Barbara's story

“It used to be a wonderful atmosphere at the museum, very relaxed, all friends together, it was a great way to meet people"

I first met Barbara when we were both volunteering at Brixham Heritage Museum. As a dedicated member of the Fundraising Team, she was running ‘Bab’s Cafe’ at the Christmas Fayre. The CD player was missing and the microwave had broken down; a crisis when you are creating a festive spirit with mulled wine and hot mince pies. ‘Babs’ dealt with it - with a smile and a bit of a giggle.

Nowadays I see her around Brixham, at 91 years old, getting on the bus, drinking coffee with friends or just walking down Fore Street. I can tell it’s her because despite her small stature, she walks with dignity, and whatever the situation she has that signature laugh and wry smile.

If I had to choose one word to describe her it would be ‘feisty'. Born on 9 September 1932, Barbara knows what it’s like to lose someone precious as her eldest daughter Lyn died almost eight years ago. She’s been through all the inevitable trials that living more than nine decades will bring and has done it with true grit. Which is why we are all furious that ‘un-named and unaccountable’ people managed to bring her to tears. Why they did this? We still don’t know. So, let’s tell you Barbara’s story.

Barbara is originally a ‘Paignton girl’ but moved to Brixham because, in those days, house prices were cheaper here. She remembers the first year vividly because it was the winter of the great snow (1956/57) and they were "snowed up" for 6 weeks. At that time, they lived at the top of Copythorne and she couldn’t push the pram up and down the hill - so she could only go out if her mum came down from Paignton and stayed indoors with her daughter. There wasn’t a local bus then so she had to walk down Copythorne to New Road and get a bus into town to do any shopping. Barbara remembers "Goods were scarce in shops in those days, not like now." She likes Brixham “it’s a nice little place and the people are friendly.”

How did Barbara come to volunteer at the Museum?
She started at the Museum when she saw an Open Day advertised for excavations at Berry Head. Barbara remembers Graham looking at pieces of pottery, trying to fit them together. She thought well I like jigsaws; I’d like to give it a try.
Her daughter paid the Museum membership and Barbara became part of the archaeology team. Her Granddaughter Leanne also came with her on digs and that began a remarkable legacy. Leanne ‘got hooked’ and went on to get a First in Archaeology at Durham University, following on with her Master's degree at York - all due to her museum experience.

How long did Barbara volunteer at the Museum?
Barbara joined the Museum in 2000 and was suspended in 2022. She "thoroughly enjoyed those years" and moved on to other areas such as stewarding and fundraising when she started to find it hard to get up and down “Getting down was alright, getting up was the problem” she joked.
"It was always a good atmosphere, when you met someone that perhaps had a different role, it didn't matter, you were never on edge you were friendly together. I most enjoyed meeting all the different people and the social interaction"

What did Barbara do at the Museum?
The museum formed the basis of Barbara’s social life. On Tuesdays the Archaeology team would clean and collate all the items that had been found on last week’s dig "which was great fun". Friday was her regular day to ‘Steward’ and she met the fundraising team regularly.

The fundraisers were a great team, they organised Quizzes, Coffee mornings, Bingo and events like the Christmas Fayre – which coincidently they were organising when they were all suspended. Despite the way they were treated, the volunteers still went round to everyone who had offered to donate raffle prizes, thanked them and told them they were no longer needed. Barbara said they didn’t mention why the Fayre was cancelled as they didn’t want to damage the Museum’s reputation “We love the museum, it’s the way that it’s being run that's the problem.”

The fundraisers brought regular money into the museum, that opportunity is now gone. They also enhanced the Museum’s reputation, linking it socially with the local community. Who can forget the Quiz Nights which had the reputation of being one of the most difficult quizzes in Brixham but was always sold out!

Had Barbara had any trouble at the Museum before?
No. As a good indication of how respected Barbara was, she had celebrated both her 80th and 90th Birthdays at the Museum.

Her 80th was celebrated jointly with other volunteers who had landmark birthdays, Lesley (70th) and Ian (90th). Clearly not something that would have been allowed if she was not valued and appreciated.

Her 90th birthday celebration had been a lovely surprise. She was blindfolded before leaving the house and was the Guest of Honour, it was such an emotional moment to take off the blindfold and be surrounded by all her family (her daughter Tracey always looks after her so well), her friends and other museum volunteers. Two weeks later she was suspended.

How did Barbara get suspended?
Barbara remembers this vividly as it was the anniversary of her daughters death. As you can imagine she was already incredibly sad on that day, then she opened her emails. She was suspended after 20 years of volunteering - by EMAIL!

It came totally out of the blue, there had been no warnings, no meetings or discussion.

Barbara was distraught, particularly as she thought she was the only one who 'had done something wrong'.

As Barbara looked at the email, she recounts "I looked at it and I just fell apart, I finally managed to speak enough to phone Angie, crying my eyes out, fortunately her daughter wasn't working that day and she brought Angie up to console me. At that time Angie had not read her own emails but we rang one of the other volunteers Louise. Louise said she had the same email, which in a way made me feel a bit better because originally I thought I was the only one and I had no idea what I had done"

Does Barbara have any idea why she was suspended?
There has been a suggestion from the Trustees that the volunteers were trying to 'interfere with the running of the Museum.' When I asked Barbara if that's why she thought she was suspended she looked baffled.
"the only thing I can think of is that at the last fundraisers meeting we discussed, if and when they had an AGM, was there anyone that we (the fundraisers) wanted to nominate to the committee.

We'd always had a committee before Covid, nothing to do with the Board of Trustees, more to do with the day to day running of the museum in the sense of organising dates for events, someone to act as Secretary or Treasurer but that had nothing to do with the Trustees, Curator or Administrator, they were up above us in that sense, we'd always had this committee, a general committee for the day-to-day business of the museum."

Historically, all the different volunteer teams that worked at the museum would report to the Trustees via the committee. For example the 'maintenance team' would nominate someone to represent them on the committee who would report on their behalf to the Board of Trustees.

Barbara is not a committee person so the whole thing passed her by.

Since her suspension Barbara has submitted two Freedom of Information Requests (11 Sept 2023 and repeated on 24 Jan 2024). Barbara requested:

'details of the act I am supposed to have committed which led to my membership suspension and the name of the person who has accused me of this act. I thought as first this would be a temporary suspension but as I was not allowed to renew my membership this year* I assume its permanent and I feel I am entitled to know the details of exactly what terrible thing I am accused'

Both requests have been totally ignored.

* In 2023 the Museum kept her completed Membership Application form, refused the money for the fee and said someone would be in touch, Barbara is still waiting.

How would Barbara like this dispute resolved?
"I would like a public apology because I feel that my name has been blackened to a certain extent. I think it needs to be made public that we did nothing wrong. Wherever that is appropriate, if it gets on TV or in the paper that's fine or other than that in 'The Signal' or a local paper because I am sure that a lot of people in Brixham think 'well they were members of the Museum, they were suspended and I wonder what they did wrong' - mud sticks"

In addition to a public apology, would Barbara like her membership back?
Barbara smiled and advised that she has in fact renewed her 2024 membership and has the receipt for payment, although there has been no confirmation that it has been accepted. This is true for many other people who have gone into the Museum with a completed form and paid the fee of £20.

NB: Being a Member entitles you to vote at the AGM and historically used to give you additional benefits such as free use of the research facilities and regular newsletters. Nowadays membership details have been removed from the Museum website.

Barbara feels that being a member is a way to support the museum and she would like to be be able to go into the museum again as it was such an important part of her life.

Would Barbara consider volunteering at the Museum again?
"I won't say no, but I'm not sure, I guess it depends on what the atmosphere is like there now, if the same people are running it, it might be a bit awkward. It's such a shame that the museum is not open for very long at the moment, you know to get people in, I used to enjoy the stewarding. Of course I'm not getting any younger" she said laughing "I may not be around by the time they decide to lift the suspension, if they ever do"

Is there anything else you would like to say Barbara?
"The Museum is interesting, it's nice to know about Brixham's history. I think they struggle to keep it open at the moment on the very reduced hours and if they don't get any more volunteers, I can see it closing which would be a great shame.

You can hear the dismay in her voice as she says "we haven't touched on all the rules the Trustees have broken, it's just amazing that they can get away with breaking the Museum laws and nobody in authority seems to be bothered; you would think that Torbay Council or the Charity Commission or somebody higher up would be concerned but they don't seem to care. I just don't know what they (the Trustees) hoped to achieve. If we'd all sat back and did nothing about the suspensions, apart from feeling very smug and thinking 'we got rid of those old cronies' what was the point? Life is too short for this."
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A big Thank You to Barbara for letting us tell her story. Did the Trustees realise the impact of their actions? We doubt it. Do they understand how hurt the volunteers were by these suspensions? Again, unlikely. These are our friends and neighbours and they deserve justice. So this is yet another appeal to the Trustees at Brixham Heritage Museum to please do the right thing.