Birmingham Museums Trust celebrates vital role of volunteers during National Volunteers’ Week

• Birmingham Museums is supported by over 130 volunteers
• Roles range from visitor support and heritage interpretation to conservation
• Volunteers’ Week is an annual UK-wide campaign to recognise the contributions of volunteers.

Image credit: Birmingham Museums Trust

Birmingham Museums Trust is celebrating the contributions of its volunteers during National Volunteer Week (1 to 7 June 2026).

The trust is supported by over 130 dedicated volunteers who give their time in a range of ways, from public engagement and education to behind-the-scenes tasks.

Volunteer roles include visitor support and heritage interpretation, working with the conservation and collections teams to help preserve and care for the city’s collections and remote options such as transcribing oral histories from home.

Historic textile volunteer Ruth Mittar has been volunteering at the Museum Collection Centre for over 12 years where she has been able to use her skills and knowledge acquired working as a sewing machinist. There are two machines in the collection that are identical to the ones she used over 40 years ago.

Natural science volunteer Richard Orton has recently completed the documentation of one of the insect cabinets in the city’s collection. The cabinet contained an astonishing 8743 specimens of moths which Richard has been working on since 2022. His work has added a huge amount of information about the collection, as well as knowledge about past biodiversity.

Eldina Bolic, volunteer manager at Birmingham Museums Trust, said:

“We are so lucky to have an amazing team of volunteers supporting us across our sites. Our volunteers get involved with a whole range of projects and activities and we couldn’t do what we do without them.”

“We are incredibly grateful for all the work that they do, and this week we will be celebrating their achievements and contributions with events across our sites.”

Volunteers’ Week is an annual UK-wide campaign to celebrate and recognise the contributions of volunteers.

Launched in 1984, the campaign highlights the diversity of volunteer work across the UK and provides organisations a platform to thank volunteers for their invaluable efforts.