
Museums
Happy New Year! Do you do New Year’s Resolutions? Decide to learn something new, do more exercise? If you’re thinking of learning new things, you could visit each of the Fenland Museums this year, more than once if possible. Wisbech has three that I know of. Octavia Hill’s Birthplace House, the Wisbech and Fenland Museum, and the Fenland and West Norfolk Aviation Museum (FAWNAPS).
The first two I’ve mentioned before and will come back to later in the year, but the last is a hidden gem if anything was – it’s got a fantastic collection of items, all well documented. On the Lynn Road, amongst other businesses such as a garden centre and a crafts shop, i’s well worth a visit if you have any interest in aviation history – but also engineering and local history. It’s run by volunteers with great knowledge and enthusiasm.
The other Fenland towns have their museums too. Chatteris and Whittlesey are based in their town halls with collections relating to each town. It’s a really good way to learn more about each town – how it started, industries associated with it, and the people who lived and worked there from pre-history to now.
March has an excellent museum in its own building (near the Police Station and Library). It is packed full of interesting displays covering many subjects relating to March and its surrounding villages, with regular talks by local speakers, too. I’d highly recommend a visit. If you are online, go to their excellent website first to plan what you’d specifically like to research – they have much about the local railway for example. (www.marchmuseum.co.uk). As a “Folk Museum” they are particularly focussed on the daily life of ordinary people, great fun for children to see how things were done over the years.
I will certainly be visiting these museums more this year, local history is something I believe we should all take at least a passing interest in, giving us a sense of why things are the way they are.
Lorena Hodgson runs Red Barn Creative a not-for-profit organisation helping creative people in business. www.RedBarnCreative.org.uk