March update - preparing for reopening

 

Burwell Museum: Getting Ready for Reopening

Usually this post would be all about our fabulous start of season events, but of course things continue to be different this year! As I write, museums are not allowed to open to the public until the 17th of May at the earliest, making our first day Thursday 20th May and our opening event Sunday 23rd May.  Of course, that depends on everything going smoothly with the “road map” out of lockdown, so please keep an eye out online and for posters around the village to find out what we’re up to. We’d love to welcome you back but we want to make sure that it’s safe to do so. 

While we’re closed to the public, our wonderful volunteers have been busy over the last few months and we’re making some improvements to our site. The biggest change will be a new path up the side of the mill and a more accessible entrance to the mill itself - the photo shows the work in progress. We’re very grateful to Martin Mead and his team for the building work and to the Co-op community fund and the Cambridge branch of John Lewis and partners for funding this project, which will help more people to be able to access the windmill safely and comfortably. When we told them that the path was being built, Christine Shaw said “at John Lewis & Partners,  we appreciate the local area we work in and enjoy being able to give back to the local community, as it’s a way of saying thank you for your support and our Partners in the Cambridge shop will also have the added benefit of being able to visit this amazing local museum”. Steve Smith, who is a great supporter of the museum above and beyond the community fund, said “I’d just like to say what a pleasure it’s been to work with and support the museum through being one of our local causes and also by collaborating on community events. We are so pleased that funds raised have gone to support works on the grounds and hope this benefits so many in the community for years to come. Also we look forward to post covid times and planning future events with them”. 

We’re also planning a new shed on site so that we can get things better organised. We always welcome new volunteers, although at the moment there are some restrictions on what we can do - if you’re interested in helping the museum then please contact Alison on education@burwellmuseum.org.uk to find out more.