The Day in the Life of a Museum Manager on Lockdown

When I secured the job of Museum Manager in mid-February, I hadn't appreciated that four weeks later a global pandemic would change everything. I already had a hard act to follow - Stuart Eastwood, the outgoing Curator, had been in post over 27 years and his knowledge of the Collections and the Regiment was phenomenal. I was never going to replicate that knowledge but felt I was bringing my own individual style of taking the Museum on the next stage of its journey. With the help of the wonderful staff team, the challenge to do this left me with both excitement and intrepidation. But I was looking forward to the next stage of my career at the Museum.

But hey, just as I was getting plans together, learning the managerial ropes and ensuring that the staff team had enough tea bags for our regular brews, in comes coronavirus! Making the decision to shut the Museum was difficult but the right thing to do. The next task was working with the team to get things sorted before we each decamped to our own houses. Getting systems in place to keep in contact and ensuring that we could deliver some sort of limited virtual service quickly followed. Daily the situation changed (and changes) and we were having to adapt and cope. Luckily, we are all healthy and well so changing our working ways are small concerns compared to others.

So today I took the opportunity to reflect on my first couple of months as Manager. What a roller coaster it has been. I almost look back longingly at the exciting tasks of blocked toilets and writing press releases. Working with my cat by my side and sharing lunch with my eighteen year old makes my days seem very different to the Museum environment. Where are the visitors to serve at the desk? The veterans attending our monthly lunches? The Tuesday talk audiences? It all seems too quiet and remote in my study today.

Yet the planning must go on. Although we don't know how long this situation will continue, and the Museum has had to reschedule and cancel events as time passes, we still have to look forward and think of ideas for when we emerge out the other side of coronavirus. And we will emerge at the end of all this. So although all my days run into one, my working days seem to race past, and my managerial role has had to adapt and modify very quickly, I am lucky to have a great team to work with. And it is this dedicated team that I will work with to take a stronger and more resililent Museum onto the next stage of its journey.

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