Looking forward to welcoming you back!

You may have noticed the sails of the mill turning over the last few weeks as we prepare to welcome visitors back for the new season – of course nothing is ever certain, but we hope to be able to offer our full range of activities and events this year. We are still working on our events programme as we welcome the wonderful Sarah James as our new administrator. However, we expect that the start of the year will include:

Easter Egg hunt Sunday 17 and Monday 18 April

We will be opening the museum to the public again on the 17^th of April, back to our old opening hours of 11am to 5pm (last entry 4pm). Will you be able to find all the Easter eggs? And can you spot the differences in our displays after a busy winter for our volunteers?

National Mills Weekend Sunday 8^th May

We did everything we could to mark the 200^th birthday of the windmill during lockdown, but this will be a chance to celebrate properly!

Jubilee Weekend Thursday 2^nd and Sunday 5^th June

We’re still working with other groups in the village on this one to make sure that we don’t clash, but there will be a chance to look back on previous jubilee celebrations at the museum and to enjoy some tea and cake.

If there is something else you want to do at the museum, remember you can still book a group visit, outreach talk or Zoom talk by contacting Alison on education@burwellmuseum.org.uk.

Thank you very much to those of you who have paid for a season ticket by direct debit – your tickets will be waiting for you at the front desk from the first day. As always we’ll be looking for new front of house volunteers as the season starts, as well as welcoming people back from previous years. If you’re interested in being a volunteer please contact the museum at volunteers@burwellmuseum.org.uk to find out more about what’s involved.                 

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!