Museum in need of volunteers
Orientation session to be held on July 5 at Glace Bay facility
Anyone who is interested in going back in time can do so in Glace Bay.
The Cape Breton Miners’ Museum is looking for upwards of 100 volunteers of all ages to help bring the miners’ village to life.
“They are interpreters for our village,” said Mary Pat Mombourquette, executive director.
“When visitors come and tour our village, the volunteers are in the company house and company store.”
Mombourquette said the interpreters or re-enactors tell the story of the miner’s family and what it was like to live in a company house. In the company store, visitors are told how miners were paid and how they had to buy everything at the company store.
“(The mine companies) owned the miners body and soul and that’s a very emotional and powerful story to tell and visitors find it fascinating.”
Mombourquette said they depend on volunteers to keep the village open.
“We need a ton of volunteers,” she said.
There will be a volunteer orientation session at the museum on July 5 at 2 p.m.
“Come out and meet our volunteers, have a tour around the village and see what we do,” she said. “Then we’re going to end the day with some snacks and conversation.”
Mombourquette said they have a core group of about 40 volunteers but are always
looking to add to that.
Where some volunteers work a couple of shifts a week, others might do a shift every couple of weeks or some may have weeks where they are unable to take part.
“Although 40 seems like a lot we don’t want to overwork our volunteers. We like to have a huge base so we can work them as much or as little as they want.”
Mombourquette said all ages are welcome.
“Our youngest last year was 13 and our oldest volunteer was 84. We have four generations in volunteers. It’s awesome.”
As well she said it’s interesting volunteer work that sees teenagers working with retired people and university students working with high school students.
“It’s a wonderful mix.” Mombourquette would like to have access to 150 volunteers.
“We have a lot of volunteers who now have a network of friends they’ve created through volunteering here.”
There are also Cape Breton University international students who volunteer, some from as far away as China and Saudi Arabia.
Mombourquette said volunteering helps international students with English language skills and at the same time these students bring authenticity to the village.
“When we were a coal mining community people came from all over the world to work in our coal mines and a lot of them came here unable to speak English. It makes our village even more authentic to have that international flavour.”
The museum is also looking for volunteer maintenance and ground assistants.
Renovations at the museum have been put on hold until the end of the tourist season.
The museum is now open with new front doors and a renovated lobby.
In conjunction with $1.5 million in federal funding announced earlier this year, a new underground simulator is going to be built in the fall, allowing visitors to experience the underground mine above ground.
“(The mine companies) owned the miners body and soul and that’s a very emotional and powerful story to tell and visitors find it fascinating.”
Mary Pat Mombourquette, executive director, Cape Breton Miners’ Museum