Volunteer case study: Anne Langley
Anne Langley is one of 26 volunteers working at Warwickshire County Council’s County Record Office. Anne started volunteering when she retired seven years ago, building on her new enthusiasm for local history.
“It seems to me to be a win-win situation,” says Anne. “I enjoy doing something worthwhile, and the Record Office gets help with tasks that enrich their service, but which they don’t have sufficient time or people to do.”
Anne works there one morning a week, mostly on a computer behind the scenes, but also helping the public when asked. Volunteers are supported by Lesley Caine and Pauline Archer, who provide regular training sessions and social events.
Volunteers help the public make use of equipment and facilities in the Record Office. A new visitor can also ‘book’ a volunteer for a tour round the search room, showing them the facilities.
“The work with the public can be very rewarding - sharing in the excitement as they discover evidence of their ancestors, their house or their community,” says Anne. “It is, however, important to observe the boundaries of our role and to hand enquirers over to qualified staff for more complex requests.”
“Discovering new sources has been another bonus for me,” continues Anne. “I started out transcribing Victualler’s Recognizances (a register of 19th century publicans, now online). This enabled me to find out more about the pubs in my local village (it’s a tough job but…!)”
Other challenging projects Anne has been involved in include transcribing an 18th century diary about a Grand Tour of Europe, transcribing articles from the Warwick Advertiser that were later published as a book called Joseph Ashby’s Victorian Warwickshire, and contributing to the ‘People’s War’ project for the BBC.
“Our largest project so far is based on Warwickshire Tithe Apportionment documents. This took six volunteers three years (around 2,500 person hours). I found this work fascinating,” says Anne. “I love the rural sense of irony that calls fields on the edge of the parish ‘Timbuktu’ or ‘Van Diemen’s Land’. We also found a ‘Tom and Jerry’ shop in 1844 (not a cartoon but a ‘low public house or beer shop’)!”
“Our latest project is even more ambitious,” continues Anne. “We’re making a database of all the names in the Quarter Session Minutes. This project is going to take years, but will help to publicise this under-used resource by providing access to information about the people involved in court business.”
When not helping at the Record Office, Anne helps to run the History Society in her local village and the Cruse Bereavement Care service in Rugby. Anne also gives talks and writes about a variety of local history topics and is currently coordinating a national project on the history of almshouses.
“I’m very grateful to the Record Office for giving me a new purpose in retirement and to all the staff who work here for welcoming the volunteers into their community,” concludes Anne.