British Association of Friends of Museums - South East

BAFM AREA REPORTS:

NORTH EAST

NORTH WEST

YORKSHIRE & HUMBERSIDE

SOUTH EAST - SOUTHERN

SOUTH EAST - LONDON & MIDDLESEX

NORTHERN IRELAND

SCOTLAND

WALES

BAFM SOUTH EAST - WESTERN AREA

SOUTH EAST WESTERN AREA REP: SUE HALL

NEXT AREA CONFERENCE:

South East - Western Counties
10th September 2012
with the Friends of the Royal Marines Museum
Venue: Royal Marines Museum, Southsea
Theme: 'The Role of Friends in the 21st Century'
Contact:
Sue Hall, South East - Western Counties Co-ordinator

Annual SE Western Counties Area Conference
Tuesday 6th September 2011
The Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock
by Sue Hall

'Friends: Advocacy and Lobbying in Difficult Times'

The SE Western Area Conference was held on 6th September 2011 at the Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock. The theme for the day was ‘Friends: Advocacy and Lobbying in Difficult Times’. Trevor Hendy, Chairman of the Friends of the Oxfordshire Museum gave a very interesting account of the history of Woodstock and how the Oxfordshire Museum came to be in the current location and a history of the house itself.

Their Friends started in 1991 after the threat of closure of the museum and their subsequent immense level of interest in helping to maintain the museum. As he so rightly said, there is nothing like a threat of loss to motivate support. Their first step was to support the museum in its quest for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for repairs, improvements and extensions, which was successful. The Friends undertook to obtain financial assistance for specific projects that would enhance the museum’s collection. Once curators had identified which artefacts were germane to the collection and within reach financially, the Friends assisted in their purchase. Important acquisitions have been the Stonesfield tapestry, the Woodstock sword, a Roman millefiore disk and the Cholsey jewel.

They have also been exploring the geographic spread of membership, how to attract younger people into becoming members, looking at other local societies and communications and promotion. An essential feature of raising awareness has been to have a system in place which ensures that once interest is shown, they deal with it by email, Facebook, Twitter or just a phone call that follows up and nurtures the Friends interest for mutual benefit.

As far as the future of volunteering is concerned, this had been done on an ad-hoc and informal basis, but this is being formalised by Oxfordshire County Council. A professional member of staff will be appointed to manage volunteers. For the well-being of regular volunteers and colleagues, they will be required to abide by the disciplines applied to professional staff. However casual volunteers will have a more relaxed regime.

Helen Bridge, Chairman of the Witney and District Museum Society, related the very severe problems they have overcome at their museum. She explained what can happen when Friends’ and Trustees’ opinions differ. Witney had long needed a museum for the locality and a suitable building was found. The Department of Sports and Arts put in some £40,000 about seven years ago for restoration and a Friends organisation was formed. The Friends worked alongside a Management Committee, but after a time there was a falling out over a painting, which the Management wanted but the Friends did not. This and other issues led to the Friends dissolving themselves and reforming. Now, twelve years after the original grant, the museum has been redecorated and revamped. The Friends now have a fund raising committee and run the museum autonomously apart from occasional outside professional assistance. Helen’s message was know who your Friends are, treat them personally, know what they can offer and cherish them.

David Baynes, Volunteer Co-ordinator of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth reflected on his work with volunteers and mentioned the very successful work that has been achieved, in particular with the Curator of HMS Victory. The Royal Navy Museums have been much affected by the amalgamation of four Royal Navy Museums into a single, centrally controlled organisation, now known as the National Museum of the Royal Navy. David was asked to re-invent volunteering activities in the museum after they had declined to a very low level. There is a team of forty, which might seem less than expected for a national museum, but this reflects the fact that there is no front of house involvement and they are limited to the extent of supervising time that a professional curatorial and education team of only eight can take on board. He suggested ideas regarding museum management: The Friends’ Chair should meet with the museum’s senior executive on a regular pre-planned basis and also have a slot at staff meetings, when appropriate, and the Museum Director should be invited to Friends events, not least the AGM. For PR purposes he suggested some specific targets for Friends groups: Local authorities – the arts and culture portfolio holder, grant-awarding local organisations and private foundations; local MPs and prospective candidates, local newspapers, particularly the heritage feature writers; local and regional television and radio for press releases and events notification; cultivate the local reporter, contact local firms and companies, clubs, NADFAS, U3A, Rotary, etc.

Colin Greig, Director of the Pendon Museum at Long Wittenham, Oxfordshire led an Open Forum on ‘Advocacy and Lobbying in Difficult Times’, which produced some passionate responses and which people found extremely helpful. The following areas were mentioned for delegates to debate: Do you know what skills you have available amongst your Friends – lawyers, accountants are useful, but so are painters, plumbers and electricians? Are you using Gift Aid? (If not, why not, it is a superb source of free income, albeit a bit of a hassle to administer.) If you buy goods and services, do you get the best prices? Do you lobby actively? Not just locally but wider e.g. flyers, journals, posters etc., and the media. Are you treating your Friends properly? – training, ‘career path’, easy to claim and adequate expenses? If you are going for grants, research the background and understand what will make your application stand out above others. Whoever you send out to meetings should be knowledgeable about your organisation, well briefed and empowered to make decisions if needs be. Many Friends organisations are ‘amateur’, but we can and should act professionally.

Advocacy skills are a combination of quick thinking, an easy manner, proper briefing and a good appearance. A good advocate may not be able to gain whatever you want, but a bad advocate will almost certainly fail. Send the best person, not the job title most appropriate. It was clear that all the organisations represented at the Conference do have doubts, some severe, about what government belt tightening, and the economy generally, with a squeeze on disposable income, and will bring them before the next Area Conference.

The final highlight of the day was a private visit to Blenheim Palace.