Heritage Open Days: Behind the Scenes at HEART

Behind the scenes at HEART, Heritage Open Days preparations are well underway for this year’s exciting festival! HEART volunteer Basha, who has been taking part in the Kids In Museums Teen Twitter Takeover Day, went backstage to speak to dedicated HODs volunteer Marilyn about her experiences as a long-term supporter of the project…

Basha: So, what’s your role as a Heritage Open Day volunteer?

Marilyn: Well, I look after all the bookings. I set up the system earlier in the year and have been carrying on with the admin throughout August with the help of lots of other volunteers. It’s very busy in the first two weeks, but now this week and next week it’s only George and me here. We’ve been working together for four years now, and we try to make sure one of us is here all the time.

Basha is busy tweeting and blogging

B: What’s the task for today then?

M: We run a 24-hour system from 11 am to 11 am, so we look from hand-delivered bookings to post-delivered bookings to email-delivered bookings. We look at which tickets we can issue, and we have a short reserve list.

As you can see I’m surrounded by all these boxes with the booking system in. Every event has a folder with different colours for different days. It’s now done in the order that the events are in the brochure, but it wasn’t when I first joined if you can believe it!

B: How and when did you first get involved?

M: I taught and August was free, and after my husband died 10 years ago I thought I might be bored in that time, so I asked if they needed any help. And I’m still here now! I started off with only a few hours, now I’m here one day a week from April until after the Open Days, and every day in August!

And of course I’m interested in heritage, and I like systems, so I really enjoy being here. Later in the year I’ll be working with my charity – that’s Save the Children – selling Christmas cards.

B: What have the main highlights of the volunteering experience been for you?

M: There have been some really lovely emails from people saying ‘thank you for what you’re doing’. It’s really kind when people take the time to do this, and it’s nice to get some recognition.

Hard at work on HODs bookings at HEART HQ

B: What would you recommend for people to go and see on the Heritage Open Days?

M: One I’ve found really interesting in the Rosary Cemetery, and there are still some spaces on that one. Let’s see… there’s also the Briton’s Arms and the Magistrates Court which I’ve often done over the years. All of the events are great really, and I would definitely recommend for the more popular ones that people should book early.

One that I’ve found very interesting has been the medieval graffiti, because it’s something I knew nothing about. That’s what I would say to people: try to go to see something that you know nothing about.

Find out more about Heritage Open Days and book your tickets where necessary over on the HEART website. Find out more about Kids in Museums and the Teen Twitter Takeover Day here.