A volunteer’s perspective

How has Modes helped you?

I personally have found the new Modes Complete to be an excellent program, easy-to-use, intuitive and with lots of familiarity to those who have used older versions of Modes. The customer support has been brilliant, especially for someone such as myself that has limited knowledge of computers. In many cases they talked me through how to solve the issue on the telephone, which was a great help.

New features such as spell check and printing a selected grid are a boon, and the ability to edit so many features means that you can do a high level of customisation. It has made the whole cataloguing process quicker and easier, and it is also much easier to teach new volunteers how to use the program. Having the Modes Viewer option is incredibly useful as researchers can access the database with no fear of them deleting or altering records – ideal as we are not always able to be supervising them, and the different access levels you can set for users in Modes Complete mean that more advanced features are switched off and the only the administrator has access to them.

Overview of the organisation

Website: www.fipt.org.uk
Source: Jess Trevett, Volunteer

The Museum fulfills the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust’s educational role and records the history and research carried out by Trust members.

Models, interactive displays, and a wide range of waterway artefacts tell the story of the lift, the Locks, the waterways and the people who lived on the canals.

The Museum was opened in 1989 and is situated in the Boiler House of the lift, which was reconstructed by Trust Volunteers. The Museum tells the story of the lift and canals it served, conserving the history for the benefit of all. The Staff consist of a full time keeper supported by volunteers. Museum staff and volunteers research the history of the lift and local canals. We are proud to say that the Museum has won a number of awards, amongst them 3 Leicestershire Heritage Awards and a highly commended in the prestigious, nationally based, Gulbenkian Awards. The Museum is Accredited with the MLA and a member of several Museum organisations, including the Leicestershire and Rutland Museums Forum.