HerStory: Juliet Duff
Biography of Juliet
Juliet grew up near Guildford in Surrey and went to Sussex University. She studied Art History and had an amazing year in Venice working at the Guggenheim Art Museum.
Once she had graduated, she lived in London and worked in a variety of museums including the Museum of the Jewish East End; collecting oral histories and artefacts and putting on exhibitions. Finding work in the museum sector in the 1980s was tough due to the proliferation of volunteers so Juliet moved into the world of picture libraries.
She worked in that sector for more than 20 years as a freelancer and loved it. As the libraries became bigger and more digitised her job changed. This coincided with her need for a more secure income; so at the age of 40 she trained as a teacher.
After working alone, she was thrown into a totally different world, performing in front of a room full of people and being assessed. As someone that was shy it took some adjustment!
Juliet worked for 20 years as a primary school teacher. It was stressful with the pressure of SATs and working very long hours. During Covid she re-evaluated what she wanted from life and decided to leave the profession and retire.
Juliet and her partner moved to Rye October 2021 and after getting settled in wanted to get involved in the community. In January 2022 she rang the Food Bank, she started volunteering the following week! “It’s a really physical job packing up bags of shopping for people in need of support. We have to check the sell by dates on deliveries from Jempson’s, the Co-op and the WI, and also check donations from individuals too. We make up bags for the clients, and deliver to the villages. It’s based in the Baptist Church and people can come in and have coffee and talk to a benefits expert! Many of the clients have become friends”.
Around the same time Juliet called the Museum and again, got involved the following week. She attends a volunteers meeting once a month to decide what activities will go on. Shortly after beginning her volunteering, the museum secretary died and Juliet was asked to take on the role. She jumped at the opportunity and loves taking the minutes and being involved in decision making. Part of her role is also helping to find more volunteers.
Her other love is working as a sub editor on the Rye News and writing articles. She submits a monthly article based around an object from the museum, which leads on to talk about the history of the town. She draws upon her experience in the picture library and is hot on copyright. “It’s a great way to keep on top what what’s happening in the town”.
Her fourth and final volunteering duty is at Lamb House as a guide, chatting to people about the history of the house.
Getting involved in all her volunteering has meant she has met lots of people. She has found it very easy to integration into the town. When she lived in Brentwood, she didn’t know anyone apart from her neighbours. Now she knows lots of people, and as a newcomer, feels very welcome in the town. At the moment she feels like she has got enough on her plate but is tempted by the idea of driving the community bus.