Work Experience Week

Guest blog post by Alessio Lai of Barclay Academy, Stevenage

I came to North Herts Museum for my year 10 work experience, as a history and fashion enthusiast I found it very interesting. During my time there I was allowed to see their collection of antique clothes and even got to try on replicas of late eighteenth century garments. I also helped arrange the Stagenhoe Estate display at the front of the museum. Stagenhoe was a stately home that was converted into a Sue Ryder care home in the late 60s.

My favourite part of being at the museum was examining the historical dresses they had, helping date them to specific time periods. My interest in fashion history began in 2019 when glamour began releasing videos of how animated characters should have been dressed, according to the period they were said to live in.

I was very surprised to see the amount of early history that even a local history museum had like the tools of a human ancestor from 2.6 million years ago, dug up in Somaliland, along with the bones of a mother with her three children from Baldock, the oldest recorded example of triplets ever found.

Overall I had a very fun experience and would love to come back.

Alessio looking dapper