View from a Croft
Artist: Sarah Helen Dowse
Exhibiting: May & June 2022
Working mainly in pastel on paper or card, Sarah has taken inspiration for her exhibition from the views she sees daily from her home as well as still life studies of homegrown flowers, fruit and vegetables.
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Staff & Volunteers
Corinna Annetts
Curator
Corinna took up her role with Gairloch Museum in October 2023. For the past five years, Corinna was Collections Manager at Duff House, in Banff, Aberdeenshire. Prior to that, she was Curator at the Penrith and Eden Museum in Cumbria, responsible for a broad remit of social, cultural and natural heritage. Having completed her degree at Aberdeen University, she gained an MA in Art Museum and Gallery Studies from the University of Leicester.
Corinna enjoys climbing, running, hiking and cycling and is enjoying getting to know the area, local community and Museum Collection.
Sarah Wright
Wellbeing Project Coordinator
Sarah’s work is particularly focussed on outreach locally and making the Museum a social place in the heart of our community. She has had a varied career from working in community development and Bible teaching in Nepal to working in the UK with adults and children with special needs.
Trained in working with people with learning disabilities, dementia and autism she is working to ensure her programme is accessible and inclusive to all and to make sure people get the support they need to join in with activities. It is important to her that everyone feels welcome here.
Eilidh Smith
Front of House and Marketing
Eilidh has been working with the Museum since our Art Fund Museum of the Year Award announcement in 2020. Born and brought up in Gairloch, Eilidh’s career has led her from journalism to education, through the environmental sector to the arts. She’s looking forward to welcoming new and familiar faces through the doors of Gairloch Museum.
Barbara Mackenzie
Front of House and Volunteers Coordinator
Barbara Mackenzie was born and brought up in Port Henderson. After attending Dingwall Academy, she trained as a nurse and lived and worked in Glasgow with one spell back north at the Northern Infirmary on the banks of the River Ness. She moved back to Gairloch to the family croft in 2013 and, though busy with pigs and pets, began volunteering at our old museum venue. She has since stepped up to help run our front of house team in the bunker and is often joined on our online meetings by Percy, her blue roan cocker spaniel. Anybody visiting the Museum who wants to try out or learn a few Gaelic phrases, Barbara will be happy to help.
Sally Cameron
Café Manager
Sally begun her career in the hospitality sector at Shieldaig Lodge in the 1980s and has since run her own catering business, managed the Terrace Café at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh and was employed by the National Trust for Scotland at Bannockburn Heritage Centre. Brought up in Edinburgh, Sally's no stranger to Gairloch, her family holidayed in Laide, in happy proximity to her grandparents at Little Gruinard.
Board
Gairloch & District Heritage Company Ltd is responsible for Gairloch Museum. The Board members are all volunteers who live in the parish. We don’t just go to meetings, but are all ‘hands-on’ when it comes to getting the jobs done. You can see who we are and what we do by reading the Minutes in the Board Matters section.
Our Volunteers
Without our army of ever-willing volunteers, the Museum would simply not exist, let alone open. Just for starters, volunteers welcome visitors, order the books, research genealogy queries, help with the record-keeping, translate Gaelic, polish the lighthouse lens, take guided walks, give talks, write booklets, cut the grass … in fact, do absolutely anything and everything, not to forget being the best bakers in town! In the film theatre you can hear some of them share their stories and see their photos of how life has changed since the AAOR was built in the early 1950s.
More than 120 local people helped make the ‘new Museum’ project a success. The efforts were recognised when we were honoured with The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Since we opened, many more people have offered their time and energies. If you would like to join us, then please let us know.
Fair Work First
Gairloch Museum is committed to ensuring that all our staff, be they paid employees or volunteers, are valued and respected through principled and fair recruitment and employment practices, in accordance with our personnel policies and guidance. These are regularly reviewed and revised, with assistance from and consultation with our staff, and input from external sources. We work to the Scottish Government guidance on Fair Work First.
Our contracts are based on:
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an individual Job Profile, renegotiated for any proposed changes - agreed hours, seasonally adjusted in line with business needs
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working practices that take into account and accommodate family/caring circumstances and the essentials of a work/life balance
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pay at the Real Living Wage as a minimum, with annual increases taking into account inflation.
We encourage and support:
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investment in the development of our staff through induction, in-house and external training. We value personal/distance/online learning and support professional development, including through visits and networking with other heritage organisations (such as Museums and Heritage Highland) and our colleagues in the tourism sector. We give time for shorter and longer term study for relevant qualifications.
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placements of varying length for students at high school and university level, (including through Duke of Edinburgh and Developing the Young Workforce schemes, and for supported learners). We benefit from sharing our premises with The University of the Highlands and Islands.
We recognise the importance of staff voice in that:
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an employee is, as specified in our Articles of Association, a member of the board of G&DHC. All employees are welcome to attend board meetings, in person or via Zoom
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both employees and volunteers contribute to every working group. Some groups are chaired by employees.
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the three board members on the Personnel group are designated to be the ‘link’ to a specific staff team. There are two employee representatives on the Personnel Group.
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regular scheduled meetings are held with our employed and volunteer staff (separately) when information is shared, issues can be raised and feedback given to suggestions made.
We confirm that:
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we do not offer employment on a zero hours contract
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we have never operated on a ‘fire and rehire’ basis
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we have no gender pay gap.
Our Fair Work First statement remains under review and is open to amendment in consultation with our employed and volunteer staff.