Friday 16 November 2012

Work to Start on Mill in January

Restoration work on Stevens' Mill is now due to start early in the new year. The first job is for the cap and sails to be removed and lowered to the ground. This should take place sometime in January. The actual date is yet to be decided but will be widely publicised and local press & media will be invited.

Friday 5 October 2012

£2000 From Manchett's

In case you didn't see it in the website's photo gallery of our 20th Anniversary "do" on 9th September, here is a photo of local firm Manchett's presenting a cheque on the day to the museum for £2000!
This money is a contribution towards the Match Funding required by the HLF as part of the conditions of the grant to restore the mill.
Local firm Manchetts of Burwell presenting the museum a cheque for £2000.  L-R Shaun Manchett, David Brown (Museum Trustee), John Waller (Museum Trustee), Peter Irons (Museum Trustee), Peter Manchett, Mandy Manchett, Barbara Turner (Friends of Burwell Museum), Paul Hawes (Museum Trust Chairman).

Friday 13 July 2012

Burwell Museum and Windmill win Heritage Lottery Fund support

Burwell Museum in East Cambridgeshire has been awarded £417,300 from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards their exciting Fresh Wind in Our Sails project.
The project aims to restore the Grade II* listed Stevens’ Windmill and integrate and improve the displays across the mill and museum as a whole.
Work will begin in the autumn and will be completed in 2015.

In addition to the restoration of the Windmill, the project will include many opportunities for the community to get involved. The museum will recruit new volunteers to help in a variety of areas. New learning activities will be developed and the museum displays will be improved.
There will be training days in traditional skills and two new heritage trails will be produced.
Opening hours will also be extended.

Stevens’ Windmill is one of two principal landmarks on the village’s horizon and one of the most significant and tangible links to the industrial past of the fen-edge community. Burwell Museum Trust, which owns the windmill and the adjacent museum, is keen to repair and conserve the mill which has been closed to the public for over two years due to safety concerns. In July 2010 the windmill was included on the current Buildings at Risk Register.

The Right Hon. James Paice, MP for South East Cambridgeshire, said: “This is fantastic news which recognises the superb work being done by the volunteers at Burwell Museum and will enable them to do even more for the community. Renovating the windmill will preserve a piece of local history for many future generations to enjoy and I’m already looking forward to visiting again!”

Paul Hawes, Chairman of the Trustees of Burwell Museum said; “The trustees and volunteers here are very excited to receive the grant and support of the HLF after many years of hard work building up the museum. Many of us have memories of Stevens’ Mill and it will be wonderful to be able to open it fully to the public and share this part of our local history.”

Kate Brown, Museum Development Officer for Cambridge said; “This is great news. The award is well deserved and shows the power of persistence with a committed group of volunteers really believing they have a great community museum. This grant will re-launch the museum and allow it to grow towards an exciting future.”

Robyn Llewellyn, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund East of England, said; “I am delighted that HLF is able to support the Burwell Museum Trust. This project will enable them to do exciting work to conserve the mill, reach wider audiences and provide a future for the site. The ongoing work of this fantastic group of volunteers will also be celebrated through this project.”

This news story can be downloaded as a Press Release from the News page on our website www.burwellmuseum.org.uk

Tuesday 6 March 2012

We had quite a bit of interest in our Windmill Project stand at Burwell at Large over the weekend.

The Friends of Burwell Museum had their stand next to ours.


Wednesday 22 February 2012

Today (Wednesday 22nd February) we submitted our bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund.
We are keeping our fingers crossed! The HLF will inform us in May if we have been successful.

Saturday 3 December 2011

Lisa Delaney of Burwell is the lucky winner of our £50 prize draw. 
From left to right: Paul Hawes, Chairman of Burwell Museum Trust; John Waller, Trustee; Ann Verney, Treasurer and Trustee; Ann hands the cheque to Lisa Delaney; her daughter Jasmine; and partner Jamie Mason.


Lisa Delaney of Burwell is the lucky winner of our £50 prize draw. She and her partner Jamie Mason and daughter Jasmine, five, picked up the cheque outside Burwell Museum Mill on a sunny Saturday morning.

Lisa said: 'It's a great boost to win this £50 before Christmas! We all love coming to Burwell Museum. I often bring Jasmine for the children's craft days which she and her friends really enjoy.’ Lisa was one of many local people who filled in a questionnaire to tell us what they’d like to see happening at the Museum in the future. ‘We’d love more hands-on activities and interactives – and of course a cafĂ©!' she said.


'We are delighted that Lisa and her family are the lucky winners of our prize draw,’ said Paul Hawes, Chairman of Trustees. ‘We’ve had a very positive and interesting response from the questionnaire and hope to be able to put many of these ideas into operation so people can learn more about their local heritage.'

Burwell Museum Trust is currently in the development stage to secure a Heritage Lottery Grant of around £350,000 to restore the Mill to authentic working condition so it can be used as an educational resource for the village and visitors. 

Tuesday 22 November 2011

HLF awards a development grant towards the restoration of Burwell’s historic windmill

Burwell Museum has been awarded a £13,400
 development grant and a first-round pass from the Heritage Lottery Fund to
 conduct a project to repair and conserve the Grade II* listed Stevens’
 Windmill. This is a first step towards a larger grant from the HLF which would restore the windmill to its authentic condition using sails and wind power to drive the milling machinery, and refurbish the interior so the four-storey Mill can be open to the public.
Stevens' Mill around the 1920s-30s
Stevens' Mill - early 1900s
It’s exciting news, and we’re working hard to develop the plans to get a full grant from the HLF for the restoration works and to integrate the Mill into the Museum’s collections. Our aim is to develop the Museum into a regional educational resource that explores the story of rural life in a fen edge village for learners of all ages. Watch this space for updates…