Museums close for winter but staff's busiest period
MOST of Guernsey’s museums have closed for the winter season, but for many staff it actually heralds their busiest period of the year.
Senior curator Matt Harvey said it was an opportunity to catch up with wear and tear and maintenance that accumulates over the year.
‘It is a challenge to run a modern museum in historic buildings that do deteriorate, and winter has its particular challenges,’ he said.
‘The heating and the moisture control equipment all has to stay on.’
There is lots of work that cannot be done when the public are visiting the sites.
‘This is especially true of our technical team, who only have a short period of access to do the big jobs,’ Mr Harvey said.
‘At Candie they will be installing new moveable display walls that will host all the more temporary displays, and it is only when the museum is shut that they can get those sort of things done.’
He said that the workload for the curatorial team was more of a constant.
‘We are always working on the next display behind the scenes, that’s planning for projects through 2025, 2026 and stretching right into 2027.’
The island’s museums close before reopening in time for Easter. The exception is Candie Gardens, which only closes for January.
‘That’s just one month to get ready for the first display, the wildlife photographer of the year,’ he said.
‘We are then putting on a big exhibition on the history of Guernsey Dairy, which we hope will be very popular. The build from the technical team on that one is quite substantial.’
Also on the agenda are events and displays to coincide with the celebrations for the 80th anniversary of Liberation Day.
‘It’s going to be a big one, there will be displays at most of the museums and at Candie Gardens we are working on some special exhibits that will actually be outside.
‘We are also supporting as well as creating, working with the Guille-Alles and Priaulx libraries and the archives on their displays.’
Mr Harvey said the museums had been reasonably busy this season, but had been impacted by the drop in cruise ship visitors.
Around 40,000 cruise passengers disembarked in 2024, compared to nearly 80,000 in each of the previous two years.
‘This was particularly true of Castle Cornet,’ he said.
‘Many pay us a visit there as it is so near by.
‘Fingers crossed that efforts from Visit Guernsey will boost these numbers next year.’
However, the half-term holiday did give the museums the chance to end the season on a high.
‘It is always great to see families come and visit, and the weather we have enjoyed has helped,’ he said.
‘Our access and learning team do a huge amount to put on some great and varied events, so that the museum always has something new for that last week.’
