Brilliant Volunteering Efforts at Cannon Hall Museum

Volunteering is a great way to learn new skills, meet new friends and combat loneliness and isolation. Thanks to funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, we have been able to expand the volunteering offer at Cannon Hall Museum and recruit new volunteers. 

This article, written by some of the volunteers, gives an insight into what they have been doing.          

‘We have been working on cleaning and cataloguing the books in the staff Research Library at Cannon Hall and creating a database of the contents. It’s been quite different to the previous work done in the museum’s Library, as the books are much newer and all in good condition. The books generally date from the 1970s onwards, however there is a book dated 1925 -’The Chelsea Porcelain Toys’ by G E Grant. The books cover a variety of topics which include furniture, landscape gardening, antiques and many more. The books on art, ceramics and glass are our favourites. 

In the cupboards we also found plans, magazines, reviews and auction catalogues, which have all been recorded. The dated plans relate to various works carried out at Cannon Hall and record different repairs and upgrades to the building e.g. electrical wiring.  

We have also found and catalogued medals, scrolls and leather folders containing illuminated manuscripts, originating from Australia. They bore the name of ‘Major General Sir Winston Joseph Dugan and Lady Dugan’ who served as The Governor of the State of Victoria, South Australia. They are quite impressive. 

Cataloguing all items in the bookcases involves, lightly cleaning the books/items with a soft cloth or brush, logging details onto a spreadsheet to include, title, author, publisher, condition and any special notes. On returning them to the bookcase we have arranged them into subject groups, i.e. ceramics, glass, history etc. 

Our work is to continue with some books to be added to the staff Research Library and one remaining cupboard to be explored which contains albums of photographs. We are very much looking forward to seeing these and hopefully identifying those pictured. 

We all enjoy volunteering at Cannon Hall. Working in the staff Research Library, in a part of the museum that’s not open to the public, with the support of Ran and Melissa. It is interesting and we like working together as a team.’  

Lynda, Ken and Jackie 

Volunteers at Cannon Hall Museum