Celebrating 200 years of Stevens' Mill!

We knew that 2020 was going to be a memorable year at Burwell Museum and Windmill, but we weren’t expecting it to be quite like this! Plans for celebrating the 200^th anniversary of our tower windmill had to be shelved in May, but we were very lucky to have perfect weather on Sunday 20^th September so that we could celebrate in a safely socially distanced way with folk music, beer from Burwell brewery and lots of lovely support from our friends in the village and further afield. We were particularly pleased to have members of the Carter family, descendants of the man who built and first owned the windmill, with us on the day.

Particular thanks to all of our wonderful volunteers, both those who were able to be there on the day and those who are supporting us with maintenance work or from home, and to:

Burwell brewery for creating a special (and very tasty) beer for us so that we could raise funds

Pat Kilbey and everyone involved in the Burwell Folk Collective both for amazing music on the day and for creating and recording two special songs for the windmill anniversary

Year 1 at Burwell Village College for the lovely birthday cards

Everyone who came to visit on the day, complied cheerfully with all of the safety rules and made it such a great day!

We’re not sure what will happen with the museum going forward – we hope to continue opening on Sundays from 11 until 3 until the end of October, which is always the end of our open season. Then it’s fingers crossed for next Easter…

Keep an eye on our website and social media for more information when we have it.

 

Burwell museum plans for the rest of the year

 It feels a bit like tempting fate even to type the word "plans", and of course we will continue to change things according to the latest government advice, but if we manage to avoid local lockdowns and other disasters the museum will be open:

11am-3pm on Thursday 27 August

11am-3pm on Sundays throughout September and October but NOT on Thursdays, as one day a week is all we can safely do without an amount of deep cleaning which wouldn't be appropriate for our collections 

For a special event on Sunday 20th September as part of Heritage Open Days, again from 11am to 3pm. Again we will be subject to changes at short notice so please keep an eye on our website and social media, but we are hoping to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Stevens' Mill with:

Live music from local musicians 

Birthday cards to make for the mill

A special beer brewed by Burwell Brewery

Parts of the museum open (alas, still not the mill itself as social distancing is very difficult in such a small space). 

If all goes to plan we will be able to celebrate on site, but we will also make sure that parts of the event are available online so that you can enjoy it at home if your circumstances make it difficult for you to visit in person. We're very grateful to all of our supporters, both those who are able to come out to us and those who still can't but wish us well! 

The museum will close for the winter on Sunday 25 October, but volunteers will continue to work on mill and site maintenance - more volunteers always welcome! We hope to reopen as usual at Easter 2021 but we will need to work that out nearer the time. 

Getting back to Burwell Museum - reopening 6th August

Like everyone, we've been watching the development of government advice and trying to work out what we can do and when. We've decided that we can open some bits of the museum to the public again from Thursday the 6th of August, but because we can't offer a full service we will operate on a donation only basis. We don't want to put any pressure on anyone to visit before they're ready to come out, but we want to provide a service to those who want to use it through the school summer holidays. We're very grateful to everyone who is following us and wishing us well, and we hope to see you when you feel it's right for you! For now, here are our guidelines for opening from next week: 

Welcome back to Burwell Museum! 

You are welcome to:

Visit us on a Thursday between 11am and 3pm

Enjoy our outdoor spaces

Bring your own food and drink and have a picnic

Explore the Upper Gallery, Roman Pottery and Waggon Sheds

See our new exhibition on Burwell Shops in the Hub

Use some of our outdoor toys

Admire the outside of the mill and farm buildings

Use some of our hands-on exhibits (use hand sanitiser afterwards)

Use our toilets - we will clean thoroughly before each open day

Choose whether or not to make a donation to the museum, and how much. Because we can’t offer our full facilities yet entry to the museum will be free, but donations are always appreciated! 

We're sorry, but to keep us all safe we can’t yet allow you to: 

Visit on any other days

Explore the mill, barn, vintage clothing, vehicles or Nissen Hut

Use dressing up clothes, crafts, indoor toys or handling objects 

Use the tea room

Please help us by:

Giving us a name and contact number for track and trace

Following government guidance on social distancing

Washing your hands carefully after using the toilets

Using hand sanitiser regularly at stations around the museum 

Using the bins provided to dispose of your own rubbish

Checking our website and social media for last-minute changes

Telling us what we can improve about your visit, and telling other people if you enjoyed it!

Letting us know if you develop coronavirus symptoms after visiting.

Great news for the museum from the SHARE volunteer awards!

Burwell museum helpers scoop museum awards

Helpers at Burwell Museum and Windmill scooped three prestigious awards at the annual SHARE Museums East Volunteer Awards on Thursday 4th June.

The museum’s Mill Team topped the True Grit category, while volunteers Paul Hawes and John Wisbey each received Silver Owl awards for volunteering for (considerably) more than 25 years.

The winners were announced during a virtual ceremony held online due to social distancing rules and provided a welcome piece of good news for the volunteers, who are unable to continue with their work or open the museum due to coronavirus restrictions.

The True Grit award recognises unglamourous tasks, battling against difficulties, and doing often dirty and unappealing jobs that need specific skills.

The Mill Team was commended by Niki Hughes, Chair of SHARE Volunteer Co-Ordinators Forum, saying they keep the windmill’s wheel turning, are ‘truly inspirational’ and show ‘tenacity and teamwork’.

The team has contributed to the ongoing maintenance of Burwell’s 200-year-old Stevens’ Mill after extensive restoration over the past 40 years.

Burwell Museum and Windmill Administrator, Alison Giles, said: “It’s especially exciting to win this year, our 200th anniversary year, and great to have an opportunity to celebrate the work of our Mill Team, our longest-serving volunteers and all of the other fantastic winners and nominees."

“Burwell Museum was started by volunteers and we very much rely on their goodwill and skills to keep the museum and mill running. We’re very grateful to SHARE for putting on the awards and for their support for museums in the region, especially at this difficult time.”

The museum is planning to celebrate the achievements of the winners, as well as commemorate the 200th anniversary of the windmill later this year or early next year, once social distancing restrictions are lifted.

The awards ceremony can be viewed on YouTube here.

Burwell Museum Coronavirus update

Like everywhere, we don't really know what's going on at the moment, but here is an update on how things are for us right now: 

We are closed to both the public and volunteers for the foreseeable future. Most of the volunteers who keep us going are in the more "vulnerable" groups, as are a large proportion of our visitors, so we won't be reopening until it's very clear that it's safe to do so. Events in April and May have already been cancelled and it's likely that June will follow unless things change dramatically in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks to a grant from East Cambridgeshire District Council and a legacy last year from Mr Michael Mitcham, we're very lucky to be in a good position financially. We're very grateful to both the council and to Mr. Mitcham and his family for that, as it means we can continue to pay our staff during lockdown and spend the time making sure that our paperwork is all up to date (we'll spare you all the details, but it will be good to have it done!). Many small museums are struggling, though, so if you want to support local museums and industrial heritage then our friends at Prickwillow Museum, Ramsey Rural Museum and the Cambridge museum of Technology are among many appealing for help at the moment. 

Our ongoing projects will continue as soon as we can - we're still waiting for planning permission for the path to the windmill, so we'll need to wait until the council has finished dealing with the crisis, and once our volunteers are able to safely come back to work we will continue with site maintenance and refreshing displays. If you are going past the windmill you may notice that it's looking a bit bedraggled- we've removed most of the shutters to make sure it's safe while we're not working on it. Our next project will be to paint each shutter and put them back again, so although this isn't the kind of year we'd planned for the 200th anniversary year of the windmill we will get it looking smart again as soon as we can! 

We wish all of our volunteers, visitors and supporters well and hope to welcome you back when we can do so safely.