Changing times at Burwell Museum

Although the museum is closed to the public until Easter, there is plenty going on behind the scenes! Look out for some revamped display areas when we reopen, as well as a new temporary exhibition on Burwell Carnivals through the ages. We’ll also be celebrating the museum’s 30^th anniversary in 2022 – doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?

 

We will be having some changes in personnel as the year begins. Alison has reduced her hours and will be concentrating on the education officer role, so we hope to welcome a new administrator very soon to take on the rest of her job. The new person will be in charge of planning the year’s events, so we have nothing to share yet, but you can book a visit, outreach talk or Zoom talk for a group by contacting Alison on education@burwellmuseum.org.uk.

 

Some volunteers are also stepping back or taking on new roles, and we are grateful to all of them for their hard work over the years. We’re also grateful to those who are filling their places, and as always we would welcome more volunteers to join our team. If you’re around on a Tuesday in the winter, or a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday in the summer, and you are interested in helping the museum please contact us on volunteers@burwellmuseum.org.uk for more information about volunteer roles. We are currently recruiting new trustees, so if you are interested in having a say in what happens at the museum please come and join us.

 

Although we don’t have an official events programme for this year yet, we do know that we are planning to open to the public for the new season with the Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday 17^th April and Monday 18^th April. Please save the date and we look forward to seeing you there! 

https://burwellmuseum.org.uk 

Halloween fun at Burwell Museum!

We're coming to the end of the season, but as our last open day is actually on Sunday 31st of October there's still a chance to join us for some Halloween fun! We've really enjoyed welcoming Burwell Rainbows, Brownies and Guides to test drive our spooky activities and now we're ready to welcome visitors on Thursday 28th and Sunday 31st. We'd like to thank everyone who has supported us over the last two years as we hope for a better time next year! 

Come and see us for Heritage Open Days!

 

Arty afternoons at Burwell Museum

 It's really nice to see visitors out and about and enjoying the museum again - it's much nicer to sit and do admin when there are children learning to hula hoop outside the family room! We had a really good day at the summer fete, thanks to the musicians and our wonderful volunteers, and now we are getting stuck into "arty afternoons" with our summer holiday activities from 1.30-3.30 every Thursday in August. Today we've been making faces to decorate the bus windows, then later in the summer we'll be making our own stocks, making rubbings of different materials at the museum and creating amazing models out of recycled materials. 

The mill team are also planning a bit of decorating, with plans to refresh the tar on the outside of the mill over the two weeks between the 10th and 22nd of August. This is a messy job and we're very grateful to the team for all of their hard work. It will mean that we can't welcome visitors to the mill during that time as the tar is very difficult to get off if you accidentally brush against it! We're always looking for new members of the mill team, so if you know anyone who is free on a Tuesday and would like to learn some new skills and learn more about historic milling, please let them know about us. 

We hope everyone has a great summer! 

Progress and plans for the rest of 2021

 

Thank you very much to everyone who has supported us this year either by volunteering or by coming to the museum on an open day or event day. Our volunteers have been particularly busy and you may have noticed that the windmill now has the shutters in its sails again – many thanks to the mill team for their extra days of work and to the site team for getting everything ready for the arrival of the cherry picker.

 

We’ve really enjoyed welcoming visitors back and it’s been great to see families, adult groups, cubs and schools enjoying our events and education programme. You can book a visit for a group by contacting Alison on education@burwellmuseum.org.uk – we are open to the public on Thursdays and Sundays from 11-5 but other days and times are also available by arrangement.

 

During the summer holidays we are participating in the “Summer at the Museums” scheme run by the University of Cambridge Museums, so you are welcome to join us for “arty afternoons” on Thursdays between 1.30 and 3.30. Drop in activities – all welcome, but activities will be aimed at 7-11-year-olds. We’re still deciding what we’re going to do because we need to keep an eye on staying COVID safe, so watch out for posters and social media posts to find out more about the different activities each week. We’ll also be taking part in Heritage Open Days so look out for free entry and musical entertainment on Sunday 19^th September!

 

The mill and museum are mostly run by volunteers and we’d love to have more help, so contact us on volunteers@burwellmuseum.org.uk for more information if you have some time to spare and could help with maintenance, front of house, fundraising and publicity or by becoming a trustee.

 

The mill shutters in the process of being replaced in July