The Breckland Area Museums Committee met to discuss reports on the Ancient House Museum of Thetford Life and Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse. The committee was also scheduled to confirm the minutes of the previous meeting and note the arrangements for the next meeting.

Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse Report

The committee was scheduled to receive a report on activities at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse from June to August 2025, presented by Hannah Jackson, Operations Manager West.

The report outlined the five operational models for events:

• Special Event Days, such as the Open Farm Sunday event which was supported by sponsorship of £500 from Dann's Ice Cream and attracted 1665 visitors.
• Days with a Difference, such as the Super Science Day and Home Front Stories: Norfolk in 1945 event which shared new research in this 80th Anniversary year of VE and VJ Day. The Home Front Stories event was supported by The National Archives' Engagement Grants programme.
• Norfolk School Holiday activities, such as the Summer Holidays programme: Noticing Nature.
• Ticketed Events, such as the Weaving from the Garden: Bark Containers Workshop with Karen Bek, and The Wayward Adventurers Guild workshops which were run as a result of funding from Arts Council England.
• Promotional Days, such as Father's Day.

The report also included information on:

• The 2025 Exhibition - Through the Microscope: Stories of Norfolk's changing landscape with Edible East.
• A co-created community art trail launched in July and running until November 2025.
• The Common by Sinead Marray-Woods, a pop-up exhibition which was part of the 2025 summer holiday activities.
• Permanent Display Improvements to the Village Row.
• Gressenhall Farm, including the harvesting of wheat and the well-being of the Suffolk Punch horses.
• The Community Tree Nursery.
• The Wendling Beck exemplar project.

The Friends of Gressenhall were scheduled to celebrate their 50th anniversary on 21 September, coinciding with Heritage Open Day.

The Gressenhall Volunteering teams continue to run well with over 100 active volunteers.

Gressenhall welcomed a group of 25 employees from Cliverton specialist animal business insurance group for a day of corporate volunteering.

Charlotte Kirklin was appointed in October 2024 to undertake a fully funded PhD studentship focussed on material life in the workhouse.

The Learning Team had a busy term with school visits every weekday, with 2,862 students from 71 schools attending an activity day at Gressenhall.

The Children's Services team held their Family Fun Day, with the museum turned into a Wonderland fit for any Alice in Wonderland.

Through public events the Gressenhall Environment Hub recorded 475 interactions.

Following the successful conclusion of the National Lottery Heritage Fund funded 'Kick the Dust' project¹, Norfolk Museums Service (NMS) secured additional funding through an Arts Council England NPO Uplift award for the period 2023-27.

The key aims of the new 'Kick the Dust' project continue to be to:

• develop transferable work-related skills with the aim of supporting more working age young people into employment, training or further learning;
• develop digital skills linked to creative industries to address the digital skills gap in heritage and cultural sectors;
• increase young people's creative skills and for young people to gain a range of new cultural experiences;
• encourage an appreciation of the history and culture of their local communities;
• to measure impact on young people's skills, confidence and mental health and wellbeing through a strong and robust evaluation framework.

Public reports pack 15th-Sep-2025 10.00 Breckland Area Museums Committee.pdf

Visitor figures were provided for the year to date, with data to the end of July.

The committee was asked to note the report.

Ancient House Museum Report

The committee was scheduled to receive a report on activities at Ancient House, Museum of Thetford Life from May to July 2025, presented by Oliver Bone, Curator of Ancient House Museum.

The report noted that the building works at the former King's Head pub, next door to the Ancient House, remained at a standstill.

The current exhibition, A History of Ancient House in 100 Objects, opened on 22 November 2024 and was scheduled to run through until the end of October 2025.

The new exhibition, Prince Frederick Duleep Singh (1868 – 1926), was scheduled to open in January 2026.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded the Ancient House a grant of £198,059 in its centenary year.

Ancient House continues to work with a range of schools to offer interactive workshops.

THC Youth Group have been continuing their work exploring the Duleep Singh Family and Empire.

On Saturday 21 June, Ancient House Junior History Club (aged 6 to 11 years old) 'took over the museum' to run a special event day linked to Refugee Week inviting visitors to take on the Moomins Turn 80 - Simple Acts Challenge .

In May, Ancient House joined in the commemoration of the end of the Second World War in Europe with a V E Day workshop for local Home Educating families and a public event with object handling and costumed characters.

Ancient House participated in the annual Thetford Open Gardens again this year.

Ancient House worked with Essex Cultural Diversity Project to deliver a two-day Festival of Thetford and Punjab.

Ancient House linked with the second Thetford Pride this year to run a quiet, family-friendly activity day together with a trail developed by the Kick the Dust Gardening Group and available on the museum's digital guide.

Collections volunteering at the museum continues with the scanning and documentation of the recently acquired postcard collection, and support for exhibitions.

The regular knitting, crafting, spinning and art groups continue to meet at the museum regularly.

The Friends of the Museum continue to support the Museum through fundraising and promoting the Museum in the town.

Ancient House continues to offer a series of afternoon talks working with the Friends of the Museum.

Anna Heffron was the museum's curatorial trainee for 2024-2025.

The committee was asked to note the report.