At Cartwright Hall this summer, we’ve been hosting the ‘Clangers, Bagpuss & Co’ exhibition. We thought you might enjoy hearing from some of our lovely volunteers that have been involved with the exhibition

Natasha
Hi, I’m Natasha and I am one of the volunteers at the ‘Clangers, Bagpuss and Co’ exhibition currently being held at the beautiful Cartwright Hall in Bradford.
I’ve spent a lot of time visiting museums, galleries and exhibitions but this is the first time I have volunteered at a museum or gallery. When I saw the advert for volunteers at the exhibition on Facebook I didn’t think twice about applying as I loved Bagpuss as a small child (and still do now).
So every weekend I have been able to spend time with the saggy old cloth cat, who has actually aged better than me! Seeing people’s reactions to the exhibition has been great. Bagpuss is the number one attraction and the interactive parts of the exhibition including making your own stop-motion film have also been very popular.

Learning more about what is involved in the day to day running of an exhibition has been very interesting – looking after the exhibits, telling visitors more about them, reporting any potential issues but also making suggestions/giving feedback. There have been a few hiccups with the joys of technology whilst I have been volunteering, but that’s the only small challenge I’ve faced.

George

I have gained more confidence from volunteering and hope to do more in the future. I’d recommend anyone to try volunteering for Bradford Museums and Galleries as it’s a great experience.

Magdelena
Volunteering at the ‘Clangers, Bagpuss & Co’ exhibition at Cartwright Hall is my first experience in volunteering.

I’ve always been interested in art and often visited Cartwright Hall, but the Bagpuss exhibition is something new and unique to me. I come from a different country and I spent my childhood with other children’s films. I have never heard about Bagpuss until I found out that I could attend this exhibition. Before I started my volunteering, I received informative information about the TV series and its producers and I expected a group of enthusiastic children hurrying to see a pink and white old cat.
Meanwhile, this wasn’t so, because most of the visitors are adults who planted their children in front of a TV set with the included series or they saw the Bagpuss puppet. Most did not hide their enthusiasm to refresh their memories of childhood. I think that they had great fun especially when creating their own animations. Many of them spent a lot of time here.

For me, closer to hearing the characters of the English series for children was an interesting and joyful experience. I’ve also created a few of my own animations with fun.
All visitors are very polite and nice so the comments are very favorable and positive, evaluating the exhibition. It is therefore a pleasure to spend time here.

Pat
I’m Pat, and ‘Clangers, Bagpuss and Co’ at Cartwright Hall is my very first volunteering “challenge” since retiring.

I say Hello to Bagpuss as soon as I arrive, and each time the saggy, old cloth cat appears to be more snug and at home in his case here. There are other memories with Sooty and Sweep and other exhibits from Bradford Museums and Galleries, as well as the big names – Noggin the Nog, Pogles, Ivor the Engine and Clangers.

These are the characters that I watched as a child, that my kids watched and that even my grandchildren watch, since Clangers returned to the BBC on CBeebies.

It is truly an across the ages exhibition and I love it when 3 generations of the same family visit and reminisce. The younger members delighting in showing their elders how to create their very own stop motion animation on the iPads. These tend to be jerky scenes of headless bodies tossed in the air, and sheep mown down by Ivor the Engine!

Personally I enjoy being back in a working environment and part of a dedicated team. AND I’ve knitted my very own Clanger.

I hope you’ll come and say Hello yourself.