Swaffham Museum finds funding

EDP24

Swaffham Museum has had a funding crisis for a long time now, and was in danger of losing all of its professional staff.

Swaffham Museum has secured a grant which will allow its education officer to continue crucial work for another year.

Earlier this year, the EDP revealed the museum was in danger of losing its professional staff if cash was not raised to fund the salaries of its curator and education officer.

But the Foyle Foundation has awarded £12,000 which will allow education officer Elaine Brown to continue her work both in the museum and in outreach sessions as well as conduct reminiscence sessions in nursing homes.

From an Egyptological point of view its relevance lies in the fact that Swaffham was where Howard Carter was born, but it is nice to see small local museums surviving in the face of financial pressure. As part of a recent revamp the museum's Carter Room will include a reconstruction of the Tutankhamun tomb and will have audio-visual effects and other interactive displays. The computer and projector were donated by retailer Waitrose and they will be used to display learning material produced by the British Museum's Educational Multimedia Unit. It is also currently running outreach programmes which include "Walk Like an Egyptian" art sessions.