Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillor J Ward, Borough Councillor T Smith, Steve Miller and Tim Humphreys.

The Committee is invited to confirm as a correct record the notes of the previous meeting held on 9 November 2015.

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 November 2015 were agreed as a correct record.

To consider any matters arising.

There were no matters arising.

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of interest should indicate the nature of the interest (if not already declared on the Register of Interests) and the agenda item to which it relates.  If a disclosable pecuniary interest is declared, the Member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed.

These declarations apply to all Members present, whether the Member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local Member on an item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider the King’s Lynn Museum Report.

The Head of Operations and Learning and Western Area Operations Manager presented the report which provided Members with information on King’s Lynn Museums for the period November 2015 to February 2016 as set out below:

(i)           Temporary Exhibitions and Events at Lynn Museum

The current major exhibition at Lynn Museum explored the life and work of Frederick Savage and was entitled Art of the Mart: Savage’s - the famous fairground makers of Lynn.  The exhibition runs until 2 July 2016 and was proving popular with visitors.  The exhibition had also been visited by many local schools.

A programme of illustrated talks continued to be offered at Lynn Museum on Wednesday afternoons. Recent topics had included Digging up a Tyrannosaurus by Dr David Waterhouse, Curator of Natural History Norwich Castle Keep by Dr John Davies, Chief Curator, and the Story of Seahenge by Dr Robin Hanley.  Attendances average 15-25 and most talks were delivered by NMS staff.

An enhanced programme of informal family learning events continued to be offered at the Lynn Museum for the school holiday periods. ‘Drop-in’ format events this year had included: a popular Pirates event during the February Half term which received 504 visitors.

The Lynn Museum continued to host monthly Coffee, Cake and Collections “coffee morning” style events for adults, with each session exploring a different aspect of the collections.

The reception case at Lynn Museum was re-displayed regularly by Museum Trainee, Morgan Bell.  Recent exhibits had included Egyptian pottery, and crafts made by Napoleonic Prisoners of War. A request had been made to the British Museum to display in this case two of the Anglo-Saxon Pentney brooches in January and February 2017.

The Museum featured on the TV programme Antiques Road Trip broadcast on 1 February when presenter James Braxton spoke with Assistant Curator Dayna Woolbright about King’s Lynn’s experience of the First World War.

The Museum’s Sedgeford Hoard of Iron Age gold coins once hidden in a cow bone features in a new British Museum publication, ‘Hoards, Hidden History’ by Eleanor Ghey.

(ii)          Other Museum Developments

The Lynn Museum continued to develop its social media presence, with Twitter and Facebook accounts being maintained by staff. The Lynn Museum Twitter account has 2159 tweets and 1429 followers while the Facebook account has 318 likes. A recent Valentines card from the museum collection of 1809 was tweeted and received 90 likes and 66 retweets.

A team of collections volunteers continued to meet on a weekly basis in the NMS offices at Queen Street. Volunteers have continued with a programme of work involving the scanning and cataloguing of the drawing collections by local artists Henry Baines and Walter Dexter.  The team had now scanned around 2,000 items from the Museum’s prints and drawings collection helping to make them much more accessible.

In addition to the scanning project, a small team of volunteers were working with Assistant Curator Dayna Woolbright on a weekly basis, undertaking an audit of collections at the museum stores at Aickmans Yard.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Committee received and noted the Borough Council’s report which provided an update for the Committee on tourism marketing and development activities since September 2015.  The Committee’s attention was drawn to the following sections of the report:

·         2016 West Norfolk Holiday guide – a total of 75,000 copies had been printed.

·         2016 Where to Go and What to Do – a total of 200,000 copies had been printed.

·         Discover King’s Lynn – print run had been increased from 130,000 to 150,000.

It was noted that all publications had been delivered ready for the Easter holiday.

RESOLVED:  The Committee noted the report.

The Committee will receive a demonstration from the Tourism Support Officer

The Tourism Support Officer gave a presentation on the new website and explained that work on the new responsive website  www.visitwestnorfolk.com which had been taking place over recent months was virtually complete.  Content display was responsive to whether people were viewing it on a desktop, tablet or phone. Up to 65% or people per month accessed the website via tablet or phone.

       It was highlighted that the website provided links to view or download PDF versions of West Norfolk’s publications.  As 2016 publications had been produced these PDF versions had been adapted to ensure users did not have to rotate or turn sections to view them.

Following a comment, from Councillor Humphrey regarding the downloading of documents, the Tourism Support Officer undertook to ensure a pdf version could be downloaded from the front page of the website, via a link to the Publications page.

Councillor Tyler commented that he had visited the new responsive website and highlighted the importance of ensuring that the information was kept simple and easy to access.  The Tourism Support Officer advised that the information had been streamlined as much as possible to ensure documents were easily accessible.

The Chairman, Councillor Nockolds asked if there was a link on the Borough Council’s website to the Norfolk Museums Service.  The Tourism Officer advised that this link was required and was subsequently added following the meeting.  He explained that the Lynn Museum itself was already linked to throughout the site, and also had its own entry.#

In response to comments from Councillor Chenery on the Pilgrimage season and pointing out significant buildings in some villages to visit, the Chairman, Councillor Nockolds explained that there was a link in the churches section of the website.

Councillor Tyler made reference to the excellent guides now provided on display racks at the railway station and asked what arrangements were in place to replenish stocks.  The Tourism Support Officer explained that boxes were delivered to the railway station and the display racks were stocked by a volunteer.  Discover King’s Lynn leaflets were also on display at the Dukes Head Hotel, Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn.

Councillor Chenery asked if the Borough Council made use of the railways, for example, Peterborough to display leaflets and posters.  In response, the Tourism Support Officer explained that as far as possible leaflets, etc were available at railway stations outside of the Borough.  He added that promotional posts were also placed on trains themselves.

Councillor Humphrey commented that some villages in West Norfolk had their own circular trails and asked if a link could be added on the Borough Council’s website.  The Tourism Support Officer explained that there was an area on the website dedicated to walks and therefore appropriate links could be added.

RESOLVED:  The Committee was invited to forward any additional information for inclusion on the new website to the Tourism Support Officer.

Members of the Area Museums Committee are invited to a preview session on Wednesday 23^rd March 2016 also organised for members of the Regeneration and Development and the Environment and Community Panels. The Town Hall will be open from 2.30pm to 4.00pm, Members are welcome to visit at any time during this period, and officers will be on hand to answer any queries.

To note the date of the next meeting is 13 June 2016, 2.15 pm, Meeting Rooms 1, 2 and 3, King’s Court, Chapel Street, King’s Lynn.