A Day in the Life of a Museum Assistant

If you’re interested in one of our Museum Assistant posts and wonder what it might entail, try giving our day in the life of a Museum Assistant a read...

‘It’s just about quarter to 10 and we’re signing in for the day, grabbing radios so that we can communicate with the rest of the staff, we take a look in the diary and see if any we have any group or school bookings. It’s a coach load of people, and they’re coming in at 11’o clock so we grab the building keys, between me and the other assistant on duty, we’ve split the site in half and he’s opening up the bottom whilst I get started on the top.

All the buildings need to be unlocked, lights turned on, and fire escapes unlocked and checked. Whilst I’m opening up, I make sure everything looks clean and tidy; grabbing some used paper that was missed yesterday and popping it in the bin. It only takes 15 minutes between us, meaning that we’ll be ready for 10 when the first visitors come in.

My colleague is down in the ‘home close’ area, that means he can greet visitors as they come through Abbot’s Hall barn, he can fill them in on any information, and he’s also updated the 'What’s on board' to let visitors know if we have anything special happening on site. The Blacksmith is in today so it’s great to let people know. 


A couple come in, and the husband has some mobility issues, so he’s offered a buggy ride when he needs it to get him up to the top of the site. On a 75 acre site, it can make a huge difference to visitors!

Time flies pretty fast, and as a Museum Assistant I’ve already talked to a few visitors who have asked me questions about the buildings and collections. There was a couple of things I was unsure of, so I apologised and promised to get back to them, I went and asked the Duty Officer whether they had any idea and luckily they did so I was very quickly able to get to the visitors and let them know!

It’s approaching 11 and the coach is coming in the gates. The Duty Officer has come out to greet the coach, and I’m helping to welcome people and distribute site maps to them as they get off the bus. Once we’ve got everyone sorted and answered a few questions, the group starts to disperse to look around the site at their leisure, they’ve requested a Watermill tour after lunch which my colleague is going to be giving.

I’m having lunch first today, so I head off to grab myself a bite to eat, in an hour’s time I’ll swap over with the other assistant and look after home close.

When I come back, I have a brief talk with my colleague; he lets me know that he’s given a buggy ride to the couple from earlier up to the Chapel and that they need to be picked up in 15 minutes. When it comes to it I get in the buggy, pick them up and have a chat with them asking them about what they’ve enjoyed, they’ve managed to see all the buildings despite the gentleman’s mobility issues and are very grateful for the use of the buggy. I take them back down to home close and drop them off at the Cafe for a spot of lunch

It’s a bit quieter in the afternoon, as my colleague does the Watermill tour, but it gives me a chance to do a bit of cleaning in Domestic Life. I give the walkthrough areas a good sweep and have a bit of de-cobweb before tidying up the children’s area. It looking good, just as another set of visitors walk through the door.

I catch some visitors on their way out, and ask them to fill in one of our Visitor survey forms, they’re a great way of knowing what the visitor has enjoyed about their day, and if there is anything we can improve on.

As half four approaches, we bid farewell to our coach-load of visitors, my colleague waves them goodbye, before heading to the very top of the site to start locking up. I won’t lock up home close until five, this gives visitors a chance to work their way back. When we reach five, and all the visitors are off the site, we can close the last few buildings before putting keys and radios away and signing out before going home.

It’s been a busy day, but it’s been great as usual. I’ve spoken to loads of visitors and answered some questions, as well as learning a few things myself.'

If you're interested in becoming a Museum Assistant, we have all the details on our Website