Beamish

Although it has been my summer break I thought this would be the best time and opportunity for me to keep practicing my skills and learn more knowledge in a different way compared to my course and the only way I would do that would be to do a volunteering placement with a company. Obviously after sending out many emails I finally got a reply and set up my volunteering placement at Beamish museum. I had visited the museum years ago while I was at school and thoroughly enjoyed it so I was excited to go back and see how it had changed since the many years it had been since I was there. It was also a great experience and a good feeling to know that I was about to contribute to a place that I knew so well.

It was great to be back at a place with such a rich heritage of my family's background and most family's in the North East of England for the mining community. The museum is filled with loads of great facts and finds from the past and shows the visitors a real life view of the past and how people lived in it. As well as there regular exhibitions they also put on extra exhibitions showing more detailed decades and things that used to go on, where real live actors and workers will explain to the visitors things that went on and try and make it as realistic as possible and to be able to do this they need all the things to help it seem that way such as setting, props and costumes.

While I was at Beamish they were getting ready to put on a weekend about the 1940s/ 1950s, which meant they needed decade approipret costumes for their actors. I managed to practise and try my hand at a few different things that went towards creaturing things for the weekend. The types of things I helped with was floral doilies to go towards the sets, Pettit coats with different coloured net at the bottom of them to make each costume that little bit different. I Los helped make wrap over pinny aprons and finally a blouse. It was really good to be able to the have the opportunity to be able to help out and make costumes that would actually be worn by real actors and seen by people, it actually felt really worth while working towards a live project compared to stationary projects that I have been used to doing at college. Whilst there I was able to pick up new trick and hints from the workers there be able to make things at a fast pace but to a high quality and standard. 

(This is not the apron I made just an example of the style I was doing)

As well as working daily on upcoming events the workers in the costume department are interrupted very often with workers who have either lost something, or need something repaired so the girls were constantly on the go sometimes doing two jobs at the same time, it definitely was a fast pace place. Also on top of all these jobs they also had an order form book where if someone had changed size or needed a new shirt ect it would be someone's job to work through this to make sure that everyone had the right uniform and in the right size. There was also the job of keeping all of the costumes clean and washed and keeping them stored and kept in order of decade or area of the museum, everyone seemed to play a part in the running of the costume depart and all helped out in every aspect. It was really good to have the opportunity to be involved and see how it was ran as it was obviously different to a threatre production but similar jobs were involed. Although I was not there for a long time I really felt like I got a lot out of the experience as it allowed me to practice my skills, learn new techniques and see how a different company ran. If the opportunity ever raised I would definitely like to go back. Now on to looking for my new placement........