The Show must go on

It is pay day today and although the Museum is shut, we are doing our best to look after the wonderful staff team that work there.  Obviously, like many other Museums and Galleries, money is tight.  So I gave them a chance to be paid in another valuable commodity - yes, toilet rolls.  Needs must, and the fact that we still have a good quantity of the soft stuff and the Museum is currently shut so no need for loo rolls, seemed to provide a solution to the monthly paypacket.

Despite the doors of Alma being closed, work behind the scenes continues.  There may be no actual visitors to meet and greet but we are launching into a virtual world where we continue our conversations on-line. There might not be any exhibitions to instal but there are future exhibitions to plan and develop.  They may be no families on a day out over Easter but we are frantically converting ideas and plans so they can be accessed by folk who are stuck at home.  This is no mean feat with a small team of three full-timers and a part-timer - on a day to day basis we rely heavily on our volunteers.  But many of our wonderful volunteers fall into the 'at risk' category and with a heavy heart, last week we reluctantly informed them that they should stay at home.

The creative ideas and flexiblility of the team to support the Museum with enthusiasm and fervour is inspiring.  Their passion to continue the good work of the Museum and adapt their way of working to reach our audiences, is fantastic.  We keep in contact via video calls and emails to make sure that we are all okay.  But what we are trying our best to organise is a regular connection with the outside world so that we can refocus the good work that we do into virtual activities.  This is no mean feat from my sofa and the living spaces of each of the team, but despite pets, fuse boxes, teenage off-spring and the sunshine we are determind to get things into place as soon as possible.  So perhaps I should add some bottles of hand sanitiser as a sort of bonus scheme.  Because they are definately worth it.

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