Sophie Hiscock wants you to help defeat the 'time monster'

January can be a tough month – it’s too long, too dark, too cold and always overshadowed by the lingering guilt of all those mince pies. But this January is different for us here at The Story Museum because we’re wrestling with a voracious time-eating monster. We never see the beast, or even hear it, but it prowls around the corridors eating away at time. Before you know it, you glance at your calendar and another three or four days have disappeared just like that and we really need to find that time because we’ve got so much to do as we race towards our opening in the spring.

We’ve got a fabulous new exhibition to get ready, a front building to refurbish (and there’s still quite a lot of finishing to do as I look out of the window at a building that currently has no back wall, let alone floors or ceilings!) and we’ve still got to raise a little more money to equip our new shop and café with chairs, tables, plates, bowls, cups and a few other vital things.

That’s why we need your help. There are several ways that you can help us defeat the January time-eating monster: n You can donate to our appeal for fitting out our new shop and café by visiting storymueum.org.uk/ treasure By making a donation you’ll help to write the first chapter of The Story Museum and you’ll give yourself a lovely New Year’s resolution at the same time – to come along in April when we reopen and see how you’ve helped make a difference.

Or perhaps you’d like to get even more hands-on and apply to join our fabulous band of Story Museum volunteers?

We need help to create props and scene settings for our exciting new exhibition – and we’re also searching for multi-talented people of any age (over 18, of course!) to help look after our visitors in both the exhibition and our new shop and café. Have fun, and meet some kindred spirits. Why not give that time-eating monster a fright and download the volunteer application form from our website now?

Or if you’re already battling enough monsters in January then give yourself something to look forward to and book yourself onto our ‘Print your own Valentine’s Day Card’ workshop in the Bodleian hand-printing room.

In two two-hour evening workshops you can create your own unique card using antique printing presses to create your very own hand-crafted Valentine for someone special. Call 01865 790050 to book.

And if you have any other remedies for dealing with time-eating monsters then do let us know!