Museum of Norwich at the Bridewell

16/10/2026

Times Events

15/10/2026

We are so excited to receive this funding to support the wellbeing work that happens at the museum.

Thank you to our brilliant team that make the magic happen and to the community of past participants that have helped us grow along the way!

We’re so pleased to share the news that Norfolk Museums Service has been awarded £70,773 from the Museums Association through their Health and Wellbeing in Museums Fund to expand our much-loved Community Culture Club, a programme for older adults living with dementia. The funding will allow us to adapt it for other underrepresented groups including older men, LGBTQ+ people and people affected by cancer.

Community Culture Club has been running at Museum of Norwich at the Bridewell since 2021 and uses the museum’s collections in a sensory and creative way to support wellbeing, connection and joy. Participants meet once a week for a session themed around a different object from the museum’s collection, with each session ending with a hands-on creative activity. Rather than reminiscing about the past, the group work mindfully in the present while making connections with each other.

We’re looking forward to working in partnership with some incredible local community organisations to reach even more people.

The Health and Wellbeing in Museums Fund from the Museums Association is a programme of grant-making, networking and learning dissemination, funded by the Julia Rausing Trust. It enables the development and continuation of groundbreaking health and wellbeing programmes in UK museums during a time of financial crisis and increasing demand for services.

14/10/2026

A team of shire horses has been recruited to help turn a corner of Parker's Piece in Cambridge into a wildflower meadow.

14/10/2026

There are still a few tickets for the next Norwich Society talk

Norwich, City of Hermits
Speaker: Professor Carole Rawcliffe

10:30 am -Thu 15 Oct 2026
The Forum, NR2 1TF

Open to all - £10.00 non-members / £5.00 members
Book here https://www.thenorwichsociety.org.uk/events/talk-norwich-city-of-hermits-speaker-professor-carole-rawcliffe

Norwich has been described as ‘the most religious city in late medieval Europe’, famous for its cathedral, friaries, richly decorated parish churches and, of course, its community of recluses headed by the internationally celebrated Dame Julian. The hermits who were then such a prominent feature of civic life seem, however, to have been largely forgotten, even though, as this talk will reveal, they enjoyed widespread support and respect. From Richard Furness, a charismatic priest with a circle of affluent and devoted female admirers, to Robert Goddard, who cleaned the ditches at St Stephen’s, they emerge as a fascinating cast of characters thanks to the survival of so much unparalleled documentary evidence.

Carole Rawcliffe is Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia. Carole is also a Member of The Norwich Society’s Publications Working Group and a regular contributor to Aspects of Norwich.

14/10/2026

14/10/2026

Our research crew have been delving into our industrial archives this morning.

We seem to have boxes of newspaper from the chocolate factory on Chapelfield.

They are an extraordinary record of the operations of the firm, stories of local workers & the international market.

We will update you with what we find.

ID: a copy of Rowntree Mackintosh News, with a story about children enjoying Aero chocolates in the Arctic

12/10/2026

It is part of plans for a wider regeneration of east Norwich which aim to create up to 3,500 homes.

09/10/2026

Today we’ve hosted a photography session with DENISA ILIE and the Norfolk Museums’ Teaching Museum trainees.

They’ve photographed a range of items to test their skills, such as Victorian Norwich School school caps, tiny spectacles, printing blocks, a horse hair heckle and this BABY from the store that once resided on the site of Turtle Bay restaurant on Bedford Street.

We want to name our new little chap - shout out your best 1950s suggestions…

How about Baby Bernard?

ID: a 1950s shop mannequin of a bonnie baby, with a cute little curl on his forehead.

09/10/2026

❤️ Look at these smiles!

Congratulations again to Maria Pavledis on the success of the Jacket Women exhibition and linked community projects, at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse supported by Arts Council England ⭐️

The official snaps are back and they are bringing back all the tingles from the celebration day last week.

Thanks to everyone who worked on this great project and to our participants who shared their thoughts & experiences so genuinely.
sofiak Fi Ashley Helen Derbyshire

Get to see the exhibition before the museum closes at the end of the month!

ID: two women stand smiling at the camera, one holding a multicoloured pot of flowers