Guest Blog

The Volunteer Experience

This week we have a guest blog from one of our heritage volunteers. Volunteers are often vital to heritage projects. They are a valuable resource and whilst they are not paid, they are part of an exchange which can involve access to otherwise private collections, specialist training, and skill development.

Below Anne Allcock talks about her first 'hands on' experience down in the cellar:

W. W. Winter's hove into sight and I had no idea what to expect apart from the information which we'd had on the training day, two months previously.  Having been made most welcome by Louisa, Angela and Jane, Angela then said "keep your coat on we're in the back room". Curiouser and curiouser...

All became clear when Jane said we'd be working on the large plates. Jane took  Barbara and myself through the warren into the back room and we started work on the plates. Coats were definitely needed but the cataloguing, cleaning and wrapping soon dispelled most of the cold.

Anne working with project archivist, Jane Middleton-Smith in the cellar

There was a lot of laughter and chat about photography (although we did make a detour to Mount Everest) and so much information was gleaned just from inspecting the plates, with Jane adding from her increasing wealth of knowledge.

Hubert joined us for a while to talk about the 'Victorian equivalent of Photoshop' i.e.hand retouching, and also about the solarisation effect on plates; so much learned in such a short time.

What an interesting and enjoyable afternoon it was.This is an amazing project and deserves all the help it can get—I'm greatly looking forward to my next visit.

Unearthing History

Archiving Project

Time for a quick catch up on our Heritage Lottery Funded archiving project. We have had wonderful support and volunteers are champing at the bit to get started. However, in trying to make a viable space for people to work we have run into a bit of a road block....

The cellar underneath the new archiving room-to-be.

As you can see there is a huge pile of rubble still to shift, but we need to clear it in order to insulate the room above. This section was completely full - the doorway was completely blocked. As clearing has commenced we have found many artifacts, including complete glass negatives, old bottles and packaging. It look like it was used as the on site dump and we are being careful to sift through as we go.

Anyway, now that we know what we are up against we are creating a temporary space for volunteers to work in the office so we can get on with the actual archiving. Opening the workroom proper will have a to wait a little while but will definitely be a cause for balloons and a few bubbles when we achieve it!

Some of the waste glass that has been shifted below the new work room. It stands around a metre deep.

Glass plate negatives, old chemical bottles, and packaging are being salvaged.

The negatives we really want to start working on

Heritage Lottery Funding Bid

 

Progress

Hours of discussion, paperwork, statements of interest, meetings etc are starting to come together for Winters. We had a hunch there would be some interest based on the amazing support we got from the public during last years Heritage Open Days. There are of course no guarantees but we are hearing the right noises going in to this final stage of application.

When will we know?

Our full complete application is submitted in two weeks and we should have an answer by July. Our thoughts? We can't help but dream big!

Over the side entrance - three 'Ws' and 1867

The dream!

We will need your help to turn the dreams in to reality. We hope to dip our toe in the water with an archiving work room and bring those plate negatives back to life but this is just the beginning. It is developing 'Friends of Winters' that will be the foundation of things to come. We need a body of people who want to be active in restoring, conserving and developing every aspect of our heritage with emphasis on the building (which already has a grade 2 listing) and access to the public.

The ceiling cornicing on the left is currently hidden by a lower false ceiling. Wouldn't it be lovely to have all these architectural details revealed?

Outcomes...

Will it be a museum? A center for study? A center for learning? Is it important to 'travel back in time' and realise a museum studio; to catalogue all the images onsite; to transfer skills and knowledge of traditional photography? We believe that all these things are important, but you will have to drive the project (with our full support) whilst we concentrate on the day-to-day running of the business and our lovely 21st century customers.
We are hugely grateful to our current list of volunteers offering their help. Do get in touch if you are also interested in cataloguing and archiving. However, also let us know if you would like something to really get your teeth into. Do you have a passion for heritage and / or photography? May be you have some project management experience, or have worked on similar projects in the past? We want to hear from you please!

 How many feet have trodden these stairs. Look at the curve in the lead where 150 years of wear is showing.

 

Get in touch

Email us on office@wwwinter.co.uk to let us know. There is no commitment at this stage. We are simply putting together a pool of interested parties. who will love and cherish this place as we do :-)