Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:  Councillor Mrs Nockolds was appointed Chair for the municipal year.

County Councillor Baron of Horsbrugh was appointed Vice-Chair for the Municipal year.

To consider any matters arising.

None

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

RESOLVED:  The minute of the meeting held on 14 February 2022 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

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.

None

To consider the King’s Lynn Museum Report.

The Chair invited the Assistant Head of Museums to present his report.  He presented an overview of the working arrangements in the museums following the ending of the legal restrictions around covid.  It was noted that health and safety measures were in place to continue to provide monitoring, ventilation and cleaning regimes.  

It was noted that there had been a broad range of digital resources developed to support audiences during the pandemic, a number of which were now being enhanced to support  hybrid offer.

The Curator gave an overview of the exhibitions and events at the Lynn museum including the loan of the Turner painting Walton Bridges.

An update was given on the social media presence a copy of which is attached to the minutes.

The report updated members of the loan to the British Museum of the 15 timbers from Seahenge for their current major exhibition  World of Stonehenge which was running until 17 July.  Members asked whether the exhibition was clear that it had been loaned from the Lynn Museum.

The Curator informed the Committee that unfortunately it had not been possible to recruit new members to the Friends of King’s Lynn Museums, therefore the current committee had decided to dissolve the charity.

Following the suggestion that the Kick the Dust (KTD) project take on the mantle of the friends of the museum, it was stressed that this was not the type of project suitable for the KTD group which had a regular turnover of young people.  The museum was looking to work with another organisation in order to be able to access the grant funding available to charitable organisations.

The Learning and Engagement officer for Stories of Lynn and Project Worker for the Kick the Dust presented her report on the work with schools from 1 March -30 May, and the Kick the Dust Project.

The Chair thanked the Learning and Engagement Officer for the great work she had done with the children and families over the previous two weekends of festivity.  She confirmed she had had the help of KTD groups and Police cadets to run the activities.

In response to a question on the funding situation for the Kick the Dust project, the Assistant Head of Museums explained that it had been funded through the National Lottery Heritage Fund and whilst originally due to expire in November 2022, it had been extended to March 2023, with work underway to look into other funding opportunities going forward.

It was confirmed that it was likely that the KTD project may use the Guildhall if asked.

The report informed members that the sleepovers at the Stories of Lynn had re-commenced

In the absence of the Borough Council’s Tourism Manager, the Chair presented his report which gave an update on the printed marketing produced for the area and the e marketing including the visit west norfolk website which had been refreshed.  

The planned activity for the section was set out including the construction of a Hunstanton Observatory and Norfolk Arts Trail, along with the list of partners being worked with.

The Committee received the report of the Museum Curator at True’s Yard.  It informed the Committee that the Museum would be holding 6 exhibitions in the coming year – Maritime Art, Royal influence on Lynn, artwork created for a book on Vaughn Williams, the Timber Trade, and smaller children’s exhibitions.

To note the date of the next meeting is 19 September 2022, 2 pm in the Assembly Room, Town Hall, King’s Lynn.

19 September 2022 at 2pm in the Town Hall.