News
This page is intended to provide news of
activities at Flixton for non-members. It is written by the
Chairman and will be updated at least annually
Spring 2018
Thus endeth my first full year as Chairman of the museum.
2017 has proved to be another good year for the museum.
Feedback from visitors consistently record us as four or five
star on Google, Tripadvisor and more recently on the Suffolk
Museums “Families in Suffolk Museums” initiative where over half
of the returns were for this museum.
Financially the year was also a success with initial figures
showing a healthy surplus in line with the trustees' aims on
maintaining our reserve plus adding enough to cover inflation
each year.
One of the biggest changes to our collection has remained
invisible. For many years the Vickers Valetta aircraft has been
on loan to us from the Norfolk Scouts. During this year they
formally handed the aircraft over to us. Several smaller items
have been donated across the year and most are now on display
around the museum.
One low light was in respect of grant applications. A friend
of the museum applied for a grant to repair the boardwalk which
is sadly currently mostly closed and will remain so for the
foreseeable future. This application was unsuccessful as we were
unable to raise enough votes for the project to take it into the
shortlist. Another unsuccessful bid was to the Heritage Lottery
Fund to employ an education development officer and build an
education centre. We are currently looking at how we might be
able to obtain alternative funds for these. If you know of
anyone....
The Chippies have been hard at work over the year and have
built several push planes, both for sale and to use around the
museum, these have proved to be really popular. Work on the
Auster by the Engineering/Restorations team continues and we
have sourced some of the components that we need. Two of our
buildings have needed emergency work to maintain their
weatherproofing, which has been carried out. The paint team have
repainted the Gloster Javelin which now looks really good. The
Link team have been working on a helicopter sim, they look
forward to being able to land a helicopter without a virtual
crash at some point. The Electricians have installed new, more
energy efficient, lights in the NAAFI area, these have the
additional benefit of increasing the light in the area. The
Archive team continue the vital task of recording the
whereabouts of our collection.
The museum has continued to welcome school visits and fifteen
schools have had visits learning about World War II and the
history of flight. We have held two Scout days with over 80
youngsters attending each day to learn about different aspects
of air activities. We know from the feedback forms that these
visits are an important source of re-visits, many of the
children attending persuade their parents to bring them back
again.
A new initiative this year was our Junior Engineering Day in
October. Thirty youngsters aged 9-14 took part in various
activities such as Metalwork, Woodwork, Electronics, Engine
Maintenance and Flight Training. This scheme, like the Scout
days, has been recognised by the Children's Universities in
Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.
The museum has become a partner in the government scheme
“Year of Engineering”. We will be running further Junior
Engineering and Scout days this year. We are open to further
suggestions for other initiatives of this type.
At the Annual General Meeting I introduced my idea that the
museum is four things. It is a collection (i.e. we have a lot of
“stuff”), it is a museum (we make this collection available to
the public to view), it is a business (we need to make a profit,
or at least break even, in order to continue to exist) and it is
a volunteers club (a place where retired people can work and
socialise together). We need to ensure that we balance these
four aspects as we move forward. I will be expanding on that
theme during the year.
We owe a great debt to the volunteers, without whom this
museum would simply not exist. We need to continue to build on
the team, in particular we need far more front of house
volunteers. People who will engage with visitors and help to
make their visit even more enjoyable. That is not to say that we
don't need more behind the scenes volunteers, they are always
welcome, but it is front of house where we have a shortage.
I would like to finish by thanking everyone that has helped
the museum have such a successful year, volunteers and our
dedicated Museum Keeper/Employee. Our committee of trustees who
steer the museum throughout the year also deserve mention, they
are responsible for ensuring that we (and especially me) stay on
the straight and narrow.
Stephen Bell - Chairman
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