Successful Straw Bear

Toys on Display

December has seen Santa's elves working hard at the Museum to unpack the bulk of the Toys & Games collection from store and transfer it across to a new display in cases in Room 2 (previously used for domestic items).

Previously-hidden gems include a game of 'Trench Football' from World War One, a Victorian pull-along elephant toy found on King's Dyke and a variety of space-age items from the 1960s.

Museum Instagram Launched

Whittlesey Museum joins the smartphone age with the launch of a new museum Instagram feed: https://www.instagram.com/whittleseymuseum/

The image-based social network is already used by many UK museums and allows users to build and share a personal photo album of their own pictures.

The Whittlesey Museum feed specialises in photographs of the local area, museum objects and things that are happening at the museum.

Wind Farm Grant Awarded

This month we are feeling grateful to the Burnthouse Farm Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund, a charitable fund managed by Cambridgeshire Community Foundation, who have just granted Whittlesey Museum £825 towards the cost of new shelving for Room 5! Updates will follow as the shelving is installed and filled up as part of our ongoing timeline of local history. We hope to be able to bring quite a few objects out of our stores as a result of this grant and cover topics such as The Draining of Whittlesey Mere, Traditional Fenland Life, Victorian Whittlesey and World War One.

Surprise archaeology at Whittlesey Museum!

Brushing away some loose soil immediately outside the back door of our replica Forge has exposed a lovely section of original brick floor from the time when the back buildings of the old Town Hall used to be a caretaker's cottage. 
We hope to be able to keep the bricks visible now to share them with the public.

Whittlesey Festival 2015

 A good day was had by all at the Whittlesey Festival 2015, with unseasonably sunny weather.  More than 200 visitors took advantage of free entry to the Museum to meet some real museum objects, get their faces painted and see parts of the 2016 Straw Bear being built to the accompaniment of some live music.

Full Accreditation for Whittlesey Museum

We are very proud today at Whittlesey Museum because we have just had our Full Accreditation renewed by the Arts Council for another three years!

The Accreditation Scheme sets nationally agreed standards for UK museums. To qualify, museums must meet standards on how they are managed, for the services they offer, and on how they care for collections.