A busy couple of weeks!

We had a great end to last month with the first of our "history is made of..." school holiday activities, with lots of families joining us to find out about bones, plastic and carbolic soap! The activities will continue every Thursday in the summer holidays so that visitors can explore the whole of the museum collection by looking at what it's made of.
June is the peak of the museum season, although as I write the rain seems to be putting people off a bit. We're really hoping for good weather next week, when we have three different WI group visits , our usual U3A French conversation class on Thursday and then Classic Car day on Sunday. Then we'll round off the month with a visit from Mepal and Witcham, one of our favourite schools. We've welcomed several new volunteers this year but we could still do with more; let us know if you'd like to get involved!

Events programme for the rest of the year

We had a great time at National Mills Weekend, welcoming over 250 visitors in the glorious weather and raising just under £500 for museum funds. Thank you very much to everyone who came, and to our wonderful musicians! Now we can concentrate on the rest of the year. Our events programme is:

23 May tea and talk: Burwell Brick and Tile works with Paul Hawes

30 May half term activities: Bone and more

13 June late opening for Burwell festival: free entry to the vintage vehicles gallery

15 June Burwell carnival

23 June Classic Car Day 

21 July Summer Fete

25 July to 29 August (Thursday afternoons) summer holiday activities: What is History made of?

15,19 and 22 September Heritage Open Days

24 October half term activities: Water

More information about all events can be found on our website - we hope to welcome you to one or more of them! 

A successful start and preparations for National Mills Weekend

We had a great opening weekend, helped by the glorious weather; over 300 people visited the Mill and museum over Easter Sunday and Monday. Now we're straight into preparations for National Mills Weekend on the 11th and 12th of May, which should be a brilliant opportunity to showcase the mill with free entry, musical entertainment and the usual stalls and tea room. Last year we had a very special event and attracted 628 people, and next year will be the 200th anniversary of the mill, so we've got a lot to celebrate over the weekend. Hope to see you there!

One month to go!

We're starting to get really excited about our opening weekend on the 21st and 22nd of April now, and we're showing that excitement by...erm... tidying up! Both the entrance kiosk and the tea room have had a morning's work from our team of enthusiastic volunteers and both are now ready to welcome visitors. We've started to sell season tickets and the events programme will be ready soon. Look out for more next month, and put us in your diary for a Sunday or Thursday this season!

February News - Burwell Museum needs you!

Could you be part of our team? 

We're gearing up for the start of our season on the 21st of April, and a big part of that is recruitment for our new Sunday museum assistant. The job ad is below - email education@burwellmuseum.org.uk if you want more information! Otherwise this month has been one of getting things organised, and taking advantage of the slowly improving weather to get some painting done. We hope to have a tidy, freshly painted museum to show off in the summer season!
Best wishes,
Alison
Burwell Museum and Windmill are looking for a: 

Temporary Museum Assistant
Contract: 21 April - 26 October 2019
Hours of work: Sundays - 10:30-17:30 (early finish possible on quiet days)
Salary: £9 per hour

About us:
Set among beautifully preserved historic farming buildings, Burwell Museum tells the story of a bustling fen-edge village. Alongside the 19th-century mill, displays from the everyday to the amazing vividly recreate Burwell life through the ages.

About you:
We are looking for an enthusiastic, responsible and personable museum assistant to join our small friendly team.



You must be capable of taking responsibility for the museum and other volunteers.



This role would be ideally suited to someone looking to gain some customer services/museum experience.



You must be prepared to undertake a DBS (criminal record) check, and either possess or be willing to undertake first aid certification.



Most importantly you will need to have a genuine enthusiasm for the museum and its collections.

The role:
In this role you would act as duty manager on a Sunday, to include:
- Opening the museum (involves some heavy lifting - training provided)
- Dealing with visitors and other ‘front-of-house’ duties
- Event Management
- Volunteer Management

For a full job description, further details and an application form, please contact Alison Giles, Museum Manager on education@burwellmuseum.org.uk

Application deadline noon on Wednesday 13^th March; interviews planned for Sunday 24^th March

Merry Christmas from Burwell Museum and Windmill!

Not much else to say at this time of year, really - I'm spending this month tidying the filing cabinet, which wouldn't make for thrilling reading...
Best wishes, and thank you for your support in 2018,
Alison

End of year report

We've had a great year, and to celebrate we've put together a report of what we've been up to and what we plan to do next. Comments and questions welcome!
Alison

In 2018…

We had at least 3715 visitors  (up from 3573 last year and 3371 in 2016). We collected 380 evaluation forms and they showed that 84% of visitors would be very likely to recommend us to others. Many also specifically mentioned helpful, knowledgeable and/or friendly volunteers.

Volunteer work

4,184 hours logged so far this year – many thanks for signing in and out! Work done in 2018 has included:

Mill maintenance including fitting new stones and tun

Site maintenance including painting ploughs and doors, general maintenance of lawns

Vintage vehicles work on Holsman and Austin, redisplay of smaller items

Dorothy Grainger exhibition

Photo digitisation and revamp of newspaper cuttings

Checking light and pest levels

Cleaning

Front of house – tea room, kiosk and windmill

School and group visits

Events

Opening weekend and Easter Egg Hunt:      327 visitors  

National Mills Weekend:                                628 visitors 

Classsic Car day                                                88 visitors     

Summer Fete                                                   70 visitors (estimate) 

Children’s holiday activities                          384 visitors + October

Tea and talks                                                    85 visitors

Heritage Open Days                                        271 visitors

Funded projects

Tea room refurbishment and card reader system – Cambridgeshire County Council £500

Mill for All Seasons – Heritage Lottery Fund £7000 this year

Evaluation – SHARE museums East £500

Co-op fund for new paths – amount to be decided, collecting in November

Parish Council support for Heritage Open Days £200

Plans for the winter

Vintage Vehicles project – costumes for mannekins and Austen 7

Make all exhibits which contain asbestos safe for the public and for volunteers

Arts award project with Burwell Village College

Classes on Thursdays for Newmarket U3A  (starting in January, French conversation and crafts)

Linda research on the history of the museum

Tidy up including sheds, workshop and builders store

Possible aims for the next three years (covered by the forward plan which we will be writing over the winter)

Make the museum easier to maintain

Make the museum easier to run on open days

Create closer links with the school and other community groups

Continue to record, protect and improve our collections

Generate enough income to keep the museum running without regular grant funding

What else do you think should be here? What would you like to know? Where would you like the museum to be in 3 years’ time?