Staff and volunteers at Ruddington’s historic Framework Knitters’ Museum are celebrating the award of new cash to upgrade their newly established café and shop.
‘Parker’s Yard’ was added late last year when the museum site expanded into the former ‘Gun Cottage’ – between the original workers’ cottages and frameshops and the old Knitters’ Chapel. This allowed a brand new visitor entrance, hospitality and retail area – including a separate new garden. It was achieved via grants totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds from The Heritage Lottery Fund, FCC Communities Foundation, various other trusts, plus a number of private sponsors and donors. Up until now, items for sale have been placed on relocated old shelving and tables – which has been found to be less than ideal.
The funds for the £8,335 shop improvement project, which will begin and complete this winter, have been awarded through the Museum Development East Midlands (MDEM)’s Recovery and Reboot Grants. It also includes core funding and a donation from ‘The Friends of the Ruddington Framework Knitters’ Museum’.
It’s promised the project will ‘redefine the shop front’ and involve the installation of a reception desk for point of sale and display areas to allow items to securely and safely remain on display when the shop is closed but the café is open.
Sarah Godfrey, manager of the museum, says: “Our recent building project, Parker’s Yard, allowed us to introduce a new reception, café and shop area, to help improve the visitor experience. However, as the shop and café have different operating hours and share the same space, some challenges did arise. Thanks to the MDEM funding and a generous donation from the Friends of the museum, we are now able to create a dedicated shop sub area, where people can purchase items and locally crafted goods can permanently be on display in a secure unit.”
She adds: “We’ll be able to make better use of the reception area, extend and improve our shop offering and enable the café to open outside of the museum hours, which will help us to increase our revenue, as well as provide increased employment and volunteering opportunities for local residents.”
Both the café – run by Jen Walker and Mike Gaunt of The Split Screen Coffee Company – and the museum shop are free to attend. Tickets to tour the museum cost £8 each for adults. Accompanied children aged 16 and under can get in for free. Visitors can choose to Gift Aid their admission and, in return, they can visit the museum as many times as they like, free of charge, for the next 12 months.
Ruddington’s Framework Knitters’ Museum and Parker’s Yard are open from Wednesday to Saturday, between 11am and 4.30pm, and on Sundays between 1:30pm and 4.30pm – with last entry to the museum at 4pm. You can find out more on their website >>HERE<<.
