The Countdown is on to Re-Opening 

We are pleased to announce that the Museum will re-open to the public on Thursday 21st May. 

Our opening times initially will be Thursday-Saturday 11-4.30pm and Sunday 2.30-4.30pm. 

Full covid precautions will be in place.

To book a ticket to visit the museum go to https://saffron-walden-museum.arttickets.org.uk/. 

We can't wait to welcome you all back to the Museum.  

Object of the Month

The Museum’s ‘Object of the Month’ provides an opportunity to explore interesting and unusual objects from our stores. 

May’s ‘Object of the Month’ is the shed skin of a grass snake, Natrix helvetica, which was found at Wimbish Green, Essex in July 2001. To grow in size a grass snake will shed its skin in a process called moulting. This skin is 125cm long and it was chosen by Sarah Kenyon, one of the Natural Sciences Officers at the Museum. Snakes are reptiles and the grass snake is Britain’s longest snake, measuring 90 to 150cm in length. They are also Britain’s only egg-laying snake, laying up to 40 eggs. Grass snakes are grey to green in colour, with a striking yellow and black collar around the neck, a pale belly and black markings along the length of the body. They are found in England and Wales in wetland areas, grassland, farmland, woodland and in gardens with ponds. Their prey is amphibians (frogs, toads and newts), fish and small mammals or birds. So these timid snakes may be spotted near water, or swimming, between April and October, when they go into hibernation.

To find out more you can check out the Object of the Month post on our website.  The skin will be on display when the Museum reopens on 20th May

Learning & Outreach

Saffron Walden Museum is committed to continuing to share stories from its collections through its learning and outreach services.

Now that the national lockdown has been lifted we can now welcome schools or groups back to the Museum on the days when when the museum is closed as offering Outreach sessions to schools and groups.

Our loan boxes are also available for hire, £18 for 6 weeks, and will be quarantined in between hires to ensure they are Covid 19 secure.

We have also launched our new learning website which contains lots of free online learning resources as well as detailing the different schools services we offer, just head over too our website and follow the link to “online learning resources”

Online Learning Hub

Saffron Walden Museum has launched a new website “Saffron Walden Museum Learning Hub”; full of digital learning resources to help people explore the Museum’s learning and outreach services on-line.

The aim is to make the Museum’s wide-ranging collections available to support home learning during the pandemic and beyond, as well as blended learning for schools and informal groups of all ages from badged groups to the WEA and care homes.

The Learning Hub can be accessed from the Museum website’s home page  http://www.saffronwaldenmuseum.org . Initially three sessions will be available - Prehistory Hunters, Fantastic Fossils and Adaptions - with more being added each week.

We're Good to Go

The museum has been successful in applying for the Visit England, "We're Good to Go" scheme which is being run in partnership with the national tourist organisations to provide a ‘ring of confidence’ for all sectors of the tourism industry, as well as reassurance to visitors that businesses have clear processes in place and are following industry and Government COVID-19 guidance on cleanliness and social distancing. 

QR Code 

Object Labels

In order to comply with Covid guidelines we have removed all the hand-lists from all the display galleries.

These have been replaced with QR codes produced by Jenny Oxley (Collections Officer, Human History).  The codes can be scanned by visitors during their visit, so that they can view their own personal copy of the object labels for each display, rather than multiple people touching physical copies of the labels. 

Lost Language of Nature

We are very pleased to announce the start of a new project called Lost Language of Nature, as of Wednesday 5^th May, led by James Lumbard, Natural Sciences Officer, and Charlotte Pratt, Learning & Outreach Officer. This year-long project to conserve up to 100 items of taxidermy, while working with new and existing museum visitor groups to discover new stories relating to the items. Each week we will be conserving a new group of specimens and will share this process with you. We will also be reaching out to the public to discover the lost language and stories of these objects, from forgotten folk names, tales and songs to the lost and unrecorded names for these specimens in their country of origin. We would encourage anyone interested in participating in the project to get in touch, either personally if you have a story to share with us, or any representatives from community groups who would like to get involved. Grateful thanks to Saffron Walden Museum Society for generously providing funding to cover extra staff time devoted to Lost Language of Nature.

Wildflower beds &

Wild About Walden online

The freshly sown wildflower mix along the museum frontage has sprouted strongly in the last month with a fresh sowing of a ‘bumble-bird’ mix. This seed mix will provide year-long food for insects and birds, with nectar, seeds and shelter to last the winter.

The new beds are outlined with reclaimed bricks from the museum site. Painted tiles show flowers and birds to look out for growing and feeding in the new beds, and QR codes link to the new Wild About Walden page on the Museum’s Learning hub, which will be updated throughout the year. Keep your eyes peeled for digital updates and new planting in the Museum grounds!  This new initiative fits in well with the upcoming national Mental Health Awareness Week (10-16 May) which is themed this year around connecting with nature. 

Online talk for

Epping Forest District Museum

A big thank you to Epping Forest District Museum for hosting the online talk ‘Barry Kaufmann-Wright: the Wildlife Man’, given by James Lumbard, Natural Sciences Officer, on Thursday 15^th April. The talk was well-attended and showcased a handful of the 72,000 photographs taken by Barry throughout his life. It was wonderful to honour Barry’s prodigious schedule of up to 250 talks per year, fortunately without the hassle of setting up slide projectors and a merchandise stand! The talk can be given remotely, or in person once government restrictions allow. Please contact James on jlumbard@uttlesford.gov.uk or 01799 510641 if you would like to discuss arrangements.

Snapping the Stiletto Project:

LGBTQ+ Archive

Queer Reflections: revisiting our collections

https://www.snappingthestiletto.co.uk/queer-reflections

This new online archive of LGBTQ+ relevant objects from Saffron Walden Museum and Southend Museums explores sexuality, gender, and identity. Jenny Oxley, Collections Officer (Human History) at Saffron Walden Museum, and Vittorio Ricchetti, Assistant Curator (Material Culture) at Southend Museums, with suggestions from their colleagues, have delved into their collections to highlight objects that have connections to LGBTQ+ histories. In doing so they have identified a range of items that demonstrate that non-binary gender identity, queer relationships, and fluidity in its many forms are represented in our museum collections.

We cannot define or label people or movements retrospectively, if queer histories are not identified and recorded at the time an object is collected that connection is at risk of being silenced. This project seeks to revisit areas of our collections where stories may have previously been overlooked or unexplored in order to hear from people living in Essex today. We have identified objects with different degrees of connections to LGBTQ+ history in order to begin a discussion.

We want you to submit your reactions and reflections to these objects, and research other objects in our collections. Help us collect your stories and document your experiences in order to preserve them for the future and celebrate them in the present. Is one of these objects significant to you and your experience? Do you have a story connected to it?

Get involved:

React to the objects by sending in comments for us to upload on the website

Share your stories and experiences of LGBTQ+ Essex

Research relevant objects from our collections

We will be adding new objects every month so don’t forget to check back.

CV Walden

We are continuing to collect people's experiences of the current Covid-19 outbreak and how it has affected day-to-day life in the district for future generations to understand. 

If you are interested in compiling a diary now that we could archive at a later date that would be really beneficial.

We're also interested in audio and video clips, as well as artistic responses to the current situation, such as artwork, poetry and music, etc. If you are part of a community group or organisation - consider asking your members and contacts to take part in this project. 

These may be compiled to form an online or physical exhibition in due course.

Contact Jenny Oxley, Collections Officer (Human History) about this project at museum@uttlesford.gov.uk and title your email "CV Walden"

Collections on Tour

We're pleased to announce that wampum items from our world cultures collections are again on touring loan, after the success of last year's loan out of them to Seacity in Southampton.

Wampum is a traditional shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands indigenous tribes in North America. It includes white shell beads hand fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell and white and purple beads made from the quahog or Western North Atlantic hard-shelled clam.

We had another loan request from The Box in Plymouth who are curating the Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy exhibition as well as a second exhibition, Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America, in association with Wampanoag partners in the US.

As part of this project they have secured funding from the Arts Council to commission a new wampum belt to be made. They are seeking to borrow our items containing wampum – a belt sash and two strings of beads. The request is the result of us having hosted researchers last year who were working on a project called "On the Wampum Trail," documenting the Wampum held in UK collections.  

The beads will be on display at The Box, Plymouth until July and then it is planned the exhibition will move on to the Guildhall in London. 

Shop Focus

We stock a full range of gifts in the Museum shop all year round, and there are always seasonal special offers and themed products linked to our collections..... 

New Product Line

We have introduced a range of greeting cards, designed by award winning illustrator Daniel Mackie, with images of animals with their natural environment depicted within them. 

Topically as the Hedgehogs begin to emerge from Hibernation we feature this one this month.  On sale at £2.50.

Online Collaboration

During lockdown we have worked with the Saffron Walden Tourist Information Centre to sell our bespoke museum jigsaws and stationery packs via their e- shop.

Jigsaw: https://www.visitsaffronwalden.gov.uk/product/saffron-walden-museum-british-butterfly-collection-jigsaw/

Stationery Pack: https://www.visitsaffronwalden.gov.uk/product/saffron-walden-museum-stationery-pack/

Welcome Volunteers

Delighted to announce that Liz has joined ‘Team Saffron Walden Museum’ as one of our ‘Welcome’ volunteers, here she is completing her induction training (in a Covid Safe way)

Welcome Volunteers  provide a friendly greeting for visitors; sell tickets and merchandise; provide information about the museum and direct enquiries to members of staff.

We currently have a regular vacancy for a Welcome volunteer on alternate Sunday afternoons 2.00-4.30pm.

We would also be delighted to hear from volunteers who are able to provide ad hoc ‘cover’ for our regular shift Welcome volunteers when they have planned absences such as holiday, hospital appointments etc.

To find out more about these and ‘Learning and Support’ volunteer opportunities please call us on: 01799 510333 or email museum@uttlesford.gov.uk