The Heart and Soul of Our Museum: Volunteers’ Week 2024 Spotlight on: Anne Saltwell

The next volunteer in our series celebrating the wonderful individuals who dedicate their time to the Weald & Downland Living Museum, is Anne Saltwell.

Anne has been volunteering with us for more than 12 years and is an invaluable part of our team. Here we chat to Anne about her time at the Museum and how important this role has been to her.

What is your main area of focus at the Museum?
Well, nowadays I am usually around Whittaker’s Cottage, anywhere where I can do the handcrafts that are needed or would have been done during that period. However, I have worked everywhere in the Museum in my time.

What made you interested in volunteering at the Museum?
I met a friend who had just become a volunteer. We had both been widowed at the same time. I was on my own and had moved into an apartment which was on the third floor, so I was missing the garden and just being around the village. I bumped into this friend, and she said she’d just come here and she thought I’d like it. I was here the next week, and I have been ever since. That was at least 12 years ago now.

What have you enjoyed most about volunteering at the Museum?
There’s a whole list of things. So much changes week by week and month by month. I love meeting the people that come to visit and working with children, which I’ve done a lot during my life, and just being around the countryside and the animals and all the things in nature which are important to me.

Have you got a most memorable moment?
There are so many, but the one thing that I do remember was when we got the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. It was so special and was celebrated well, but there are many wonderful moments. A couple of weeks ago on May Day, I was stewarding and was sat outside in the sunshine near the maypole and along came Stephen. He gave each ribbon to a group of children, and got them doing the maypole! They were all skipping and it was just lovely.

I have enjoyed my years volunteering at the Museum enormously and I have loved to watch how it has changed over this time. It’s constantly developing, but always for the better.

To find out more about volunteering at the Weald & Downland Living Museum, please click here