The Cottage Museum Re-opens
Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum officially re-opened after refurbishment,on Friday 12th July.
Chairman of the Museum, Jackie Goodall, welcomed everybody and thanked them for their tremendous help and support over the several years it has taken to bring the project to fruition. She praised the volunteers, too many to name individually, whose efforts ensured that the museum, like a phoenix, rose from the flames caused by the arson attack, to stand proud and successful once again. She said:
“For your financial support, on behalf of the Directors and residents of Woodhall Spa, I thank you.”
What a team! And what a result! A community museum that will continue to be a beacon of excellence within the heritage community and one that we are all proud of!
The project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund has allowed extensive refurbishment of the original Boulton and Paul bungalow, which houses the museum and dates back to the late 1800’s.
The scheme has also made possible the replacement of the old fire damaged outbuildings by a splendid suite of buildings, which include a Community Meeting room (which is available for hire), a temperature controlled store with roller racking for the museum’s collections, a General Store, an Information Technology Room and a room which is designed for displaying a donkey drawn bath chair, which has been loaned by Mr Channon when he heard of the demise of the Museum’s own Bath Chair in the fire. The Museum itself has all new display cabinets, display boards, interactive databases and much, much more.
The museum opened to the public on 3 May 2013 and so far well over 1000 visitors have been through the doors.
Guests to the event included Simon Fitch, a senior relations manager from The Arts Council England, Atul Patel, a trustee from The Heritage Lottery Fund, representatives from the East Midlands Heritage associations, including Claire Browne, senior museum development officer and committee members from the Lincolnshire Heritage Forum.
They joined representatives from Lincolnshire County Council, East Lindsey District Council and Woodhall Spa Parish Council, Friends of the Museum, volunteers and many of the kind people who have donated money, time and effort to this project. Also present were Gillian Jackson and Angela Hudson-Peacock , granddaughters of John Wield, whose family originally lived in the Bungalow, now the Museum. Gillian said:
“I am thrilled that the outbuildings have been replaced to look so like the original buildings. It is like going back to my childhood”
Find out more about the museum on their website at www.cottagemuseum.co.uk/
