Agenda and draft minutes

RESOLVED: Councillor A Bubb be appointed Chair for the remainder of the Municipal Year 2024 to 2025.

In the absence of nominees from the Norfolk County Council representatives coming forward, the Committee appointed a Borough Council representative as Vice Chair.

RESOLVED: Councillor A Kemp be appointed Vice Chair for the remainder of the Municipal Year 2024 to 2025.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor J Ward, Lindsey Bavin, Manager of True’s Yard Museum and Phillip Eke, Senior Tourism Support Officer at Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk.

The Committee is invited to confirm as a correct record the notes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 June 2024 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.

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The Curator of the Lynn Museum introduced the report on the King’s Lynn Museum activities in the period from June to August 2024. A copy of the report is attached to the minutes.

The Committee’s attention was drawn to the following areas of the report:

·        Exhibitions and events at Lynn Museum

o   Current Exhibition: The Moon: Meet our Nearest Neighbour

o   Forthcoming Exhibition: Woof! A Celebration of Dogs

The Curator of the Lynn Museum explained all Members of the Committee were welcome to attend the forthcoming exhibition, Woof! A Celebration of Dogs and advised the opening event was on Tuesday 1^st October 2024 at 2.00pm.

The Curator of the Lynn Museum invited the Committee to ask any questions in relation to those areas of the report.

Mr B Davison referred to the forthcoming exhibition, Woof! A Celebration of Dogs and commented that he would have liked to have seen artwork by the artist Sally Muir and asked officers to look into using that artist in the future if the exhibition was successful.

Councillor M de Whalley congratulated and thanked officers for the quality and success of the temporary exhibitions in the Lynn Museum. Councillor M de Whalley informed the Committee he had been invited to look around Aickman’s Yard which was very informative and it suggested given what was housed there, a topic for a future temporary exhibition be that of exploration of the North West and explained there were two famous names associated with King’s Lynn, Samuel Gurney Cresswell and George Vancouver and added that they could link in well with the town’s history. He asked whether a complimentary exhibition could be considered to celebrate the reopening of the St George’s Guildhall.

Mr B Davison referred to Aickman’s Yard and commented that the Committee should arrange a visit to view the collections and encourage more young people to visit and suggested having an exhibition of Aickman’s Yard in the future to look into the industrial past of King’s Lynn and what affect it had on the town’s structure.

Councillor A Kemp made comments in relation to the Carnegie library and asked what could be done for more joint working with the Norfolk Museum Service and the library service to make sure they were looking after their heritage buildings and ensuring they kept their purposes. In response, the Assistant Head of Museums confirmed there was a process ongoing around the Carnegie library and explained they had a good track record of working really well in partnership with the Norfolk library service.

The Assistant Head of Museums referred to Aickman’s Yard and explained there were ongoing discussions between the Curator of the Lynn Museum and Borough Council colleagues around a date for Members of the Committee to have a tour of Aickman’s Yard and the date would be confirmed at the end of the meeting.

The Assistant Head of Museums explained they had active projects including the Newman Project  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

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County Councillor L Bambridge presented the report of the Museum Curator at True’s Yard in her absence. A copy of the report is attached to the minutes.

The Committee’s attention was drawn to the following areas of the report:

·         Temporary exhibitions and events at True’s Yard Fisherfolk Museum

o   Exhibition Programme

o   Summer Art Exhibition

o   True’s Talks

o   Pat Midgley Memorial Lecture

·         Events

·         Fundraisers

o   The Mayor’s Charity of the Year

o   Gloucester 1682 Talk

Councillor P Bland commented that the Gloucester 1682 Talk was a huge success with over 100 people in attendance.

The Committee’s attention was drawn further to the following areas of the report:

o   Friends of True’s Yard

·         Learning and Outreach

o   Summer Holiday Activities

o   Oral History Project - Capturing Memories

o   Social Media

·         Visitor Numbers

The Chair, Councillor A Bubb asked how many Friends of True’s Yard there were. County Councillor L Bambridge confirmed she would find out.

The Chair raised a further question and asked whether True’s Yard took part in the free October to March scheme. In response, County Councillor L Bambridge confirmed they were not included in the scheme but confirmed she had raised that with the Chair, Paul Richards to talk to the Borough Council about.

Councillor M de Whalley asked whether the Summer Exhibition was still going on. County Councillor L Bambridge was unsure but would find out and email to let him know.

Councillor P Bland commented that during his time as Mayor, they had put the Sea Cadets and True’s Yard together to work as one Committee and confirmed that they were working well together.

County Councillor L Bambridge echoed the comments made by Councillor P Bland.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

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The visitor figures for the period June to August 2024 were noted. A copy of the visitor figures is attached to the minutes.

The Chair, Councillor A Bubb commented and was pleased they were still producing literature and highlighted it was very important to keep the Tourist Information Centre going as not everybody could access information online.

Councillor M de Whalley highlighted the importance of signposting people to all of the attractions.

The Chair, Councillor A Bubb asked the Democratic Support Officer if they could add ‘Items for the next Agenda’ going forward on their Agendas.

To note the date of the next meeting is 13 January 2025 at 2.00pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, King’s Lynn.

The next meeting of the King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Area Museums Committee would be held on 13^th January 2025 at 2.00pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, King’s Lynn.