Emma's Placement at the Romans Baths!

May drew to a close, and with that my placement here at the Roman Baths also did. I honestly can’t believe that it’s been 9 months since I began working here with the collections team. I’ve had so many experiences and learning curbs and memories that will remain with me. I can’t list them all in this post so I’m going to list my top four.

Toga Party – one of the volunteers on the collections team hosted her birthday at the roman baths in the form of a toga party. The experience was beyond surreal, walking around the site dressed in full roman garb whilst dancing to 70s disco in the ticket hall that had been transformed into a club complete with flashing lights with the ticket station acting as a bar for the evening! We danced to night away, with me even having to remove my authentic Roman lady’s veil or palla to keep cool.

Me and Caroline dressed as Romans with the water organ

Museums at night –  On the night of Party in the City the Roman Baths opened up to the public till late and had several musical acts such as a swing band around the Great Bath, a lyre player by the temple pediment and our own personal pride -  a replica of a roman water organ built by the wonderful Richard Ellam. A few of us dressed up as Romans and helped with the playing of the organ and talking to the public about it. The event was so much fun and it felt really good to have followed the creation of the organ through from the conception of the idea to the construction and then its premiere to the public.

Me Looking at the collection

Handling collection – Throughout this placement, the fact that I’ve had the chance to see many objects from the Roman Baths collection not on display and be able view them up close is a privilege not lost on me. I can’t believe how lucky I am! To name one particular piece: A real Viking sword!!

Just a few of the lovely people I worked with!

People – Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz saying that she’ll miss Scarecrow most of all, the thing I’ll miss most about my time here will be the people I’ve worked with who were all so welcoming when I began and really came be good friends now I’m leaving. But it’s not goodbye but more of a “see you later”!

With that I’ll wrap this up! Thank you to anyone who read any of my blog posts! I’ve loved writing them!

Emma

Sorry for late posting Emma! our excuse is more of our computers refusing to work with our blog!Verity & Susan