Museum jobs for people 'to bring history to life'

Beamish Museum depicts life from the 1800s to the mid-20th Century

An open-air museum is holding a recruitment event for people who want to "bring history to life".

Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, is taking on extra staff for seasonal work across its 350-acre site in County Durham.

Many of the jobs involve dressing up in period clothes as engagers, who chat to visitors in places like the school, the sweet shop, miners' cottages or on the trams.

People and culture manager Debbie Harrington said: "Working for a charity like Beamish Museum really is a job like no other."

"These roles are so important in making a real difference for our visitor experience," she added.

Beamish is the North East's most-visited attraction, with 800,000 visitors in 2023

The jobs include joining the Mining Life Team, which depict conditions in a 1900s mining village by taking people into a drift mine and a pit cottage.

The Rural Life Team show what life was like on the Home Front during World War Two at a 1940s farm and demonstrate traditional rural skills.

Beamish also encourages visits from those with dementia who remember furniture from different eras

There are also roles in the museum's 1950s town, welcoming visitors to the cinema or assisting with tea dances and the annual pantomime.

Other jobs include cleaning and working at the entrance of the museum.

Beamish has more than 400 staff and 400 volunteers

Beamish is an open-air museum which attempts to show people what it was like to live in the Georgian, Edwardian, 1940s and 1950s eras.

It is the North-East's most-visited tourist attraction and recently opened a 1950s cinema, toy shop, electrical and record store.

Replica-homes from the 1950s era are also being used to help people with conditions including dementia, who lived through the period.

A recruitment event is being held on Tuesday between 1400 GMT and 1900 GMT.