Personal stories from the people who helped shape Northumberland National Park are being brought to life in a new exhibition.
Volunteer Voices at The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre uncovers over 60 years of volunteer history, revealing individual stories, rare personal archive material and discoveries not previously documented.
Developed and curated by park volunteers, the exhibition celebrates the generations of people who have dedicated their time, passion and expertise to caring for the national park’s landscapes, heritage and communities.
Through oral histories, photographs, archive documents and personal artefacts, the display tells of volunteering in the park from its earliest days to the present, preserving memories and experiences that might otherwise have been lost.
Research carried out as part of the project shows that Board minutes reveal that in 1958-59, the late Michael Dower, who later went on to lead the Countryside Commission and was the son of John Dower, widely regarded as one of the founding figures of the national parks movement, organised two work camps.
Young people helped clear industrial waste from Hareshaw Linn and the site of a derelict cottage at Melkridge Bog on the Military Road. The events mark the first known recorded instance of volunteers working within Northumberland National Park.
The project also documents stories of volunteers taking on physically demanding conservation work. As well as welcoming visitors and leading guided walks, volunteers played a key role in maintaining the landscape, including helping to lay the huge paving slabs that still form parts of the Pennine Way across the Cheviot Hills.
Former ranger John Steele said: “These slabs weighed half a tonne each and the volunteers had a principal part to play in laying them - virtually all by hand.”
Among the stories featured is that of N.R. “Reg” Alexander, who joined the Voluntary Warden Service in 1967 and later joined the park voluntary warden’s fell team, which later became the Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team.
Reg spent years carrying out maintenance work as part of a team across the park and youth hostels. His contribution was recognised with a British Empire Medal.
The exhibition began as an oral history project to ensure decades of volunteer memories were saved.
Park volunteers Sue Loader and Sally Hewitt recorded interviews, photographs and archive material, with stories uncovered from across 60 years of volunteering.
While not intended to be a comprehensive history, the project offers an insight into volunteers’ lived experiences and has created a lasting archive. Recordings gathered through the project have been preserved at Northumberland County Archives at Woodhorn.
The exhibition includes audio recordings of volunteers sharing their memories and experiences; historic and contemporary photographs spanning more than 60 years; objects and artefacts such as volunteer uniforms and the original brown paper rubbish bags once distributed to visitors; archive newsletters, maps, documents and memorabilia.
Sarah Burn, head of engagement at Northumberland National Park, said: “At the heart of Northumberland National Park’s history are the volunteers who have given their time, passion and expertise to help care for this special place.
“Volunteer Voices safeguards stories that could easily have been lost. Through the voices of the volunteers themselves, the exhibition celebrates the people who helped shape the national park and ensures their memories are preserved.”
Sally and Sue worked their research into a book, which shares its name with the exhibition.
Sally said: “Working on Volunteer Voices has been a privilege. The book describes the history in more detail than is possible in the exhibition and we are very grateful to one of the volunteers whose generous donation made its publication possible.”
The book will be available to buy at The Sill shop.
Volunteer Voices opens at The Sill during Northumberland National Park’s 70th anniversary year, on Sunday, September 27. Open seven days a week, 10am-5pm (4pm after October 31).
