Gaskell House Blogs

Meet the Team – Sally

Posted
20th February 2024
in blog, People

Next in our ‘meet the team’ series is Sally Jastrzebski-Lloyd, the Director of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House.

Woman in green dress with dark bobbed hair, sat at Victorian dressing table

Sally joined the team at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House in 2017 after working for over 10 years at Marketing Lancashire. Although she has an English Literature degree, this is the first job where she thinks it has been directly useful!

Her Gaskell-related fun fact is that she and Elizabeth Gaskell both have/had daughters named ‘Florence Elizabeth.’

What does your job involve?

What doesn’t it involve?! Everything from duty managing public open days to business planning and writing grant applications. I’m also responsible for project managing new exhibitions and overseeing our plans for the 10 year anniversary of the House opening to the public.

Most recently I led the application for the House to get official museum accreditation (we won’t know till the summer if we are successful), which is a really exciting prospect for everyone here.

What’s your favourite place in Elizabeth Gaskell’s House?

Elizabeth’s bedroom. Restoring Elizabeth’s bedroom was our lock-down project and I have very happy memories of Zoom meetings to discuss our plans and progress with the volunteer team involved (Also it was great fun purchasing furniture and books online!). The day when five of us carried the bedroom carpet upstairs was a memorable one!

It’s also the room where we display Elizabeth’s wedding veil (picture above) and other items of clothing that belonged to the family.

What’s the best thing about working at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House?

My amazing team of staff and volunteers. I am truly privileged to work with and meet so many extraordinary and fascinating people.

What’s the worst thing about working at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House?

Some people think we are a much bigger team than we are and may have expectations way beyond our capacity (both in terms of people and money). Whilst it can be flattering, it can also be overwhelming. I wish we could do everything!

Aside from Elizabeth Gaskell, who is your favourite author?

Currently its Kate Atkinson and Barbara Pym. I also love ‘cosy crime’ from the British Library Crime Classics Series.


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