Since 2016, The Cromwell Museum has been cared for by an independent charity, The Cromwell Museum Trust, who look after the museum building and all the museum collections. We are led by a group of voluntary Trustees, have a small staff team and are supported in every aspect of our work by a dedicated group of more than 30 volunteers.
We rely on your support to care for the Museum and to tell the important story of Oliver Cromwell and his legacy that is so important to the world we live in today.
The Cromwell Museum is Scottish Registered Charity No. No. 1166233.
Donations to The Cromwell Museum Trust may be directed to several areas, including:
Heritage & Conservation
These funds are used to protect, interpret and conserve the unique Museum collection comprising of over 900 objects. We want to continue to develop our collection through the acquisition of items, which is vital to our work in interpreting the life and time of Oliver Cromwell and ensuring objects of relevance are conserved and interpreted for the benefit of the public. Many of these objects may never have been on display before and require conservation and care as they are acquired. For example, a donation of:
£10 can pay for an archive storage box to help to properly conserve some of our collection.
£100 can help pay for the conservation of a fragile object.
£500 can help us build our acquisition fund to acquire new objects.
£1,000 can pay for a temporary exhibition.
Provide public access to the Museum and Collection
The Cromwell Museum is open all year round and does not charge an admission fee, believing that this internationally important story should be free to access for all. We also ensure that the objects within the collection are made available for public viewing, exhibitions, and for expert access. We have ambitious plans expansion our museum to provide better facilities for visitors (toilets, café and shop space) and dedicated learning spaces for schools and community groups who visit us. For example, a donation of:
£150 can help cover the costs of running the Museum for a day
£500 can pay for a batch of leaflets to promote the Museum
£1,000 can
Formal and informal learning, and outreach
We are fully committed to benefitting all our local communities and run several community outreach and engagement programmes for people of all ages and abilities. We are delighted to welcome hundreds of children and students from local (and further afield) schools and colleges who make educational visits each year as well as with community groups, disengaged young adults and those with complex needs. We want to grow schools visit numbers develop relationships with universities – our long term ambition is to establish a Study Centre for Cromwell. For example a donation of:
£100 can cover the costs of an educational session for a primary school at the Museum
£75 can cover the costs of an outreach talk to local community groups
Volunteering
Volunteers are incredibly important to The Cromwell Museum and are involved in all aspects of our work, from front of house, to assisting with collection care and our learning programmes. There is a real community feel and sense of belonging among our volunteers without whom we could not function. For example:
A donation of £xx would help pay for a day’s training for one volunteer
Unless specified, all donations to The Cromwell Museum Trust are unrestricted, meaning that they will be directed to whichever project area the Trust feels takes priority at the time of receipt. If you would like your donation to be directed towards a specific project or area of need, please specify this when making your donation.
‘He who stops being better, stops being good’
Oliver Cromwell