Agenda item

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The Curator of the Lynn Museum introduced the report on the King’s Lynn Museum activities in the period from December 2024 to February 2025.  A copy of the report is attached to the minutes.

 

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

 

1)    Exhibitions and events at Lynn Museum

1.1  Current Exhibition Woof: A Celebration of Dogs

1.2  Forthcoming Exhibition May the Toys Be with You

1.3  Family events

1.5  Mini Museum

1.6  Coffee Mornings

1.7  Talks Programme

1.8  Warm Wednesdays

1.9  Forthcoming events

 

The Curator of the Lynn Museum invited questions and comments from the Committee in relation to those areas of the report, as summarised below.

 

Councillor Ward commented that he had visited the current exhibition Woof: A Celebration of Dogs and thanked Dayna Woolbright for curating the exhibition so well.

 

Mr Davison commented that he was impressed with the educational side of the exhibition Woof: A Celebration of Dogs and congratulated officers for their work.

 

County Councillor Bambridge asked how they were going to promote the forthcoming exhibition May the Toys Be with You.  The Curator of the Lynn Museum explained Hayley Simmons had contacts and advised that this exhibition had been extremely popular at other museums around the country and commented that they were hoping to build on the good numbers of visitors which they had been receiving at the Lynn Museum.

 

The Assistant Head of Museums reminded the Committee that they did have the May the Toys Be with You exhibition at Time and Tide Museum, but it had coincided with the Covid pandemic.  He commented that this exhibition would provide opportunities to link into people who were interested in the idea of collecting and was confident that with the local site team alongside the central marketing team and digital social media team that they would maximise the opportunities this exhibition would bring.

 

In response to questions from Councillor Kemp, the Curator of the Lynn Museum confirmed that refreshments were offered to people who attended the Warm Wednesday sessions.  He added that they had a member of staff dedicated to looking after people, so they had got a point of contact within the Lynn Museum and explained staff were very good at putting information out the front of the Lynn Museum to promote the sessions.

 

The Assistant Head of Museums added that they were offering the Warm Wednesday sessions across the Norfolk Museum Service (NMS) and made the Committee aware that a number of other venues were providing this support including libraries.

 

In response to a question from the Chair, Councillor Bubb, the Curator of the Lynn Museum explained that Facebook was one of the best ways to promote the family events.  He added that there was always more they could do to refine their marketing.

 

Councillor de Whalley referred to the current exhibition Woof: A Celebration of Dogs and commented that it was an extremely well curated exhibition.

 

Councillor de Whalley explained that they had recently planted the oak trees for the Beuys’ Acorns Project and understood from the artists that they were working with colleagues at the Lynn Museum on some talks.  The Curator of the Lynn Museum advised the next Committee meeting would be a better opportunity to explain more.  He confirmed that they had had initial conversations with Veronica Sekules at the GroundWork Gallery to discuss the idea of creating a small artist led planting of Oak saplings and then linking to the Seahenge Oak circle and tree stump.

 

In response to comments from Mr Davison, the Assistant Head of Museums explained that once the Committee see the forthcoming exhibition May the Toys Be with You, they would understand why they felt this would be relevant to what the Lynn Museum’s aims and objectives were all around.

 

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

 

2)    Newman Legacy project

3)    Other Museum developments

      3.1 Publicity and promotion

      3.2 NMS Teaching Museum Trainees

      3.3 Retail offer at Lynn Museum

      3.4 Object Photography

      3.5 Volunteers

 

The Curator of the Lynn Museum invited questions and comments from the Committee in relation to those areas of the report, as summarised below.

 

In response to a question from County Councillor Chenery of Horsbrugh, the Assistant Head of Museums explained the painting which he referred to was to mark the arrival of Stagecoach using London Road for the first time and that painting was normally on display in the Lynn Museum.

 

In response to a question from Councillor de Whalley, the Curator of the Lynn Museum explained they were improving their database to include images from the store collection and added that after the forthcoming exhibition May the Toys Be with You, they were planning to do a Secrets from the Stores exhibition which would aim to show interesting objects from the stores.

 

Mr Davison asked whether the volunteers received a certificate or reference to show what work they had done.  The Curator of the Lynn Museum explained they were now working with their volunteer coordinator Michelle Gaskins and advised that they had developed a role description for this work and undertook a recruitment process advertising and encouraging people to participate.  The Curator of the Lynn Museum added that it was a twelve-week programme where people receive initial training and on the job training.  After the twelve-week period, they would then recruit again to provide another group of people the opportunity.  The Curator of the Lynn Museum confirmed they would be happy to write references for people.

 

In response to a question from Councillor Kemp, the Curator of the Lynn Museum advised there would be resource implications to putting together a 3D virtual tour around the history of King’s Lynn.  The Curator of the Lynn Museum explained years ago they did hold an exhibition about maps of King’s Lynn.

 

In response to a question from the Chair, Councillor Bubb, the Curator of the Lynn Museum explained they had a cost centre setup for the Newman work and was dedicated just to the work in King’s Lynn.  As well as the cash, there was also a portfolio of shares which were being looked after by the Museum Development Foundation.  He explained that the cash was for short term use and the portfolio of shares was for future investment and growth.

 

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

 

4)    Borough Council partnership working

5)    Learning & Outreach

 

The Assistant Head of Museums explained that following discussion at the last meeting of the King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Area Museums Committee, he had spoken to Tim FitzHigham who was the lead officer at the Borough Council on the Guildhall and agreed that Tim FitzHigham would attend a future meeting and provide the Committee with an update on the development of the interpretation strategy for the Guildhall.

 

The Chair, Councillor Bubb asked the Democratic Services Officer to include a separate item on future agendas around Local Government Reorganisation to ensure the Committee could be kept up to date on what this meant for the Norfolk Museums Service.

 

Mr Davison agreed with the Chair and commented that the Norfolk Museums Service was a well-run service and should be involved with any new authority.

 

Councillor de Whalley commented that for the Strategic Mayoral Authorities, both Norfolk Museums Service and Records Office function had not been mentioned which suggested they would go down to the Unitary Authorities but that was still unclear.

 

Councillor Ward commented that he had been promoting the Norfolk Museums Service in any discussions he had had with colleagues at Norfolk County Council.

 

The Assistant Head of Museums thanked the Committee for their supportive comments and commented that the Norfolk Museums Service was already a really good example of what successful joint working looked like.

 

Councillor Kemp agreed with comments made by other Members of the Committee and commented they would continue to support the Norfolk Museums Service.

 

The Assistant Head of Museums provided an update on the Kick the Dust project.

 

Mr Davison referred to the data showing 30% of individual young people who had taken part in the Kick the Dust project identified as having a mental health issue and asked how they were identified or referred. In response, the Assistant Head of Museums explained that the young people undertook an evaluation when they first joined, and that evaluation was then repeated at the end of their project or programme.  The evaluation was put together with a public health professional.  The Assistant Head of Museums added that Kick the Dust worked with lots of different organisations to help identify young people who would like to get involved and had a longstanding relationship with YMCA Norfolk who helped to signpost young people to their programmes.

 

The Chair, Councillor Bubb asked around the possibility of having an exhibition on Mayors of King’s Lynn.  The Assistant Head of Museums commented that that would be an interesting idea and advised there would be an opportunity to think about that in the next few years.

 

The visitor figures were circulated to the Committee at the meeting and noted.  A copy of the visitor figures is attached to the minutes.

 

RESOLVED: The Committee noted the report.