Burwell Museum and Windmill win Heritage Lottery Fund support

Burwell Museum in East Cambridgeshire has been awarded £417,300 from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards their exciting Fresh Wind in Our Sails project.
The project aims to restore the Grade II* listed Stevens’ Windmill and integrate and improve the displays across the mill and museum as a whole.
Work will begin in the autumn and will be completed in 2015.

In addition to the restoration of the Windmill, the project will include many opportunities for the community to get involved. The museum will recruit new volunteers to help in a variety of areas. New learning activities will be developed and the museum displays will be improved.
There will be training days in traditional skills and two new heritage trails will be produced.
Opening hours will also be extended.

Stevens’ Windmill is one of two principal landmarks on the village’s horizon and one of the most significant and tangible links to the industrial past of the fen-edge community. Burwell Museum Trust, which owns the windmill and the adjacent museum, is keen to repair and conserve the mill which has been closed to the public for over two years due to safety concerns. In July 2010 the windmill was included on the current Buildings at Risk Register.

The Right Hon. James Paice, MP for South East Cambridgeshire, said: “This is fantastic news which recognises the superb work being done by the volunteers at Burwell Museum and will enable them to do even more for the community. Renovating the windmill will preserve a piece of local history for many future generations to enjoy and I’m already looking forward to visiting again!”

Paul Hawes, Chairman of the Trustees of Burwell Museum said; “The trustees and volunteers here are very excited to receive the grant and support of the HLF after many years of hard work building up the museum. Many of us have memories of Stevens’ Mill and it will be wonderful to be able to open it fully to the public and share this part of our local history.”

Kate Brown, Museum Development Officer for Cambridge said; “This is great news. The award is well deserved and shows the power of persistence with a committed group of volunteers really believing they have a great community museum. This grant will re-launch the museum and allow it to grow towards an exciting future.”

Robyn Llewellyn, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund East of England, said; “I am delighted that HLF is able to support the Burwell Museum Trust. This project will enable them to do exciting work to conserve the mill, reach wider audiences and provide a future for the site. The ongoing work of this fantastic group of volunteers will also be celebrated through this project.”

This news story can be downloaded as a Press Release from the News page on our website www.burwellmuseum.org.uk