
2
1Darwin’s study
2 Terry Pyle
3 Down House
We get to walk with the visitors
in Darwin’s garden, laid out as it
would have been in Charles’ day,
with the worm stone that he and
his son Horace used to measure
the action of earthworms on
soil, the hothouse filled with
orchids and insectivorous plants,
and – perhaps most evocative
of all – the Sandwalk where one
can follow in the great man’s
footsteps as he did his five daily
circuits of his ‘thinking path’, at
times accompanied by his whitehaired terrier, Polly in later years.
In my short time as a house
volunteer I have greeted people
from the USA, Canada, Western
and Eastern Europe, South
Eastern Asia, Australia and New
Zealand, as well as from all over
the UK. All like to hear about
the Darwin family and their life
at Down House – the close
relationship between Darwin
and his wife, Emma, and their
very untypical and un-Victorian
approach to the raising of their
children, and the philanthropic
activities of Charles and Emma in
the village community in Downe.
We help visitors to discover and
to appreciate the success of the
subsequent generations of the
Darwin family. For example, how
many are aware that the Darwin
family are unique in history in
being the only family to have five
consecutive generations elected
as Fellows of the Royal Society,
from Charles’ grandfather
Erasmus through to his grandson
Charles Galton Darwin; or that
three of Charles’ sons were
awarded knighthoods in respect
of their own achievements in life?
I sometimes like to think back
to my 18-year-old self, studying
Darwin for my A-level Biology
exam – how little did I realise
that one day I would not only be
a regular presence in the house
and garden where he produced
one of the greatest pieces of
scientific insight in history, but
also – and more importantly –
I would be playing a key role
in helping others to appreciate
the life and achievements of
Charles Darwin.
Terry Pyle
Down House volunteer
4 Charles Darwin
5 The Sandwalk
Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013
5
DECEMBER 1191,
THE 3RD CRUSADE, PALESTINE…
VOLUNTEER
ARTICLES
A
young soldier sets off with two companions on
a daring mission to rescue Robert de Beaumont,
4th Earl of Leicester, one of Richard I’s most senior
commanders. Earlier that day Leicester had led a
small skirmish troop against the forces of Saladin
at Joppa (now Jaffa) near Tel Aviv. But it is he who
is surprised when an overwhelming force of 400
‘Saracens’ quickly turns the tables and surrounds
the crusaders.
Back at Richard’s camp the young soldier,
Henry, third son of Sir John de Grey, learns of
the earl’s predicament and sets off to the rescue.
Against the odds, his mission succeeds, and
Henry returns to camp to an undoubtedly
grateful king. Royal favour follows quickly – a
knighthood, lucrative royal positions and manors,
and in 1199 King John approves Henry’s highly
advantageous marriage to wealthy landed heiress
Isolda de Bardolph. Henry and Isolda have three
sons, and it is John, the second son, who as
Sheriff of Bedfordshire in the 1230s brings
the de Greys to Wrest.
725 YEARS LATER – WORLD
WAR I, THE WESTERN FRONT…
On 3 November 1916 a 40-year-old Flight
Commander in the Royal Flying Corps takes off
from a field in northern France in stormy weather,
his mission to fly over German lines and spot
troop movements. But this mission has a different
outcome. As the day wears on there is no further
communication and Bron Herbert, 9th Lord Lucas,
great-grandson of Thomas Earl de Grey the builder
of the house we know today at Wrest, never returns
from the Front.
1
WREST PARK
HISTORY GROUP
Following Bron’s death, his sister Nan Herbert puts
Wrest up for sale in 1917 and the almost 700-year
story of Henry de Grey’s descendants as owners of
Wrest comes to an end.
BY MIKE BROWN & JANE HEYWOOD
1 Volunteer History Group
2 Wrest Park Estate
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Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013
2
The rich and evocative story of Wrest and the de
Greys, and its subsequent owners up to the present
day, is the consuming passion of the 11-strong Wrest
Park Volunteer History Group. Set up in early 2010
as part of the garden volunteer team, the group
initially set about researching early varieties of fruit
and plants in the garden for restocking having been
lost during the various different ownerships in the
last century.
In three years the group’s expertise has expanded
widely with each member now responsible for
researching a specific time period or subject – for
example Wrest and the Duke of Kent; Wrest as a
military hospital during World War I; the de Grey
family in the Middle Ages; and so forth.
The team works closely with Properties Historians
Team Leader Andrew Hann and Curator Esme
Whittaker, as well of course as the management
team at Wrest itself. The historical sources are
sometimes challenging as well as exciting – original
18th-century letters written by Jemima Yorke,
2nd Marchioness Grey make fascinating reading.
And oral history interviews with people who have
worked at or have other links with Wrest over the
years are really important and help bring Wrest’s
history to life.
As with any large estate, Wrest had a full
complement of household staff, gardeners and
estate workers, but it also had an active history
during both World Wars – between 1914 and 1916
serving as a vital military hospital (the group has
researched well over 100 of the soldiers and staff
from that time) as well as meeting some of the
women who worked at Wrest during World War II.
Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013
7
Volunteer archivist Alex Wilson keeps everyone in line
with clear archiving and recording procedures to make
sure that the work will stand the test of time.
But it’s not all dry and dusty research! Members Brian
Edwards and Marian McDowell have written garden and
special statue tours and host groups of visitors to the site.
1
The group meets monthly and supports other volunteers
and staff in their roles as guides, as well as publishing
booklets, giving talks to local societies and producing
and hosting exhibition displays – for example of Wrest
Park’s role in World War I at the May Bank Holiday
‘Wrest at War’ event.
‘What makes Wrest Park such a fascinating place
is this incredibly rich history which is intertwined with
the stories of the people who have lived and worked
here across the centuries. As a team on site in the
21st century, finding ways to bring those stories to
life and help visitors of all ages to understand and
appreciate how we’re working to restore and protect
it is so exciting and a real privilege.
2
All our volunteers play an invaluable role in delivering
that experience, whether it’s by contributing to our
knowledge of Wrest’s past through the History Group,
welcoming visitors on arrival, stewarding in the house,
or helping to keep the gardens looking beautiful, I am
all too aware that we simply couldn’t do it without
their support and I’m so grateful to each and every
one of them for their hard work and enthusiasm!’
Jenny Mayer, General Manager Wrest Park
WOULD YOU LIKE
MORE INFORMATION?
Having produced an extensive history of the de Grey
family, the group is really keen to share this knowledge
with staff and volunteers at other English Heritage
sites that have links to the de Grey family. For more
information please contact Mike Brown or Jane
Heywood on 01525 860000.
3
1 Debbie Radcliffe
2 Frances Berry & Jane Heywood
3 Kate Parker
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Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013
So much of Wrest’s past is as yet undiscovered and for the
team every opportunity to open up new pages of Wrest’s
history is both a privilege and a challenge. They hope
their work helps to both enhance the experience of visitors
to Wrest and contribute to the rich story of Wrest Park.
NEOLITHIC
HOUSE PROJECT:
BUILDING
THE HOUSES
Phase one of the
Neolithic House project
saw three prototype
houses built at Old
Sarum by a group of
over 60 volunteers.
Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013
9
‘Enthusiastic leadership,
good company,
enlightened conversation
whilst learning new skills
– what’s not to like!’
Paul Thirlwell, volunteer
1 Lisa Volichenko, volunteer
2Staff and volunteers celebrate
finishing the build
3 Guy Hagg, volunteer
4 Part way through the build
5 Trevor Lucas, volunteer
1
2
An important part of the interpretation plan for the new Stonehenge visitor
centre is to ‘create a sense of prehistoric people using, working and living in
the landscape’. To do this, an outdoor gallery is being built and in this space
several life-size Neolithic houses will be created.
T
he houses will be based on archaeological
evidence found at nearby Durrington Walls
and will use authentic materials sourced locally,
to create an interactive space for our visitors.
The project is divided into two phases. Phase one
focused on building the prototype Neolithic houses.
This offered us opportunities not only to experiment
with and trial various building techniques, but also
allowed us to see how visitors engaged with the
houses – important because we are expecting over
one million visitors to Stonehenge each year. Phase
two, which will start in January 2014, will take the
lessons learned and inform the reconstruction of
the houses at the new visitor centre.
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Autumn/Winter 2013
This Neolithic house project is a big team effort and
has involved a whole host of English Heritage staff
from education, outreach, curatorial, interpretation
and operations teams. We appointed the Ancient
Technology Centre who have extensive experience
to oversee the building project, but it is volunteers
whom we owe the success of this project to.
At the end of 2012 we advertised the ‘Neolithic
house building’ volunteer role. Over 150 people
registered their interest – many were local people
but also people from all over the UK and even a
few from Europe! We wanted to involve as many
people as possible and we were overwhelmed
with applications. We had applications from a
real mix of people – archaeology enthusiasts,
retired serial volunteers and young people
looking for experience. We decided there would
be two ways people could be involved – either as
‘core’ volunteers all day everyday throughout the
project, or as short-term volunteers contributing
a minimum of five days. In total we had 12 core
volunteers and 56 short-term volunteers.
The house building started on 5 March 2013 and
lasted nine weeks. During the build we tested
different wattling techniques, roofing structures and
thatching methods and materials to see which of
these worked best and matched the archaeological
evidence. The volunteers were fully involved in
testing and recording these experiments and the
results will help us to decide on how we build the
houses at the visitor centre.
3
‘The sense of fun on site, contributing to
something bigger than yourself, learning new
skills, a daily sense of achievement, working
with natural resources and the opportunity to
contribute to a group of new friends covers
most of the key aspects, research tells us, we
need to be happy. I can’t wait to get out of
the office for phase two.’
Daniel Madge, volunteer
Volunteers played another important role by helping
to lead community and education workshops which
ran alongside the house building. These were an
excellent way to demonstrate to the Heritage
Lottery Fund (who have provided EH with £10
million for Stonehenge) how we’ve found exciting
ways to engage people in their local heritage. We
had three different workshops for school groups,
engaging 15 local schools and 449 pupils. A total of
240 people participated in community workshops
that were offered with the aim of involving local
families in the project. All of these programmes have
had fantastic feedback. Visitors said that chatting
to volunteers about the building process brought
the project to life. This highlights the value of the
personal touch that volunteers offer our visitors.
4
‘The privilege of working on the Neolithic
Houses really focused the mind on what
life might have been like then.’
Alex Lomax, volunteer
5
Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013 11
STONEHENGE
1
2
TESTING THE HOUSES
BY ALYSON TANNER, VOLUNTEER
After weeks spent building the houses, I was
lucky enough to spend a night in one of them.
This was part of a series of experiments set up
by Southampton University archaeology student
Briony Storm Clifton to explore how people use
the space in Neolithic house.
I was particularly lucky that the other three people
staying (fellow volunteers Mark Boulden, Barry
Williams and Lisa Volichenko) were very practical!
Mark had forged a tripod to hold pans over the fire.
Lisa foraged for leaves that we could eat and had found
some sheep’s wool which she felted into a pot holder
that turned out to be more useful than my neoprene
fireproof glove! Barry chopped the wood and came
up with some great ideas about how people lived. We
made pots and small animals out of clay but limited
time meant we dried them too quickly in the fire and
they exploded. We did try to cook as authentically
as possible (although our ‘gathering’ was made easier
by Waitrose!). We wrapped pork in hay and clay
and cooked it over the fire, spit-roasted a turkey leg
and cooked chicken and flat breads on hot bricks. It
made us realise that while gathering food might have
been hard work and needed a lot of planning, it was
possible to cook delicious meals over an open fire.
The fire quickly became the centre of our attention.
It was our only light and we found that anything put
down outside the circle of light was hard to find.
Briony had checked that the fumes weren’t too
noxious and we found that with a bit of organisation,
it wasn’t too smoky. We slept on woven hazel and
willow beds with animal furs on top which was
wonderfully comfortable. For me the experience was
the icing on the cake of the project – waking up at
5.30am to bright daylight was very special. It made
me realise how few differences there are between
people living 4,500 years ago and us – we have just
developed different skills, but we could still live quite
comfortably just as they did all those years ago.
12 Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013
3
The first part of the long-awaited improvements
at Stonehenge will be complete with the unveiling
of a new visitor centre in December 2013, located
1.5 miles to the west of Stonehenge. For the first
time ever at the site, visitors will be able to learn
more about this complex monument in a stunning,
museum-quality permanent exhibition gallery
curated by English Heritage experts.
4
HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED
Now we have finished our prototypes, we
are planning for phase two – building and
bringing to life the houses at Stonehenge.
7
FOLLOW THE PROJECT
We need your help in bringing the stories
of the Neolithic people to life. We are looking
for volunteers to interpret the houses to visitors
by telling stories, leading education workshops,
giving demonstrations, lighting fires and
sharing ideas.
w
ww.neolithichouses.wordpress.com
w
ww.english-heritage.org.uk
/stonehenge
@NeolithicHouses
ANNEKA HARRIS, STONEHENGE
VOLUNTEER MANAGER
If you would like to know
more about the new
and varied volunteering
opportunities at
Stonehenge please
see our website:
w ww.english-heritage.
org.uk/volunteering
Meet our new Stonehenge Volunteer
Manager. Anneka Harris joined the
team in August and will look after all
our Stonehenge volunteers during
phase two of the project.
A visitor transit system will take people to the
monument, where there will be opportunities to
walk and explore the surroundings of the monument
including the Avenue, Stonehenge’s ancient
processional approach. The new visitor building will
also house a smart new café, an education space for
school and community group visitors and a shop.
To watch a time-lapse
video and see how the
construction of the new
visitor centre has taken
place, go to:
w ww.english-heritage.
org.uk/newbeginnings
9
5
8
6
1 Mark Boulden
2 Lisa Volichenko
3Mark Boulden,
Alyson Tanner,
Lisa Volichenko
& Barry Williams
4Mark Boulden
& Barry Williams
5Tim Marshall greets
a school group
6A school group
at Stonehenge
7Artist’s impression of
the Neolithic Houses
8 Anneka Harris
9Aerial view
of Stonehenge
10Artist’s impression of
the new visitor centre
10
Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013 13
CHILDREN’S
STORIES
BROUGHT TO
LIFE AT AUDLEY
END HOUSE
& GARDENS
Originally created by Sir John Griffin Griffin in 1762,
the gallery has been adapted many times over the
years, being subdivided into smaller rooms at one
point. Nevertheless, one of the three or possibly
four, coal bunkers still survives, as does a copper
used for heating water and the remains of a crane
used to hoist coal up from the ground below. Coal
would have been delivered by crane to the secondfloor Coal Gallery, where it was stored before
being carried to fireplaces in rooms on the first
and second floors.
AS NEW ROOMS
UNVEILED IN SPRING 2014
1
Next Spring, Audley End House will reveal even more of its fascinating past
when it opens up the nursery suite to the public for the first time, as part of
a £1.1m project that will also see fresh interpretation in other significant areas
of Essex’s finest stately home.
R
ather like a detective story, the project team
are fully investigating everything available to
piece together what the 1830s and 40s nursery on
the second floor of the Jacobean mansion would
have looked like. Drawing evidence from surviving
fabric of the nursery suite through analysis of
paint, wallpaper and joinery, to reading household
accounts, letters and diary extracts, such as from
Joseph Romilly, a frequent visitor giving a great
account of the house in the mid-19th century;
everything is being scrutinised. There are also clues
found within the visitor book detailing the comings
and goings of the family and guests and exquisite
watercolours of the nursery painted by the young
Braybrooke girls.
Within this fine example of a late Georgian/early
Victorian nursery formed out of former servants’
rooms, visitors will be able to explore life in the
nursery for the Braybrooke children from the ages
of four or five and their succession of wet nurses,
nursery maids and governesses – at a time when
aristocratic children were rarely seen or heard by
their parents.
14 Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013
The suite of rooms in which they spent so much
of their young lives – sleeping, doing schoolwork,
eating a wholesome diet of ‘nursery food,’ reading
and playing with toys – will give an insight into the
somewhat sheltered lives of the children. The five
brothers – Richard, Charles, Henry, Latimer and
Grey – grew up there until they went to Eton at
the age of 11 or 12, and their three sisters Mirabel,
Louisa and Lucy, remained at home in the charge of
governess Mary Dormer until their education was
considered complete at 17 or 18.
Created as a nursery in 1822, the rooms still retain
some original features from cupboards and closets,
to fireplaces, bed pole and a doll’s house that can
be seen in one of the watercolours of the 1840s
and will feature prominently in the new displays.
Another previously unseen part of the house also
opens next year – the Coal Gallery. Perhaps a
unique surviving example of an upper floor service
gallery, retaining many of its 19th-century and
earlier features, the Coal Gallery will be dressed
to demonstrate its important role in supplying coal
and hot water to the upper floors of the house.
There’s more to see in other parts of the house
too – with improved presentation in the State
Rooms including the magnificent State Bed, made
for Sir John Griffin Griffin in 1786 in anticipation
of a visit by George III which sadly never happened,
although it was subsequently slept in by the
Duke and Duchess of Gloucester in 1819 and the
American Ambassador, George Bancroft and his
wife Elizabeth. The sound of music will be heard
once more in the house as a piano is installed
and a roaring fire reinstated in the Great Hall.
Sections of the Audley End family scrapbook will
also be reproduced and on permanent display for
the first time, taken from a magnificent collection
of engravings, maps and prints of Audley End and
its associated families, compiled by the 2nd Lord
Braybrooke in around 1809. There will be new
interpretation on the servants’ bells system in
the Bell Lobby and lighting beside the Lamp
Room, demonstrating how important new
technology was in smoothing the running of
the country house.
English Heritage is also looking for
volunteers to get involved in this
exciting new phase of helping bring
the house to life, as never before
been seen by the public.
2
3
1 School children at Audley End
2 Audley End parterre garden and house
3
Education volunteer Christine Greet
4 Visitors walking in the grounds at Audley End
5 Lady Braybrooke’s Sitting Room
To find out more about
volunteering opportunities at
Audley End see our website at:
w ww.english-heritage.org.uk
/volunteering
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Volunteer Focus
5
Autumn/Winter 2013 15
THE VINEYARD
COMMUNITY
PROJECT
WALMER CASTLE
AND GARDENS
Abi Budd, Property Manager
Samantha Jane Gordon, Site Manager,
Lincoln Medieval Bishops’ Palace
1
I
1
D
uring the last 18 months,
as Site Manager, I have
undertaken the responsibility
of a new cultural and heritage
attraction for Lincoln and English
Heritage. The Medieval Bishops’
Palace in Lincoln has the only
official vineyard within English
Heritage properties and Lincoln
city. When it was first planted in
1972 it was the most northerly
vineyard in Britain, it is now one
of three. ‘The Vineyard
Community Project’ involves a
volunteer group from the local
community to help with the care
of the vines and grounds, alongside
a partnership with a local vineyard
to help with the harvesting and
the production of wine at the
end of the season.
I saw the vineyard as a historical
asset which has now been tamed
into a functioning vineyard with
the help of this group of
volunteers. This forgotten gem
has become a flourishing natural
environment that has not only
encouraged the wildlife of the
area to stop by but also many
new visitors.
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Autumn/Winter 2013
Each volunteer has helped to
develop a new sense of community
which has not only benefited the
gardens but also brought the busy
‘hustle and bustle’ back to the
Medieval Bishops’ Palace, a feeling
it has not had for many a
generation. The project has also
encouraged the local community to
be involved with English Heritage
as an organisation by helping to
maintain and develop part of a
local historical ruin.
The volunteer group has now
grown to ten members who
are all very keen and enthusiastic.
They come from all backgrounds
and walks of life but have a
common goal that brings them
together – viticulture and yes,
‘the love of wine’. Throughout
the year the vineyard requires
different phases of care and
the volunteers are trained for
these stages – for example, hard
pruning, tying back, rubbing and
of course let’s not forget the
harvesting. The volunteers are on
site once a month, unless there
are a lot of weeds, and then they
are asked to come in for extra
days. They arrive at ten and are
supposed to leave at three but I
am more often encouraging
them off site around four.
Without the help of these
amazing people I wouldn’t be
able to move the vineyard
project forward and they are
extremely important to the work
at Lincoln and within English
Heritage as an organisation.
We are hoping to have a
members’ event next July,
where we can invite local food
producers and sample the wine
from our vineyard. After all the
volunteers hard work they will
deserve a glass from the vines
they have looked after
throughout the year.
2
1 View of the vineyard
2 View towards Alnwick Tower
’ve been the Property Manager
at Walmer Castle and Gardens
for just over a year now. Even on
my first day of working at Walmer,
the thing that really struck me was
what a dedicated team of garden
volunteers we have; 14 in total.
They come from all walks of life
and always have an interesting
tale to tell – for instance we
have Bob whose aviation career
involved making escape chutes
for aeroplanes and also Alan
who has travelled the world in
the bowels of ships repairing all
sorts of machinery. Alan says ‘The
best thing about volunteering
at Walmer is that not only do I
get to work in a beautiful garden
but that I also get to see how
things are grown and developed
professionally, so I get to pick up
all sorts of tips.’
our volunteers as she would like
to spend as much meaningful
time with them as possible.
Sue has trained up our other
gardeners, Brian and Kristyna,
to work with our volunteers
so that they all get a chance to
spend time with our experienced
gardener team and get the most
from their time spent with us.
Daily activities that we need help
with can involve anything from
tending our beautiful Gertrude
Jekyll inspired herbaceous border,
helping to plant bulbs at the
top of our historic Oval Lawn
or even getting involved with
trimming back tree canopies
to restore views, which our
volunteer Andrew has been
busily undertaking.
Walmer’s Head Gardener Tom
Hooijenga always reminds me of
Getting to know our volunteers
the importance of our volunteer
has been a really enjoyable
team at Walmer. In fact, it’s
experience for me. If I share
true to say that we’d be lost
a break with the team in the
without them. If it wasn’t for
gardeners’ mess room I can get a Joyce, one of our longest-serving
lesson in anything from geography volunteers, who has a real talent
to plumbing! Our volunteers are
for propagation, we really would
keen to develop their horticultural not have such wonderful ‘homeknowledge too; in fact according
grown’ displays to be able to
to Alan – did you know that
show our visitors. Our ‘Monday
eating an Electric Daisy can give
Group’ are also some of our
you a nine-volt electric shock!
longest-serving volunteers. The
team of six, all from ‘Walmer
Our Senior Gardener, Sue Harris, Centre’, are adult men with
manages our expert team of
learning disabilities and they help
volunteers. Sue tells me that it can us with such varied tasks as scrub
be ‘…difficult to get the balance
clearing to apple picking and
right’ when working out how
bonfire building.
much time to spend supervising
Walmer is about to begin work
on exciting new projects, such
as preparations for celebrating
the 200-year anniversary of the
Battle of Waterloo and we’ll
be needing our trusted team of
volunteers more than ever. So
if you know anyone that would
be interested please ask them
to take a look at the volunteer
pages on the EH website.
We’d love them to be part
of our fantastic team!
For more information
about volunteering at
Walmer Castle and
Gardens go to:
w ww.english-heritage.org.
uk/volunteering
2
1 Alan Bignell, volunteer
2‘Monday Group’ volunteers
meeting Baroness Andrews
Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013 17
NOTICES
Wrest Park gardeners
re-create 110-year-old photo
NEW CHAIRMAN FOR
ENGLISH HERITAGE
News & events
near you
Sir Laurie Magnus has been appointed
Chairman of English Heritage taking
over from Baroness Andrews. Sir Laurie
has 35 years’ commercial experience
and was formerly Deputy Chairman of
the National Trust. We look forward
to introducing Sir Laurie to you more
personally in future magazines.
1
KENWOOD
HOUSE
RICH STORIES AT
BOLSOVER CASTLE
Following its closure in April 2012
to allow for much-needed repairs,
Kenwood House is due to re-open
in November with a new visitor
experience. The Grade II listed dairy
has been conserved and will open as
as education space and volunteer hub.
Exploring the beautiful rooms, visitors
will learn about the Mansfield family,
who made Kenwood their home,
and life in an 18th-century country
house. You will also learn about the
Earl of Iveagh, and how his breathtaking
collection of paintings found a home
in Hampstead.
The charming Little Castle at the heart
of Bolsover Castle will soon be alive
four centuries on, with the sights and
sounds of music, poetry and theatre.
2
3
CONISBROUGH
CASTLE
Conisbrough Castle has now closed
its gates to the public until Spring
2014 to complete a major £1.1m
redevelopment project that will see the
castle brought back to life and ready
to welcome visitors. With funding
from the Heritage Lottery Fund and
Doncaster Council, there will be a
larger and brighter new visitor centre,
more spacious education and exhibition
rooms, interactive displays that bring
the story of the castle to life and
improved access, signage and parking.
The changes will bring the castle back
into the heart of the local community.
An imaginative project due for
completion in Spring 2014 will
combine period furnishings with lively
interpretation to reveal the pleasures
of the Stuart court.
In 1903 a photo and article on the Wrest Park gardeners appeared in
the Gardeners’ Chronicle. 110 years later, on Monday 8 July, the team
of gardeners and volunteers who look after the fantastic grounds
have re-created the scene on the Orangery steps with some of their
modern machinery in place of the more traditional horse-drawn
tools shown originally.
The team of gardeners and volunteers are lovingly restoring the
gardens and the 300 years of history contained within, including
examples of work by some of the most famous names in English
gardening and architecture history.
VOLUNTEER
CENTENARY
RECEPTIONS
Thank you to all the volunteers who
attended our centenary receptions.
Three events were held over the
course of the summer at Brodsworth
Hall, Kenilworth Castle and Eltham
Palace and were attended by hundreds
of volunteers who enjoyed a guided
tour and a cream tea.
It was great to see so many volunteers
from different properties and meet
others who share a similar passion. A big
thank you to Baroness Andrews who has
always been a champion of volunteering
and who hosted each reception. This was
a fitting send off to Baroness Andrews
who ended her four-year tenure as
Chair of English Heritage this summer.
Corinne Price, Upper Gardens & Apprentice Manager commented:
‘This is a really interesting old photo, and one of our
volunteers suggested that 110 years later, with a full
team of gardeners, volunteers and apprentices, we
should honour those who went before us and just as
today recognise their achievements in tending the
garden for many future generations to enjoy.’
It will also see period restoration and
repair work to the walled Fountain
Garden just outside the Little Castle,
which will feature a high-level wall walk
giving a new perspective over the garden.
To find out about volunteering
at any of the sites and
properties on this page visit
our website at:
6
w
ww.english-heritage.
org.uk/volunteering
or follow us on Twitter at:
@EHVolunteering
4
English Heritage Monopoly
7
Swap Old Kent Road for Stonehenge and Park Lane for Dover Castle Secret War
Time Tunnels. This special English Heritage edition of Monopoly takes you on a
chronological journey through the ages, from Prehistory to the Modern Age.
Our unique version champions English Heritage’s preservation of more than
400 sites, buildings and monuments. A contribution from each sale goes
towards English Heritage.
Available at selected properties and at:
www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/monopoly.
RRP £29.99. 10% discount available with your volunteer pass.
18 Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013
5
1
Sir Laurie Magnus,
Chairman of English Heritage
2 Kenwood House
3 Conisbrough Castle
4
Wrest Park gardens 1903
5 Wrest Park gardens 2013
6 Volunteers enjoying a guided
tour at Kenilworth Castle
7
Baroness Andrews addressing
staff and volunteers
Volunteer Focus
Autumn/Winter 2013 19
Hadrian’s Wall Hike
Walk into History
The English Heritage Challenge returns in September 2014!
Following the success of the Stonehenge Cycle Ride, we are offering
you another opportunity to step into England’s story, with a unique
two day trek along part of the breathtaking and historic Hadrian’s Wall.
This is a unique opportunity full of special access and activities,
including fascinating talks from our expert curatorial team.
Join Us
All the money you raise will support essential conservation works at Hadrian’s Wall.
Are you up for the challenge? Register your interest to find out more today.
To find out more or make a donation, visit
www.english-heritage.org.uk/hike or email challenge.events@english-heritage.org.uk