I’m Victoria Barlow and I’m the County Conservation and Museums Manager. Before moving to Wiltshire three months ago, I worked as Collections Manager for a maritime museum in Kent and have worked in museums for 15 years. During my first few weeks in post I visited all of the 18 museums that we work with and I was struck not only by the welcome I received but by the professionalism and enthusiasm of everyone working in Wiltshire’s museums.

Volunteer Mike Asbury of Pewsey Museum and Photographer Simon Harris collect an award at the recent Voluntary and Community Sector Awards. Copyright Wiltshire Council.

Many of our museums are run by volunteers and even those which do have excellent professional staff, rely on volunteers to some extent to run their services. You will have heard the government talking a lot about volunteers recently and the concept of The Big Society. Here in Wiltshire we have been doing that since the 1970s! Wiltshire Council doesn’t run a museum but instead we have a Museums Advisory Service and a team of Conservators who work with museums small and large across the county, supporting and helping them to look after their collections and meet professional standards. 

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Hi, I’m Ange Green and, suffice to say, no two days are ever the same on Reception as our valued visitors hail from all over the country and abroad. Some visitors are on a long mission and some on a whistle stop tour. Visitors come from all walks of life to research all sorts of facts which our experienced and talented colleagues in the Search Room are only to happy to assist with. Some of our visitors are Record Office aficionados whilst others are still ‘in training’. We are also fortunate to have some very dedicated volunteers and very faithful regulars. We were very proud to celebrate our 50,000^th visitor earlier this year.

The Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre

Programmes like ‘Who do you think you are?’ have brought History and Heritage to the Nation’s attention and certainly help in promoting surges of interest in the facilities at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre. We are delighted when children and young people also come along as they are our future. We’d like to see more of them visit.

A warm welcome from staff at our reception desk

In Reception my colleagues and I from the Customer and Business Support team, aim to offer you a warm welcome, help you register quickly and settle in, and then open that door, the door to the Search Room, the point of no return but where the magic happens. It seems that visitors become entranced, certainly engrossed, and are often surprised to learn that hours have passed by in what seems like moments and they’ve forgotten to have lunch! It’s really important to take regular breaks away from the search room, both for your physical well being and your sanity when facts are eluding you! Please feel free to bring your own refreshments, especially if you are planning to be here for some length of time. We have vending machines and seating in the reception area and also outside picnic benches. Just in case you miss the lunch van (Tues – Fri) the Station café is 5 minutes up the road.

We would like to stress that we are closed to the public on Mondays. Unfortunately, many visitors have found out the hard way - our own website and the Wiltshire Council website state clear opening times but regrettably we cannot edit all external advertising agencies – we have tried. It really does matter to us that you have a positive visit – we have compliments, complaints and comments forms available and also a Visitors Book on Reception. Please do let us know if there is anything that would make a difference to your visit.


                               We really look forward to seeing you some time.

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