Blake Museum Bridgwater

Information from the Friends of Blake Museum

27^th February 2011

1.8 Staffing

The Museum is staffed entirely by volunteers. It is the policy of the Governing Body not to employ paid staff (other than the Curatorial Adviser).

There are more than 50 volunteers serving the Museum. Senior experienced volunteers act as key holders. Volunteer custodians are trained to welcome visitors and serve in the Museum Shop. Volunteers also act in governance, in caring for and presenting the collections, in cleaning and housekeeping tasks, in providing learning opportunities programmes and in maintenance work throughout the building and in the garden.

When the Museum is open to the public there is always a minimum of three volunteers (key holder, and two custodians) on duty. On Mondays the Museum is closed to the public, and opportunities are set aside for work on the collections, training and for maintenance.

The main body for recruiting, training and managing the volunteers is the Friends of Blake Museum which supports all aspects of the Museum's work. Volunteers are recruited from all backgrounds, independent of age, gender, mobility and ethnic background.

2 User Services

2.1 Published information on location, opening arrangements and services.

The Museum is open to the general public from Tuesday-Saturday inclusive 10.00-16.00 from 5^th April 2011 until 12^th November 2011. After which the Museum will be closed to enable work to be carried out. Arrangements are in place to enable meetings and pre-booked visits to take place during the closure period. Other published services will be maintained where practicable.

The Museum's opening arrangements are displayed outside the Museum, on the Museum Website and in publicity leaflets and press releases.

2.2 Services and facilities that support access by a broad range of users

Visitors are encouraged to make entries in the Visitors Book and this information is regularly analysed. A great deal of informal market research goes on and there is a Suggestions Book in the Museum Shop.

All of the public areas on the ground floor are reasonably accessible to wheel chair users. Provision is made for assistance dogs, provided they are not too large. The Museum's collection of photographs and other archives is being digitised and view facilities are accessible on the ground floor. A hearing loop system is installed in the meeting room, and PZT CCTV cameras for the upper floor displays controlled from a ground floor workstation have been installed. A Museum Website is developing rapidly. A virtual Museum is part of the Museum's Forward Plan

2.3 Consultation with users in relation to services provided

A process of regular consultation is being developed. Visitors are encouraged to provide comments on their experiences.

2.4 Collections and associated information available to users

The Museum has a range of displays appropriate to its aims, which reflect the strengths of the Museum collection. Some of these have been re-presented in the last few months and the remainder (mostly upstairs) will be addressed once remedial work has been done on the fabric of the upper floors of the building. This is scheduled for winter 2011. New facilities for temporary exhibitions have been installed and a policy has been adopted to change and update displays regularly. Access to stored collections is available by prior booking.

2.5 Interpretations of the collections in ways which support users' learning and enjoyment

An enhanced website is being developed for ease of access to information relating to collections and individual artefacts on display and in the library.

Arrangements can be made by schools, colleges and other organisations who wish to visit and experience on-site activities. These will be tailor-made to satisfy the objective(s) of the visit by individual groups. When dealing with children and young adults, these activities will involve audit al, visual and kinetic aspects.

The key aims of the museum include making the museum a centre of excellence for the study of local history, including recognising eminent inhabitants of the past. Enquires relating to local and family history are welcomed, and a policy is in place of placing scans of relevant documents on the internet. These include historic photographs and printed material such as electors' lists. The Museum has in-house printing facilities and the production of interpretive material such as study packs is being planned.

The Museum Friends organises a series of monthly talks on topics of interest to Museum users.

Section 3 Visitor Facilities

3.1 A range of public facilities, or information on the location of nearest facilities, where these are not on site

There is a single toilet in the Museum available to the public and plans for a second, larger wheelchair accessible toilet to be constructed in the next shut-down. Public toilets are is available on the far side of the adjacent Blake Gardens (at a distance of 150 metre). The Museum has a shop, which, in addition to selling a large range of items of interest specific to the Museum. There is a good range of local cafes and hostelries within 400 metres. There is a public car park in Dampiet Street (at a distance of 150 metre). The nearest bus stops are on the High Street (200 metre away) and the Bus and Coach Station (0.4km away). Bridgwater Railway station is in St John Street (0.8km away). Information on local facilities is in the free Town Guide available in the Museum and the custodians convey a great deal of local information orally, in addition to information about facilities in the Museum.

3.2 Orientation and signage arrangements, both external and internal

The Museum has a free explanation and orientation leaflet and there is clear signage around the Museum. Direction signs to the Museum are in place.

3.3 Arrangements for visitor care

Guidance Notes for Custodians and their responsibilities are provided during their training. Custodians attend to the needs of visitors at every opportunity.

3.4 Formal arrangements for maintenance of areas used by visitors

The toilet and volunteers' kitchen are cleaned at least once a day. The daily duty team is primed to use brush and micro-tack duster. Two volunteers do more extensive cleaning twice a week.