Report by the Curator, Oliver Bone.

Oliver Bone Curator of the Ancient House, Museum of Thetford Life presented the report to Members which covered the period July-October 2017.

Highlights included:

The exhibition “Pulpware” had now ended which had been a successful theme due to the local connection of Thetford Industry and being in living memory.

“Flint Rocks” was another successful exhibition and involved working with Breaking New Ground. A further partnership bid had been made to the Heritage Lottery fund for a future project “Wet Brecks”.

2014 saw a series of Commemorative Events take place within Thetford commemorating World War I. Ancient House was working with Thetford Town Council for events in 2018 commemorating the centenary of the end of World War I.

A new temporary exhibition “Handmade” was planned to open on 16^th        December. The display would cover different materials, there were currently some        excellent community craft groups and it was hoped the display would encourage        others.

Plans for a partnership project to create a Punjab themed arts and culture festival for July 2018 was being explored. In partnership with the Essex Cultural Diversity Partnership a bid for funding would be made to Heritage Lottery Fund. It was hoped that a painting “Casualty of War” by the Singh Twins could be loaned from the National Museum of Scotland to display at Ancient House for 6 months.

An update was given on the History Clubs activities. A 1940’s Christmas event       had taken place with various craft activities on offer.

The Teenage History Club had looked at part of a future bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for an exhibition on people of the past who were not heterosexual linked to the 50^th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality. The club had visited the Victoria and Albert Museum in London for their “Queer History” tour.

The Friends used the museum as a venue for monthly talks. A new programme of events would be announced at the AGM.

Raj Bisram, presenter of Antiques Road Trip, had visited the museum to film for a       feature on the show. The programme will air over the winter.

Ancient House continued to provide Thetford and Brandon Times with a monthly      column “Thetford in 100 Artefacts”. Contributions were also made to the About

Thetford magazine.

It was confirmed that both Twitter and Facebook were still actively used by the

museum, promoting exhibitions and events using social media.

Volunteers continued to be very active, helping behind the scenes, running the

Mini Museum Club and assisting with events. Ancient House had been represented at the Christmas Light switch on.

Ancient House’s current trainee is Sam Bellotti and a new trainee would begin in April 2018. It was advised there had been success with previous trainees who had moved into a career working within museums.

Cllr Bambridge queried if trainees were on the Payroll. It was confirmed that trainees were paid members of staff and on the pay scale for Norfolk County Council.

Dr Hanley advised there was a strong commitment to Learning and Development

Traineeships and any opportunity for additional funding for trainees in projects across the museums would be investigated.