The Sixth Edition of the Volunteers' Newsletter “Chocks Away!”

CHOCKS AWAY! The newsletter for the volunteers by the volunteers. June 2016 Edition Six Welcome to the sixth edition of the Volunteers’ Newsletter “Chocks Away!” Gill Peter Mike First an apology. We try and get a newsletter out about once every three months, which means that this edition was due at the end of 2015. To be honest, Gill does the lion’s share of the work and Chris and Peter, as mere acolytes, do a little bit of fetching and carrying and try and look busy. Unfortunately this time round life got in the way and none of us were able to get to grips with the work until now. That said we have some excellent contributions and hopefully our efforts will meet with your approval. This edition sees a change of personnel in the Editorial tent. Chris has decided that it’s time for him to pursue other interests and has stepped down from the editorial team, although he has promised to continue to contribute albeit at a lower level. To replace him we are delighted that Mike Forbes has agreed to join us. In a previous incarnation Mike was involved in teaching and research in the field of biology where he wrote many articles and books. He was also editor of a magazine, so he should know what he’s letting himself in for! Mike also balances the team’s knowledge base since, although Gill and Peter are “air heads”, Mike has been actively involved with ‘old’ (not always classic) cars and motorbikes’ for over 50 years; he currently runs a 1969 Fiat 500 Giardiniera station wagon. Although he had, of course, heard of Brooklands it was not until he and his wife Maureen moved to Byfleet that he realised that they were living on its doorstep and he quickly volunteered at the Museum, initially as a steward in the motoring village. Now Mike’s main involvement is as an Education tour guide, usually with small schoolchildren but also adults. He has also written a two-part article for the BTM Bulletin on Florence Blenkiron, the first of only three ladies to gain Gold Stars for lapping the circuit at over 100 m.p.h. His first contribution to this Newsletter concerned the graves which he tends, in Byfleet churchyard, of John Parry Thomas and Bert Le Vack. He has written about his experience as a Brooklands Education guide in the current issue. You will see below a number of comments and criticisms about how we, as unpaid volunteers are often told how valuable our services are to the museum and yet many of you seem to feel that “actions speak louder than words” and in reality little is done for us. We know of other museums where volunteers are given uniforms, even given a free hot meal as a thank you for giving their time; here at Brooklands by comparison the “perks” seem pretty thin on the ground. Tell us what you think; is it just a few grumblers making a mountain out of a molehill or is it time that the Trust upped its game? STOP PRESS! Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2016 We were just about to ‘publish’ this issue of the Newsletter when we received Allan Wynn’s email with the great news that we had won one of this year’s Queen’s Awards for Voluntary Service! Allan’s praise of our work for the Museum is fulsome and should go some way to alleviating our worries that our efforts are not fully appreciated by ‘them up there’. Don’t forget that someone had to nominate us to the Queen’s Voluntary Service Committee; was that a volunteer or, more likely, one or more of the Trustees and/or Staff? Can we hope that our pleas for attending to maintenance and safety issues, some of which are detailed in the letters section of this newsletter, will now be taken more seriously? It would be most appreciated, as well, if Director and Trustees could stroll around occasionally to have a chat with volunteers. The Editors SOME WORDS FROM OUR LEADER, John Silver Hi All, The Volunteers’ News Letter gives me an additional opportunity to congratulate everyone on the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS). This is the highest honour any volunteer group can receive and is recognition of all the fantastic work everyone does here at the Museum regardless of what, how, where and when. It took quite a bit of work over quite a time to gather all the necessary details to apply and we are indebted to Professor Michael Joy, David Hyfer & Wendy Grimmond for proposing and supporting the application. On a personal level I’m immensely proud of what has been achieved by you all in my six years in this job but perhaps more importantly it’s been a real joy working with you all. To say I’ve learnt and continue to learn new things not least the sheer power of volunteering is an understatement so my personal thanks for all your support, encouragement & good humour. This comes in the Museum’s 25th year so it all ties in nicely and now we will go into a new phase as the Flight Shed, Hangar & Finishing Straight Project really get going. I’m really looking forward to this, although I accept it will bring new ‘challenges’ but with the power of you all I know there is nothing you cannot achieve. Walk tall. You are the best. Her Majesty says so. BEING AN EDUCATION GUIDE, by Mike Forbes Most of you have seen school children, usually quite little ones in groups of a dozen or so, being led around the Museum by a volunteer with several adults in tow. They’re here for an educational visit and it’s the volunteer guide’s aim to make their visit as enjoyable as possible while stimulating their interest in science, engineering and history as they relate to transport. Typically the schools are within a radius of 20-30 miles from the Museum and their buses should arrive at the visitors’ car park at 10am. As an education guide you are waiting (in the shop if it’s cold outside) to meet them as they get off their bus(es). Given that they are often a little late and that it takes longer than you might expect to unload 60 children with their attendant adults and piles of packed lunches, it’s usually a little after the target time of 10.15 by the time we’ve led them to the education suite which is off the entrance to the Strat Chamber. After a very brief welcome each guide meets her/his allocated group and sets off on their tour, following a time-table provided by the Education Staff of the Museum. The children are accompanied by adults: some teachers, some teaching assistants and some volunteer parents. Typically each guide would have a group of 12- 15 children with two or three adults. These adults are responsible for the children while at the Museum. The tour is usually about two hour’s duration and includes half-an-hour in the Activity Room where there are dressing-up clothes, a model of the race track and runway with cars and planes, a light plane cockpit to sit in, a reading corner and large-scale construction kit. The rest of the morning involves walking round the Museum showing exhibits you choose to describe. Not that you do all the talking! It’s important to maintain the children’s interest by asking questions of them and listening patiently when they want to tell you of their experiences, avoiding letting the same few pupils do all the answering. The more groups there are on a given morning the more likely it is that you’ll have to alter your planned route if you bump into another group. This means you should have a broad (but not necessarily detailed) knowledge of all parts of the Museum. Further flexibility is required if (probably when) a toilet stop is required. The tour ends back in the education suite where the children sit on the floor and eat their lunch. The school has usually requested a visit on Concorde and after lunch each group meets a Concorde steward for a quick walk through the aircraft at a fixed time; it’s up to the education guide to make sure that his/her group gets to Concorde in plenty of time, not necessarily by escorting them there but by being sure that the responsible adult knows exactly what time her/his group has to be there. After Concorde there may be time for further exploration, depending on the time at which the buses are due to depart, but volunteer guides are not involved in this. In addition to Primary School tours, as described above, there are specialist tours for older pupils and, sometimes, for adults. These may require guides who have more detailed experience or training in an area of engineering, for example. It may be that your background and interests will suite you to this type of visiting group in addition to, or instead of, the younger children. If you are interested in joining the Education Team please discuss it with Virginia Smith, the Head of Learning and Visitor Services ([email protected]; 01932 857381 ext 248), followed by three occasions on which you ‘shadow’ experienced guides for the morning. Then you’ll do a mock tour with Virginia and hopefully become an Education Guide! It can take up as much or as little time as you wish, typically one or two mornings a week in school term-time.

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