Volunteer Anni Shepherd has spent months with the York Castle Museum History Team as they prepared for and successfully opened a brand new exhibition, ‘Shaping the Body’, in Easter 2016. Here Anni shares some of her experiences of being a volunteer…

My name is Anni and since October 2015 I have been volunteering for the Castle Museum. Mainly involved in sewing projects, I had the thrilling opportunity to help with mounting the objects for the new ‘Shaping the Body’ exhibition earlier this year.

Being able to see the work that goes into mounting historical garments was truly eye-opening. Multiple rolls of polyester wadding were turned into padding for the mannequins in order to make sure the mannequins would be as close as possible the same size as the garments displayed on them.

On top of that, support structures such as petticoats, frills, crinolines and trouser supports were made from a combination of materials, including silk and rigilene boning. All of this preparation work is hardly noticed by anyone viewing the objects on show, but without the foundations none of the garments could be safely displayed.

What truly amazed me was how involved I was allowed to be in the mounting process. I worked on the simple things firsts, neck discs and mannequin covers to cover the styrofoam mannequins before they were padded out, but eventually ended up making a mannequin almost from begin to end for the an Iraq war soldier’s uniform. I padded out the mannequin, made the final jersey cover for it to smooth out its silhouette and even made some trouser supports to fill out the trouser legs.

I also got to handle some of the more delicate objects that are now featured in the exhibition. On my first day of costume mounting, I took measurements of a vibrantly blue 1850s day dress and was in awe of being allowed to handle an object so beautiful and delicate.

On another day I ended up helping with an even more delicate task: moving the large 18th century wedding dress into its final display case. I carried the train of it, holding my breath as a small team of us moved it down a set of stairs and didn’t breathe freely until the dress was safely in the display case.

Being involved with the mounting of many of the objects for ‘Shaping the Body’ was an immensely rewarding opportunity, which I will always remember. Being able to see the exhibition now and finding the objects that I helped to mount has made me very happy and proud, and the experience has been incredibly positive all round, allowing me to learn new skills that I can apply to new projects in the future.

Click here to find out more about volunteering opportunities at York Museums Trust.