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

Welcome back to Burwell Museum

 Burwell Museum: Welcome back! 

Thank you very much to everyone who supported our opening event on the 23rd of May. We’re incredibly grateful to Pat Kilbey and the Burwell musicians for all their help over lockdown and as we reopen. We’re really glad to have almost everything back open at the museum now, and we’re grateful for everyone’s patience as we wait for it to be safe to open the upper floors of the mill again. 

Our next event will be the summer fete, which will be on the 25th of July from 11am to 5pm. We’ll have the musicians again and hope for a lovely summer day to enjoy the museum at its best. As with everything this year, keep an eye on our social media and on posters around the village for exact details as we work out what we can safely do to enjoy the museum together. 

As we get back to having volunteers on site it would be great to welcome some new ones, and our mill team is particularly keen to have more members as we catch up with vital maintenance work! If you are free on a Tuesday, enjoy working on practical tasks as part of a team and would like to learn more about the windmill and how you can help it to keep working, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact Alison on volunteers@burwellmuseum.org.uk for more information, or feel free to drop by on a Tuesday morning for a chat. We’re also looking for more people for front of house shifts on Thursdays and Sundays if you’d prefer that. 

                  

 Could you help keep the sails turning? We’re looking for new members for the mill team! 

Fingers crossed - plans for the next couple of months

This is a slightly tricky post to write, because it looks like we will be able to go ahead with opening on the 20th of May but I have a superstitious feeling that as soon as I have written that down everything will go horribly wrong again! Providing it doesn't, this is what the next couple of months have in store at the museum:

We will be holding our reopening event from 11am to 5pm on Sunday 23rd May - I'll put up full details the week before when we have official confirmation that it will happen (or not). We’re incredibly grateful to Pat Kilbey and the Burwell musicians for all their help over lockdown and as we reopen. We’re looking forward to having almost everything back open at the museum now, and we’re grateful for everyone’s patience as we wait for it to be safe to open the upper floors of the mill again. 

Our next event will be the summer fete, which will be on the 25th of July from 11am to 5pm. We’ll have the musicians again and hope for a lovely summer day to enjoy the museum at it’s best. As with everything this year, keep an eye on our social media and on posters around the village for exact details as we work out what we can safely do to enjoy the museum together. 

As we get back to having volunteers on site it would be great to welcome some new ones, and our mill team is particularly keen to have more members as we catch up with vital maintenance work! If you are free on a Tuesday, enjoy working on practical tasks as part of a team and would like to learn more about the windmill and how you can help it to keep working, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact Alison on volunteers@burwellmuseum.org.uk for more information, or feel free to drop by on a Tuesday morning for a chat. We’re also looking for more people for front of house shifts on Thursdays and Sundays if you’d prefer that.