Five years after Bermuda's National Gallery first opened its doors, the Museum Shop has now been enlarged and completely renovated.

The `mover and shaker' behind the somewhat daunting task of upgrading the miniature, but now full-service museum shop, is Charlotte Codling who arrived here from the UK with her husband last year.

With her impressive experience as a retail designer in London, it was, says assistant director Bonnie Dodwell, "almost like a dream come true when Charlotte rang up and offered her services as a volunteer. I asked her to come in the very next day and, luckily for us, she took on the enormous job of completely re-vamping our shop and she has now taken over the full running of our shop as Shop Manager. She has already put in far more than the normal number of volunteer hours.'' In order to create as much room as possible in the limited space, the reception desk has now been moved to the other side of the main entrance. This has freed maximum space for the shop which now also includes the former stock storage area. "We have only got about 12 square feet,'' says Mrs. Codling, "but it now seems bigger because of the new fixtures and fittings and we have utilised as much wall space as possible.'' Adding to the already attractive display of art books for adults and children, cards, posters and prints, stationery and jewellery, Mrs. Codling is now awaiting a further array of items, expected soon from various art galleries and museums in the US.

Commenting that many locals seem unaware that the gallery has its own shop, Mrs. Codling explains, "We have three basic functions. First, the tourists who like locally made art -- and we do have a fairly good representation of local artists. Then, there are locals who like the idea of buying unusual gifts from such places as the Metropolitan Museum and the Guggenheim in Mew York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Last but certainly not least, our members benefit from a ten percent discount.'' Mrs. Codling who has a Diploma in Art and Design from Ipswich College, obtained a degree in Fashion Design at Nottingham and Trent University. In London, she spent some years working for the jewellers Boodle & Dunthorne who have stores in Knightsbridge, Regent Street and Harrods.

"Looking after the gallery's shop really appealed to me,'' she explains, "because I am much too tongue-tied to be a docent!'' Her experience in fashion design has also been put to good use in another area, as costume designer for the upcoming Gilbert & Sullivan autumn production of `Little Shop of Horrors'. "I would certainly be very pleased to hear from anyone who could help us with the sewing,'' she exclaims.

All profits from the Museum Shop are ploughed back into the gallery to cover costs of their exhibitions and education programmes.