The Mayor of Hounslow, Cllr Genevieve Hibbs, hosted afternoon tea for 35 of the Museum's volunteers in the Victorian Kitchens at Gunnersbury on 30 April. People help the work of the museum in many different ways - mending costumes for the education service, helping put up exhibitions, transferring taped oral history interviews onto CDs or putting the old museum catalogue onto the computer database.

The Mayor has a particular interest in promoting volunteering in the borough and the event provided a special opportunity for her to present certificates to two of the longest serving volunteers.

Dorothy Tyler, who is now in her nineties, has been accessioning books into the museum library and archiving the press cuttings files every week for the last 25 years.

Joan Catterall, a Brentford resident with a deep love of local history and of Gunnersbury in particular, has been involved with the museum and the park for most of her life. Many Friends will know her as our Membership Secretary but she is also a museum employee, usually to be found on the reception desk!