Petworth Cottage Museum issues urgent call for volunteers ahead of spring reopening

The museum, which lovingly recreates a worker’s cottage as it might have been over 110 years ago, is due to reopen on April 2 but, volunteers say, they are going to need more stewards if they want things to go ahead smoothly.

"We got through the last season on about 20 or so so volunteer stewards,” Gordon Stevenson, chairman of the trustees for the museum, said. “Really we’d like to have perhaps 30 or so. That way, when someone has a holiday or some time off we’re not stretched quite so thin.”

The museum has been running successfully for the last 27 years and Mr Stevenson said that, unlike a traditional museum with sealed off exhibits and lots of explanatory displays, Petworth Cottage Museum, is almost more of a time capsule, presenting a glimpse into the life of residents and workers in Petworth circa 1910. The property stretches across a garden, a scullery, a living room, bedroom, sewing room, attic and cellar, giving visitors a chance to explore, feel and interact with history from a variety of angles.

Mr Stevenson said the Stewards – who volunteer their time, enthusiasm and energy to keep the museum ticking along – are the life and soul of the building, and help make each visitor’s experience extra special.

"There’s something to it that helps people get out and about and meet people. Stewards often make friends with other Stewards. And because this is a house that’s furnished in such great detail, and because it’s not like a traditional museum with everything is laid out with all this interpretive material, it’s the stewards who bring it all to life for our visitors.

"And they do a great job. On our website, we get comments and they’re all about how good our stewards are.”

The museum is open from April 2 until October 31, although it also opens for one day in the festive period and volunteers decorate the cottage as it would have been all the way back in 1910. To find out more about volunteering, email [email protected].