Reopening the Museum
LATEST INFORMATION
Please note that the information in this blog has been superseded and is now out of date. The latest information on the COVID situation and the reopening of the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum can be found by clicking on the button below.
As you will probably have read museums are allowed to reopen from 4th July. What the media hasn’t reported is that this reopening is conditional on making the museum “COVID secure”. We have had a lot of enquiries as to whether we will reopen, and if so when. This item attempts to let you know what we are currently thinking at the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has issued guidelines as to what the museum has to do in order to achieve that status. Prior to this, the trustees had created a strategy and risk assessments to prepare for what we expected.
The good news is that what we have prepared covers almost all of the requirements, and the rest are not impossible to overcome. The bad news is that the cost of the work required is not insignificant. The various surveys also indicate that visitor numbers will be well down on usual figures for the summer.
We also have to point out that a large majority of the volunteers who form almost the entire workforce are over 70. Many of them are understandably unhappy about returning at this point. Under the guidelines, we will need more people on site than we would have done previously.
Currently, we believe that we can reopen in a limited fashion subject to being able to secure a grant to cover some or all of the additional expenditure needed. It will take time to apply for the grant, and then time to achieve the work required. We HOPE to be able to reopen in August.
The current plan is that because of the additional manning required we would initially open for one or two days per week. Sunday would be the first day, Saturday the second.
This will become more possible with more volunteers, so if you are able to assist please get in touch. If you think you would like to volunteer, please follow the link through to our main website Volunteering page where we describe the types of activities we have.
The museum will look rather different if we do reopen. We are required to limit the number of people on-site, whilst we do not currently anticipate this being a problem, it is possible that at peak periods we may have to turn people away.
There will be a one-way system in operation around the hangars. Initially, at least the NAAFI (Cafe) will not be open, nor will the bric-a-brac stall. The shop will remain open, in common with most retail outlets contactless payments are preferred. The shop will also sell cold drinks and pre-packed snacks such as crisps and biscuits. As recommended by the guidelines hands-on items such as the push planes, morse keys and guns will not be available.
We very much look forward to welcoming visitors back, be that in August or when the current situation eases considerably.
As we work through the process further updates will be posted here on the blog and on our social media sites.
