My week at the Redoubt

By Gerry

For the last couple of days I have had the privilege to work at the Redoubt Fortress for my week of work placement assigned to me by my college. Originally, the museum wasn’t my first choice therefore I was curious as to what tasks I was going to be assigned. I have family all over Europe, which means I’ve visited a variety of destinations like Portugal and Germany and as such visiting a museum is a must when abroad, I have had my fair share of museum visits. However, I never really knew that there were so many different and interesting jobs behind the scenes.

For my very first day, I had a very warm welcome by the staff, Sarah in particular.  She was kind enough to show me all around the museum and tell me all the little things that happen on daily basis like the free drinks from the Outpost for all the staff members to the short code for the staff room. Later on that day, I met Marianne who gave me my first official tour of the museum. I was able to learn so much about the history of the museum and how it was built as well as special collections inside.

For the rest of the week I had other different tasks to carry out like helping Kerry with sorting out the crafts cupboard and putting everything back in place because everything was a little messy to say the least. But we managed to put everything in the right shelves, yay!  

I also had a lovely chat with her about her role at the Redoubt and how she focuses more on the educational side and dealing with younger children. This surprised me because I wasn’t expecting children to have even the slightest interest in spending their day in a museum but all the fun events the team plan every season for them proves otherwise.  

For the afternoon I did some stewarding at the Pavilion. There I met even more people like Katherine who told me all about what she does and a little more about how the Pavilion and the museum are working together. She then handed me over to a very lovely lady named Kathy. I had to help her at the exhibition ( Making Tracks ) by greeting visitors and asking them to fill out a survey.

Making Tracks exhibition at the Pavilion

On Wednesday morning I helped out Kasey in the Back Store with packing collections. Whilst working, Kasey told me all about the environmental conditions of the collections and was there to answer any questions I had. Once we finished, we had a well-deserved break with a yummy lunch and a warm tea. 

I had a few more tours, one being with Peter. During the tour I learnt even more about the Fortress and a little about Eastbourne’s history. What I found particularly fascinating is that there are many casemate guides however they all have their own specific way of giving tours, even though they are talking about the same museum and fortress, you can learn a lot of different facts that the other might have missed out or perhaps didn’t know about. 

I personally enjoyed learning about the way the fortress was built and all the different defensive techniques that were thought through and used within the building in order to keep Eastbourne safe from the war.

Then came Thursday, one of the days where I had the most fun because I had to help Neil with building a mummy! It was strange in a good way as though this exact activity couldn’t have even crossed my mind when I was wondering about what I was going to be doing in my work placement and I can’t wait to see the faces on my friends once I tell them what I’ve had to do. 

We had two mannequins, one named Christopher if I remember right, which we had to wrap around in long strips of cloth. It was tricky to figure out what to do at first because we tried to make them look as mummy like as possible but messing up was what made it even more fun. I hope the visitors of the movie night enjoy the mummys and that they give out the perfect vibe. 

Pre-mummification

Overall my whole placement with the Redoubt is an experience I will always remember. I am very thankful to everyone who made sure my week ran as smoothly as possible and gave me all the information that I needed. Even though I was at the Redoubt only for five days, I am leaving with some great memories and lots of knowledge! A massive thank you to all of the staff and volunteers for making me feel extremely welcomed and helping me in whatever way was needed. I’ll miss you!

Me with Victoria and Kasey